Mark J. Valencia
Mark J. Valencia is Adjunct Senior Scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Security,Hotspots,Southeast Asia
South China Sea: Some Recent Analyses Lack Balance
Two recent publications by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of the Center for International and Security Studies condemn China’s policies and actions in the South China Sea while ignoring the similar transgressions of the others there.
Politics,Southeast Asia
US Needs Reality Check Regarding Southeast Asia
Environment,East Asia
China and Japan Must Address Shared Marine Environmental Emergencies
Politics,Security
Key Parts of US Navy Commander’s Handbook Are Dangerously Misleading
The latest edition of the US Navy Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations is out. It is the first such revision in a decade — but it continues to convey to US Navy commanders controversial and unilateral interpretations of the international law of the sea.
China
Washington Think-Tank Bashing China Again
In its focus on China’s actions in the South China Sea, AMTI “largely neglects the lack of self-restraint and military activities of other claimants like the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam,” as well as by the US. Its recent report continues to reflect this bias.
Hotspots,China
Joining the Quad: Fear versus Greed
US pressure, both public and private, is forcing each prospective member as well as other players to face some very tough decisions regarding their future relations with China. To the chagrin of the US, their decisions are neither easy nor clear cut.
Hotspots,China
The Quad and the South China Sea
The Trump administration has re-raised the decade-old geopolitical concept of the “Indo-Pacific” region and is proposing and pushing a so-called “Quad,” a potential security arrangement among the four large democracies of India, Australia, Japan, and the US.
Hotspots
The Debate Regarding US Navigation Policy in the South China Sea: Another Perspective
PacNet, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently carried a debate between Stanford scholar Donald Emmerson and Harvard-affiliated scholar Andrew Taffer focusing on the US practice of “fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows.”
China
In the Face of China’s Successes, “Haters” Are Grasping at Straws
In the wake of China’s spectacular advances on many fronts, economic, technological, military, diplomatic and others, haters are grasping at straws of hope for its failure. The rising chorus of whistling by the graveyard comes on the heels of Trump’s first visit to Asia.
Politics,Hotspots
Parsing Trump’s Recent Policy Statements on the South China Sea
In the joint statement of the US President and the Vietnamese President, the longest paragraph was the one that addressed the South China Sea issues. The joint statement with the Philippine President essentially repeated phrases from the US-Vietnam’s joint statement.
