Gau, Michael Sheng-ti

Publication Year: 2019

The Interpretation of Article 121(3) of UNCLOS by the Tribunal for the South China Sea Arbitration: A Critique

Abstract: The interpretation of Article 121(3) of the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was a key part of the Sino-Philippine Arbitration on the South China Sea Award issued in July 2016. This article uses the principles of treaty interpretation codified in Article 31 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to evaluate the interpretation process. The Tribunal paid little attention to the text such as “rocks” in the plural form and overlooked the context of Article 121(3). The travaux préparatoires identified by the Tribunal was based on materials of doubtful weight. 
[Article 121(3) of UNCLOS reads: “Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.” – RPI]

Watts, Robert C IV

Publication Year: 2019

Origins of a “Ragged Edge”—U.S. Ambiguity on the Senkakus’ Sovereignty

Abstract: In 1972, Japan regained administrative control of the Senkaku Islands following years of negotiations with the United States after World War II. However, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China already had made claims to these islands. The United States chose not to weigh in on the Senkakus’ sovereignty, leading to the tensions that have resurfaced today as the PRC asserts its dominance in the East China Sea and beyond.

Erickson, Andrew S., Joshua Hickey, and Henry Holst

Publication Year: 2019

Surging Second Sea Force: China’s Maritime Law-Enforcement Forces, Capabilities, and Future in the Gray Zone and Beyond

Abstract: As China’s sea services continue to expand, the consolidating China Coast Guard (CCG) has taken the lead as one of the premier sea forces in the region—giving China, in essence, a second navy. With 1,275 hulls and counting, the CCG carries out the maritime law-enforcement activities that dominate the South China Sea as the People’s Republic exerts its claims and postures for dominance. 

O’Dea, Christopher R

Publication Year: 2019

Asia Rising: Ships of State?

Abstract: The commercial-strategic linkages and state support for PRC port and shipping ventures resemble a twenty-first-century version of the Dutch East India Company. These notionally commercial enterprises operate globally with the full financial and military backing of their home state, and the vessels that connect the ports are “ships of state,” functioning as instruments of Chinese national strategy while they sail as commercial carriers. 

Fanell, James E

Publication Year: 2020

China’s Global Navy—Today’s Challenge for the United States and the U.S. Navy

Abstract: The balance of power in the Indo-Pacific is shifting as China spends its national treasure to build a modern, blue-water navy and exerts its influence around the region, and the world, through economic investment and military power projection. Beijing’s pursuit of the China Dream is pushing America and its allies toward a decade of concern, when the already tenuous situation may experience further destabilization. 

Stashwick, Steven

Publication Year: 2018

“Getting Serious about Strategy in the South China Sea”: What Analysis Is Required to Compel a New U.S. Strategy in the South China Sea?

Abstract: China’s extensive island-building projects in the Spratly Islands, the aggressive harassment tactics of its maritime law-enforcement and paramilitary fleets, and its rejection of binding arbitration rulings on both those activities threaten the rules-based international order and pose political, economic, and potentially military threats to U.S. interests in the region. 

Mitra, Ryan

Publication Year: 2019

India’s Persian desire – analysing India’s maritime trade strategy vis-à-vis the Port of Chabahar

Abstract: Since the turn of the century, India has seen itself as the dominant maritime power in South Asia and has aspired to project this power across the Indian Ocean Region. The principle of a “net security provider” has, thus far, been most applicable in South Asia and around its littorals, but it is West Asia that will really test India’s diplomatic and maritime capabilities over the course of the coming years. West Asia has a complex structure of diplomatic and strategic intricacies, that India has to manoeuvre through, in order to achieve its interests. Adding to this, India has had to adopt a careful balancing act juggling its West Asian interests with those that it has elsewhere. The roles of trade, strategy, and ideology have never been as intertwined as they are in the contemporary age, and this region and the challenges it poses is the most complex weave India that is likely to face as it pushes forward into a new age of international relations. This paper addresses the bilateral realities of India and Iran in the context of India’s maritime strategy, and the geostrategies of other regional players such as China and Pakistan. Full text available here

Upadhyaya, Shishir

Abstract: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are a vital source for India’s energy requirements and home to a large population of Indian workers. Although for quite some time now, India’s strategic influence in the Gulf region has been overshadowed by Pakistan, recent developments seem to present India with an opportunity to expand its influence led by maritime security cooperation. However, the growth of Chinese economic and political influence in the region presents some tough challenges. This paper examines India’s extant security ties with the GCC countries and their relations with China, with an aim to make a relative assessment of India’s strategic influence and discusses the prospects for India’s position in the region. Full text available here

Khanna, Monty

Abstract: This article examines the major shipbuilding programmes of the PLA Navy (PLAN) with the purpose of assessing the capabilities of the shipyards engaged in their construction. It analyses the reasons underpinning the Chinese Navy’s ability to convert capital into assets in an efficient, time-bound, and cost-effective manner. It also examines the PLAN’s organisation, structure, scale and best practices, with the aim of identifying those tenets that could be adopted by Indian shipyards to boost efficiency. The piece concludes by making recommendations on these issues. Full text available here

