Bryan J Dickerson

War and Peace in the South China Sea Bryan J Dickerson

The South China Sea is one of the most economically valuable regions of the world. The region holds the potential for tremendous oil and natural gas development. The waters provide a major source of food for the peoples of several neighboring countries. A major portion of the world's seaborne commerce utilizes the sea lanes which connect East Asia with the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Europe cross through the South China Sea. Economic competition is only part of the conflict equation. The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Communist China all have conflicting claims to a number of the various geographical features in the South China Sea. Possession of these features (reefs, rocks and small islands) have major economic, military and political ramifications. In the last three decades, Communist China has been aggressively asserting its maritime claims to many of these features, actively building artificial land features and militarizing them as well. The United States has been at the forefront of international efforts to counter Communist China's assertions and in particular, the U. S. Navy has been very active in the South China Sea since the Obama Administration. Confrontation is nothing new to the South China Sea, especially since the end of the 19th Century. The fleets of various world and regional powers have operated in these waters. Confrontation evolved into armed conflict during World War Two and again during the Vietnam War. This book offers a chronological summary of military, naval, and political events occurring in this contested region since the mid-19th Century, with a particular focus on the last twenty years.