Author: Christian Vicedo, Manila
China’s People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) is key to understanding Beijing’s grey-zone operations in the South China Sea (SCS). The PAFMM is organised and linked to the People’s Liberation Army chain of command through the People’s Armed Forces Districts. PAFMM members are trained in maritime claims enforcement, logistics support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and sabotage. Operating about 84 large vessels with reinforced hulls and water cannons, the PAFMM serves as China’s third force in the SCS.
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Author: Sam Bateman, University of Wollongong
On 23 July, Australia lodged a note verbale to the UN Secretary-General setting out its position on China’s claims in the South China Sea. This was part of a series of notes verbale from countries bordering the South China Sea that was triggered by a December 2019 Malaysian submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) claiming a partial outer continental shelf in the South China Sea. Read more…
Author: Nguyen Khac Giang, Victoria University of Wellington
As countries in the region are busy dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, China is stirring the pot in the South China Sea. This includes harassing other claimants’ normal economic activities, conducting large-scale drills, consolidating military bases on artificial islands, and sending research ships into other countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Vietnam — as one of the claimants and perhaps the most stubborn — has become the chief target.
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Author: Ellaine Joy C Sanidad, Philippine National Coast Watch System
Over the last decade, a lack of expertise among countries in managing their maritime domain has allowed lawlessness and crime on the seas to proliferate. Emerging criminal networks have become more complex and harder-to-quell. The relationship between various security threats, such as maritime piracy and terrorist financing, is also becoming increasingly interconnected. Read more…
Author: Donald R Rothwell, ANU
Australia’s 23 July statement to the UN Secretary-General in formal response to a series of diplomatic exchanges between Malaysia, China and other states is the clearest to date on legal issues associated with China’s South China Sea maritime claims. Diplomatically the statement is unremarkable, legally though, it makes Australia’s position on some key issues very clear.
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Author: Asyura Salleh, Pacific Forum
COVID-19 is showing the world how a health crisis can exert disproportionate pressure on existing social and political fissures. The Asia Pacific maritime environment is no exception, with hybrid challenges persisting and non-conventional incidents on the rise. As state budgets adjust to accommodate the health crisis, non-state actors are escalating violence on land that is spilling over into the maritime domain. Read more…
Author: Lee YingHui, RSIS
As the pandemic dominates international media headlines, tension in the South China Sea has slowly intensified in the background. Recent incidents include the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel after being hit by the Chinese Coast Guard near the disputed Paracel Islands and the dispatching of Chinese seismic survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 into Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone. Beijing’s also taken steps to institutionalise control over disputed waters, announcing in April the establishment of two administrative districts under the authority of Sansha city. Read more…
Author: Collin Koh, RSIS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently stated that the United States considers Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea illegal. This is a fundamentally new stance. While scholars and pundits are trying to make sense of what the statement means for the dispute, more interesting is how ASEAN will respond as it is inevitably caught in the eye of the South China Sea storm.
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Author: Hugh White, ANU
In one of its bolder steps, Australia’s new Defence Strategy and Force Structure Review is proposing a radical redefinition of the geographical reach of Australia’s strategic priorities. It rejects the expansive view of Canberra’s last major defence policy statement — the 2016 Defence White Paper — which accorded equal priority to local, regional and global missions and commitments.
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Authors: Aristyo Rizka Darmawan and Arie Afriansyah, University of Indonesia
In June, four years after the Hague’s 2016 South China Sea tribunal ruling, Indonesia put forward a formal diplomatic note to the UN. This was in response to Malaysia’s 2019 continental shelf submission that objected to China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, including the area bounded by China’s nine-dash line. It said that ‘Indonesia is not bound by any claims made in contravention to international law’.
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Author: Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, University of Indonesia
Tensions between Jakarta and Beijing have been flaring following a January 2020 incident in the North Natuna Sea in which the Chinese Coast Guard escorted illegal fishing vessels into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Indonesia responded seriously to the illegal action conducted by China by sending military patrols to the North Natuna Sea. Read more…
Author: Mark J Valencia, National Institute for South China Sea Studies
According to the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency, in late December 2019, 63 Chinese fishing boats escorted by two Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered Indonesia’s claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the south central part of the South China Sea. Indonesia protested vehemently, sending warships and jet fighters to the area. Some analysts are predicting that Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and maybe even the Philippines will form a united front that actively opposes China’s claims in the South China Sea. Read more…
Author: Shicun Wu, National Institute for South China Sea Studies
The South China Sea remains a focal concern within the international community, grabbing headlines and placed firmly on the agendas of many bilateral and multilateral political and academic summits. While likely to remain relatively stable in 2020, worrying developments and uncertainties are on the rise. Read more…
Author: Ngeow Chow Bing, University of Malaya
After a historic 2018 election victory, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and his Pakatan Harapan coalition seemed to be rolling back Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deals forged under his predecessor Najib Razak. Mahathir suspended the mostly China-financed US$20 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and several similar smaller projects. Foreign pundits quickly lauded Malaysia’s apparent pushback against China’s BRI. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Institute for China-America Studies
Indonesia–China maritime ties are once again embroiled in rising tensions over traditional Chinese fishing practices occurring in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) adjacent to Indonesia’s Natuna regency. This time, as many as 63 trespassing vessels have been spotted across 30 locations within Indonesia’s waters, backed by the presence of Chinese coast guard ships. China’s encroachment is not a matter that can or should be taken lightly.
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