SOLDES
Jusqu'à -70% sur une sélection d'articles*
Dernière sortie
South China Sea Disputes: Rocks, Reefs and Great Powers
The South China Sea is less a monolithic "ocean" than a mosaic of rocks, reefs, shoals, and atolls that have become prizes in a contest between great powers and neighboring states. This book traces the evolution of the disputes from early navigation routes and colonial maps to the modern "nine-dash line, " the 2016 arbitration ruling, and the construction of airstrips and guard posts on reclaimed features.
It explains how each contested outcrop-such as the Paracel and Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal-carries outsized legal, military, and symbolic weight, turning handfuls of stone and sand into anchors of air-defence zones and potential flashpoints. Drawing on history, maritime-law analysis, and documentary-style field reporting, it shows how China, the United States, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan use surveillance flights, coast-guard patrols, and archaeological surveys to assert presence and memory.
The narrative also situates the South China Sea within the broader Indo-Pacific and Taiwan Strait context, highlighting how these disputes weave into alliance systems, freedom-of-navigation operations, and regional imaginations of sovereignty. The aim is not to pick a side, but to make the rocky, reef-strewn geometry of power in the region intelligible.
It explains how each contested outcrop-such as the Paracel and Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal-carries outsized legal, military, and symbolic weight, turning handfuls of stone and sand into anchors of air-defence zones and potential flashpoints. Drawing on history, maritime-law analysis, and documentary-style field reporting, it shows how China, the United States, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan use surveillance flights, coast-guard patrols, and archaeological surveys to assert presence and memory.
The narrative also situates the South China Sea within the broader Indo-Pacific and Taiwan Strait context, highlighting how these disputes weave into alliance systems, freedom-of-navigation operations, and regional imaginations of sovereignty. The aim is not to pick a side, but to make the rocky, reef-strewn geometry of power in the region intelligible.
