UNLEASHING SOUTH CHINA SEA CONFLICT: MULTIPLEX ANALYSIS OF DIPLOMATIC CHAOS

Abstract

The South China Sea, one of the busiest trade routes around the world consisting of an area of 3.5 million square kilometers, is subject to several overlapping territorial disputes involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei as its stakeholders. The South China Sea connects Asia to Europe and Africa. Political rivals have tried amicable settlement of the contemporary disputes but instead, the tensions have increased over the course of recent years. Multiple Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) and Treaties of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) have been signed by the contending states but all have proven to be in vain. Mechanisms like Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) are used for chest thumping and hard power display. Numerous other factors are there that eventuate in weakening of diplomatic ties between the contending states. One of such factors is involved is the presence of alien powers like the United States for maintenance of a World Order favouring her on interests under the guise of providing security to the region. Adopting multiplex methodology, this research paper adopts an approach aiming at giving a synopsis of the inherent disputes between the stakeholders, the reasons for failure of efforts for amicable settlement, the role of the stakeholders with special reference to the major contending forces i.e., United States and China, the subsequent implications arising therefrom and some possible solutions to the issue. Keywords: SCS, FONOS, CBM, Multiplex methodology.