The South China Sea: The Geo-political Epicenter of the Indo-Pacific?

Abstract

This open access book focuses on the geopolitical competition in the South China Sea, an area with highly concentrated choke points in the Indo-Pacific, presenting ideas and recommendations to manage this competition and foster cooperation to maintain a peaceful and stable environment and promote sustainable governance of the South China Sea and of the Indo-Pacific in a broader sense. The increasingly complex geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific has made the South China Sea the epicenter of strategic competition between the great powers, with a rising China on the one hand and the United States, its allies, and partners on the other. In this strategic chessboard, the South China Sea is a test of resilience of the rules-based international order, such as versus grey zone operations, as well as disruptive technological developments in both traditional and non-traditional domains. The book incorporates foreign policy analysis methods to analyze and forecast key players' goals, intentions, and behaviors within the competitive strategic environment of the South China Sea. The success or failure of managing major power competition in the South China Sea, one of the hot spots of the Indo-Pacific region, will determine the future structure of international relations. In addition, as a dynamically developing region of the world, promoting collaborative ideas, particularly in areas related to conflict management is essential for maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, restoring economic growth, and progressing toward a sustainable future. This book is of interest to politicians, policy-makers, experts, scholars, researchers, and other readers who are interested in how regional issues can shape the global order.