The South China Sea Arbitration and Its Implications for asean Centrality

The South China Sea (scs) dispute is not only a struggle among countries in the area for sovereignty over various land features, territorial waters, and underwater natural resources, but also the focal point of great power politics. The international dispute over the scs has been going on for decades. The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (doc), signed by China and the asean countries, has no binding power.² Since the doc was signed, the scs has continued to be the focus of traditional and non-traditional security threats.³ There have been intermittent conflicts and standoffs between