The history of the South China Sea is a catalyst of international cooperation and conflict. Security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific is largely governed
by command of these strategic waters. More than half of the world’s
annual merchant fleet tonnage transits the South China Sea, which also
holds significant reserves of oil, gas and minerals as well as some of the
largest fisheries in the world. Drawing on a team of field-leading
researchers, Jenner and Thuy provide an empirical study of the global
ocean’s most contested sea space. The volume’s four parts offer an
insightful analysis of the significance of the South China Sea to the
international order; subnational agents of influence on relations between
states; the disputes over sovereignty through the analytical prism of
international law; and the conflictful region’s prospects. The primary
source-based conclusion elucidates the agency of history and strategy in
the South China Sea.
C. J. Jenner is Research Fellow, King’s College London; First Sea
Lord Fellow, Royal Navy; and Senior Fellow, Institute for ChinaAmerica Studies.
Tran Truong Thuy is Senior Research Fellow and Director of the
Foundation for East Sea Studies, and Deputy Director General of the
Bien Dong Institute at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.