Promoting Peace and Stability in the South China Sea: The Role of the Philippines-Japan Strategic Partnership (original) (raw)
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NDCP Executive Policy Brief, 2017
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Jurnal Mandala Jurnal Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, 2018
Nowadays, the South China Sea has been identified with increasing defense spending and military modernization of the neighboring countries which are driven by China’s assertiveness in the region. China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea is an expression of its growing ambition over the region which is part of its core interests. China’s assertiveness is buoyed by its significant military presence and power projection in the region. Japan and the Philippines are having converging threat perceptions towards China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea as well as sharing common interests to balance the assertive China. Contested with China’s assertive behavior, since 2012, Japan and the Philippines have been conducting dynamic maritime diplomacy in order to safeguard the status quo of the sea from the assertive China. The implementation of Japan-Philippines maritime diplomacy in responding to China’s assertiveness in South China Sea is a form of “proactive approach” by Japan, ...
Pacific Forum Issues & Insights Vol. 23, SR11 , 2023
Chapter 2: The South China Sea (SCS) and Taiwan are potential flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific region. Although the disputes have been ongoing for decades, the strategic competition between the two powers – the United States and China – has added real risk to the overlapping territorial and maritime claims. While there is already a large body of literature on both issues, most analyses on the SCS and Taiwan consider them as two distinct issues. While such an approach is logical and understandable, it is likewise important to explore the linkage between the two issues because they impact each other due to geographical proximity. This paper seeks to answer how can the Philippines-U.S. alliance complement efforts to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific, specifically in the geopolitical nexus of the SCS dispute and cross-Strait relations? This paper also addresses the linkage between the SCS dispute and cross-Strait relations, how such a nexus figures in the overall security of the Indo-Pacific, and how the convergence and divergence of interests in these disputes create policy complexities for Manila and Washington. The aim is to provide policy inputs for courses of action vis-à-vis the challenges the alliance faces amidst great power competition. https://pacforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/US-PH-Volume-2023-Super-Final.pdf
NDCP Executive Policy Brief, 2018
The aim of this policy brief is to discuss how the National Security Strategy (NSS) seeks to promote Philippine national security interests in the South China Sea (SCS). In particular, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: 1) How does the NSS perceive the regional security environment of the Indo-Asia-Pacific particularly, with respect to the SCS?; 2) How does the NSS articulate Philippine national security interests in the SCS and what are the identified courses of action to pursue such interests?; and 3) What are the challenges in promoting Philippine interests in the SCS?
Between the United States and China: Philippines foreign policy in the case of South China Sea
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In 2016 there were several events that could change the Philippines' foreign policy in Southeast Asia. The tensions in the South China Sea were growing since several parties claimed the sea, and there were new presidents elected in the Philippines and the United States. This thesis focuses on the Philippines' strategy in this complicated geopolitical situation between the two great powers, the United States of America and China. The aim of this thesis was to identify how the Philippines respond to the changing geopolitical dynamics in the region after 2016 in the case of the South China Sea and which strategy they are using in their actions. The author explains the situation in the region, defines a small state, and then discusses the potential strategies a small state has in the case. The author set a hypothesis that the Philippines mainly use a hedging strategy to respond to the region's geopolitical dynamics. To test the hypothesis, the author conducted content analys...
NDCP Policy Brief, 2014
The aim of this paper is to discuss how the dynamics of great power politics in the East China Sea (ECS) dispute affects Philippine Defense Policy vis-à-vis the territorial row in the South China Sea. Specifically, this paper aims to answer the following questions: 1.) What are the relative capabilities of the countries involved in the East China Sea dispute? 2.) What are the actions taken or being undertaken by Japan and China in asserting their claims in the disputed territory? 3.) How will the US-Japan alliance influence the escalating tensions in the region? 4.) What lessons would the dispute among the Great Powers offer the Philippines in managing the dispute in the West Philippine Sea? http://www.ndcp.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/publications/8%20Galang%20The%20Dynamics%20of%20Great%20Power%20Politicsversion2%20(1).pdf
This article examines the trilateral relations between the Philippines, Japan, and China in relation to the South China Sea dispute. It observes that this trilateral relation have been lop-sided as the Philippine-China relations have been problematic because the two countries’ dispute in the South China Sea; while the Philippines and Japan have maintained vibrant economic relations that have generated cooperative diplomatic and security relations between the two countries. In the second decade of the 21st century this trilateral relations became more complicated as the Philippines and Japan have evolved a security partnership in the face of China’s maritime expansion in the South and East China Seas. The two countries pursue this security partnership through regular bilateral consultations among Philippine and Japanese heads of states, political leaders, defense ministry officials, and high-ranking military officers; joint naval exercises; and exploratory discussions for arms transfer and negotiations for a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Japan and the Philippines. Currently, Japan strengthens its relations with the Philippines as its gravitates closer to China and distances itself from its only strategic ally, the U.S. This in turn, provides the Philippines the most opportunity to pit Japan against China in the South China Sea dispute.