The South China Sea has emerged as a flashpoint as several countries have claims to certain portions of this maritime space. While some Southeast Asian countries make claims to the oceanic space in the South China Sea that falls within their respective Exclusive Economic Zones, China makes a claim on almost its entirety. China’s muscle-flexing behaviour to assert its claims carries the seeds of a potential conflagration. By doing this, China is violating the globally accepted rules-based order and is thus a concern for maintaining regional peace.

China has territorial disputes with a number of Southeast Asian countries, the most prominent of these being with the Philippines. As the Philippines is an alliance partner of the USA, American officials throughout 2024 have been privately and publicly signalling to their Chinese counterparts that the North American nation is firmly committed to upholding its alliance commitments. The message is intended as a warning not to test the limits of American tolerance towards Chinese attempts to obstruct access to the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the South China Sea where a grounded Philippines vessel, the Sierra Madre, serves as an outpost for Filipino soldiers. The disputes stemming over competing claims have been intensifying, thereby raising concerns about an outbreak of war and thus a threat to regional stability.

In response to the escalations, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia have reinforced their presence in the contested waters as the US steps up its intervention. Chinese maritime expert Wu Shicun, who heads the state-funded National Institute for South China Sea Studies and spent years researching the South China Sea, its history and geography as well as the regional disputes over this........

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