Maritime and Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea Faces of Power and Law in the Age of China’s rise Rethinking Asia and International Relations Series

This edited volume rethinks the relationship between power and law in the age of China?s rise by examining recent developments in the South China Sea (SCS).

The contributors explore different interpretations of international law on the legal status of the contested islands and rocks and provide detailed analyses of the contested concepts and provisions, the 2016 ruling by the SCS arbitration tribunal, as well as the environmental, economic, and political impacts of the ruling. This book facilitates a more meaningful and productive dialogue over the intersection, interaction, and interdependence between power and law in the context of the SCS. Assessing the interactions between political, legal, and normative forces, it provides insights into the specific dynamics of the dispute and the shifting security landscape in the region, but also offers a basis for thinking more deeply about the broader rise of China.

This book will appeal to both students and scholars of IR, International Law, and Asian Studies and those engaged in research on the SCS disputes, the rise of China, and with a theoretical interest in law and power in international affairs.

Introduction Chapter 1 – The Rebalance under the Obama Administration: Transformational Leadership and Selective Engagement Chapter 2 – 'The Dialogue of East and West': Joseph Needham Revisited Chapter 3 – Sovereignty and Identity: Taiwan’s Claims in the South China Sea Chapter 4 – Power, International Law, and the Philippine Hedging Strategy in the South China Sea Chapter 5 – Japan, China and the Territorial Disputes in the China Seas: The Uncertain Dynamics of Asian-Pacific Geopolitics Chapter 6 – All at Sea? Japanese Conceptions of Regional Order in Response to the South China Sea Disputes Chapter 7 – Whose ‘Freedom of Navigation’? Australia, China, the United States, and the Making of Order in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ Chapter 8 – Reflections on the Awards Concerning the Legal Status and Maritime Entitlement of Maritime Features in the South China Sea Arbitration: A Legal and Political Analysis

Yih-Jye Hwang (PhD, Aberystwyth) is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Edmund Frettingham (PhD, Aberystwyth) is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Leiden University in the Netherlands.