The Geopolitical Developments of South Chinese Sea and the Strategies of the Regional and Trans-Regional Players: Impacts and Implications

The Chinese South Sea during WWII and the Cold War had a special importance for countries such as USA, USSR and Japan from a geopolitical and geostrategic point of view. These countries used to enjoy this sea as an opportunity for increasing their presence and influence in the East Asia. Though, the decreased influence of Japan and the collapse of the USSR limited the number of players in this area, yet the recent emergence of great and middle powers in the region have brought about new developments in this sea. In spite of that, its significance has not diminished in the last years and rather with the exploration of mineral, gas and oil sources in this area, it has gained more significance. These factors, along with the trend of the growing economic and military power of China and its capability to become a regional power have caused certain developments which led to a greater role playing of the regional as well as trans-regional states. In this regard, the questions that we would like to address are: with the geopolitical developments and increased number of regional and trans-regional players in this sea, what objectives theses players seek? And what implications the strategies and policies of these players have brought about in this sea? The hypothesis of this paper is that the increased power of China, emergence of the regional and trans-regional players with the recent geopolitical and geo-economic developments in the South Chinese Sea led to the proclamations of the players regarding this sea and at the same time their efforts to expand their influence and control over the sea aimed at attaining available sources which have paved the way for more tension and increasing instability in the region.