Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Navigating Rough Waters.

• Author: Hiep, Le Hong
• Position: Book review

Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Navigating Rough Waters. Edited by Jing Huang and Andrew Billo. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Hardcover: 212pp.

Publishing a book on hot-button issues such as the South China Sea dispute is challenging for two main reasons. First, there has been so much published on this subject. With hundreds of books and journal articles, and thousands of online analyses and commentaries every year, the chance for a book on South China Sea to be visible and have a significant impact is quite low. Second, important developments in the South China Sea occur on a regular basis, which means that books on the subject tend to become outdated fairly quickly.

Published in early 2015, it may still be too early to predetermine whether Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Navigating Rough Waters, edited by Jing Huang and Andrew Billo, will establish itself as an authoritative source of reference on this issue. But for now at least, the book reveals itself to be a serious project which covers a wide range of issues related to this protracted maritime dispute.

The book is divided into five sections with nine chapters. The first chapter by Nguyen Thi Lan Anh provides a useful overview of the South China Sea dispute and why it is so complex. The next two chapters examine the legal dimensions of the dispute. Specifically, Zhang Xinjun provides a case for "setting aside disputes and pursuing joint development" (pp. 39-53). Zhang's analysis closely reflects the official positions of the Chinese government regarding the issue of joint development, as well as its opposition to the Philippines' arbitration case against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The chapter, while providing a good reference point for China's official stance on the dispute, offers predictable arguments and little new insight into the issue. To the contrary, the chapter by Robert Beckman provides a comprehensive and useful technical analysis of the Philippines v. China case and its implications--not only for the two countries concerned, but also for the other claimant states as well as the entire region.

The next two chapters examine the role of ASEAN in managing the dispute. While Walter Lohman provides a good historical account of ASEAN's engagement in the management of the disputes, Yee Kuang Heng looks into the challenges confronting the Association, especially the difficulties in reaching a common ASEAN position. This...