The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

By: Bonnie S. Glaser CSIS experts Zack Cooper and Bonnie Glaser join AMTI Director Gregory Poling to discuss the South China Sea at the start of 2018, including whether the Trump administration has an effective strategy on the issue, what China hopes to achieve in the disputed waters, and recommendations for the year ahead.

AMTI director Gregory Poling speaks with CSIS experts Sarah Watson and Zack Cooper about the months-long standoff between India and China over the Doklam plateau. The conversation covers the origins of the conflict, the resolution of the current crisis, and how the lessons learned can be applied by other states facing Chinese coercion.

AMTI director Gregory Poling speaks with Bill Hayton, Chatham House associate fellow, about the withdrawal of the Repsol gas-drilling expedition from Vietnam’s block 136-03, Beijing’s strong-arm tactics against Hanoi, and implications for the long-simmering Sino-Vietnamese conflict over energy deposits in the South China Sea.

Reports of Chinese oceanographic research vessels operating off the western coast of the Philippines in late 2016 have stirred up controversy in Manila this month. AMTI director Greg Poling speaks with Peter Dutton, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, and Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and the Law of the Sea, to assess what the Chinese vessels were doing, whether it was legal, the public response, and what the controversy says about future cooperation between China and the Philippines.

Following his public discussion about the very modern origin of China’s claims in the South China Sea, Bill Hayton sits down with AMTI Director Greg Poling for a deeper dive on how the topic continues to complicate the dispute. He summarizes how China’s claims emerged in the early 20th century, outlines their subsequent expansion, and discusses why historical revisionism by China and other claimants gets in the way of managing the disputes. Hayton is an associate fellow with Chatham House and author of The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia.

In this joint CogitAsia and AMTI episode we tackle the topic of overfishing in the South China Sea. Ahead of the 2016 Our Ocean summit in Washington, Rachael Bale, a reporter with National Geographic’s Special Investigations Unit covering wildlife crime, joins to share her insights into the collapsing fishstocks in the South China Sea. Rachael describes the impact of overfishing and IUU on regional economies (2:15), details the day to day experience for fishers in Southeast Asia during this period of geopolitical competition (5:27), and discusses the attention sustainable fisheries and illegal fishing receive from the conservation community (11:08). Audio edited by Frances Burkham. Written, produced, and hosted by Jeffrey Bean.

In the final segment of their three-part discussion, AMTI director Greg Poling and Paul Reichler, partner at Foley Hoag and lead counsel for the Philippines’ in its recently-concluded arbitration case against China, discuss how international pressure might bring China into compliance with the ruling, using the United States’ defiance of the International Court of Justice 30 years ago as an example.

In the second segment of their three-part discussion, AMTI director Greg Poling and Paul Reichler, partner at Foley Hoag and lead counsel for the Philippines’ in its recently-concluded arbitration case against China, discuss how the tribunal’s ruling will set precedent for other countries, as well as the judges’ findings on Mischief Reef, Scarborough Shoal, and China’s environmental destruction.

In the first segment of their three-part discussion, AMTI director Greg Poling and Paul Reichler, partner at Foley Hoag and lead counsel for the Philippines’ in its recently-concluded arbitration case against China, discuss the tribunal’s judgment on the nine-dash line, historic rights, and what makes an island.

After this week's ruling invalidating China's claims in the South China Sea, CSIS's Greg Poling charts out what to expect next. Hosted by Colm Quinn. Originally recorded for The CSIS Podcast.