Yadav, Dhanwati

Abstract: In global politics, the relations between India and China have long been branded by the countries’ customary rivalry. Bitterness and resentment between the two came to the fore with the exile of Dalai Lama to India in 1959. Subsequent to this episode, the Sino-Indian war of 1962 further exacerbated their already strained ties. The continued border dispute, much importantly added fuel to fire. Altercations in their relations, thus are yet not extinguished. In the twenty-first century, when these Asian giants are putting forward their soft power together with military muscle through economic persuasion, the waters of the Indian Ocean are sponsoring economic and geo-strategic conflicts between the two. “India’s participation in the new alliance formed in the maritime domain whereas could cause increasing insecurities to Beijing, Beijing’s unregulated assertiveness through monetary aids along with modernized naval tactics is also viewed to have escalated India’s security concerns”. The global powers when examine such bilateral equation with probabilities of drawing complexities, cooperation between the two, in the form of an unprecedented “maritime dialogue”, demonstrate their unabated commitment to ensure maritime security while pursuing their geo-strategic ambitions in the region. Developments of this kind can help promote regional peace as well. Full text available here

Mao, Jikang, and Li Mingjiang

Abstract: From China’s perspective, border disputes, India’s strategic cooperation with other major powers and security competition between China and India in IOR [Indian Ocean Region] are the main factors shaping Sino-India relations. China believes that border disputes is difficult to resolve but largely manageable, India is wary of joining forces with US and other major powers to contain China, and the two countries can still seek coexistence in IOR even though India is concerned about China’s growing influence in this region. China is implementing a counter-hedging strategy towards India that features active engagement with India on one hand and a certain level of security pressures on India on the other hand. To prevent these three problems from becoming more serious and exacerbating the Sino-Indian contradiction, China find it necessary to pay more attention on engagement with India and come up with more diplomatic resources and policy inputs in handling the bilateral relations. Full text available here

Mohan, Rakshit, and Aditya Laxman Jakki

Abstract: Sovereignty in the maritime domain is governed by the international laws and conventions, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Maritime sovereignty is deeply contested and the view on it is diverse. While the idea of continental sovereignty got cemented over time, the concept of maritime territorial sovereignty remained fragile until the conclusion of UNCLOS negotiations in 1982. Although China was a part of the negotiating process and has ratified the Convention, its actions in the South China Sea (SCS) have frequently contravened with the UNCLOS. This paper argues, by employing the principles of sovereignty theory, that even though China has discarded the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) ruling in the case of The Republic of the Philippines vs The People’s Republic of China, the ruling has set up a clear precedent, which shall be a cornerstone for future references on sovereignty issues in the maritime domain. Full text available here.

Zeng, Xiangyu, and Liu Jiawei

Abstract: India, China and Japan, the economic big three in Asia, is heavily dependent on maritime trade in terms of importation of energy and other natural resources in addition to import/export of manufactured products. Major economic, political and security impact has been resulted from such a dependence, as the sea-lines of communication for maritime trade across the Indian Ocean and West Pacific is vulnerable to heavy conventional/unconventional threat. Policy measures have been taken in order to mitigate the vulnerabilities. Accelerated development of maritime powers, bilateralism/multilateralism, enhanced engagement with regional players and diversification policies are among such effort. The unconventional challenges are on the decline, partly thanks to effective counter-measures, while the conventional challenges is on the rise, also partly due to the mis-match of policies from major stakeholders. The Rise of Indo-Pacific Concept and the Emerging Maritime Regionalism can be a double-edge sword. Clarification of strategic intention and effective policy dialogue is needed for a more harmonious maritime engagement among the three. Strategic vision and smart policies are needed to ensure a cooperation for the benefit of all stakeholder inclusive of the three countries in particular. Full text available here

Jacob, Jabin T.

Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is often sold as a project that aims to meet the infrastructure deficit in many underdeveloped parts of the world. However, Chinese projects under the BRI come with features that have negative short-term and long-term implications for the host countries in question. Chinese project financing almost uniformly lacks transparency, including about the terms of this financing, and is accompanied by uncertainty about local benefits such as employment and by poor standards. This paper begins by highlighting some key features of Chinese infrastructure projects under the BRI, before it examines, in detail, the financing of these projects, particularly in South Asia. The article concludes by stating that China’s success in pushing the BRI – despite its several problems – is the result of the inability of democratic nations to come up with feasible alternatives that respect local sensitivities and conditions in the countries in need of infrastructure development. India, especially, has much to reflect upon in respect of its own methods and approaches towards its neighbours and towards overseas development assistance in the wake of China’s BRI. Full text available here

Song, Yan, Ming Zhang, and Ruifeng Sun

Abstract: Currently, China has become one of the biggest energy consumers and importers in the world, and its energy policies will increasingly affect the international energy situation. This paper introduces a new aggregated indicator, the China energy security index (CESI), for evaluating how China’s energy security has changed over years. The CESI includes the energy supply dimension, economic-technical dimension, and environmental dimension of energy security. Based on the banding approach, 18 indicators, which are selected from six years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2014, are normalized to form the CESI and sub-indexes. As to the energy supply dimension, the indigenous energy availability sub-index and energy dependence sub-index continued decline over the study period. Among all the three dimensions of CESI, the largest changes observed are in the energy supply sub-index. The change of CESI likes a ‘N’ curve. In this study, China’s worst energy security performance was in 2010 and the best was in 2000. At last, the SWOT analysis method is utilized to deprive China’s energy security policy implications. Full text available here