US-China Competition and the South China Sea Disputes

Traditionally, the South China Sea (SCS) issue was not on the negotiation table between the United States and China. However, the tensions between the United States and China over the SCS have gradually simmered up to a strategic level. Why and how did the SCS become a flashpoint between the United States and China? Will the United States and China really go to war over the SCS? Why did China adopt an "assertive" policy towards the South China Sea in the 2000s? What will regional actors do in the face of this "new normal" of competition between China and the United States? Will multilateral institutions in the Asia Pacific alleviate the potential conflicts over the SCS disputes? How will US-Chinese competition in the SCS shape the dynamics of Asian security?

This edited book addresses these questions systematically and theoretically, with contributions from leading scholars in the field of US-China relations and Asian security from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. It elevates the analysis of the SCS disputes from maritime and legal issues to the strategic level between the United States and China.

Acknowledgments
Contributors
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1) Battlefield or Playground? The Rising Tensions between the United States and China in the South China Sea (Huiyun Feng and Kai He)
2) The Bargaining Dilemma between the United States and China in the South China Sea (Huiyun Feng and Kai He)
3) The Geography of Conflict: South China Sea and US-China Rivalry (Andrew Scobell)
4) Chinese Thinking on the South China Sea and the Future of Regional Security (Feng Zhang)
5) India’s Responses to US-China Rivalry in the South China Sea (Ian Hall)
6) Japan and the South China Sea Disputes — Emerging Power Politics and “Fake Liberalism” (Christopher W. Hughes)
7) The South China Sea as Symptom of Asia’s Dynamic Security Order (Nick Bisley)
8) When Giants Vie: China-US Competition, Institutional Balancing, and East Asian Multilateralism (See Seng Tan)
9) East Asia’s Institutional Inadequacies and Great Power Rivalry in the South China Sea (Mark Beeson)
10) Security Regionalism: A New Form of Strategic Competition or Cooperation between the United States and China in the South China Sea? (Baogang He)
11) Looking to the Future: Hypotheses on China’s Maritime Disputes and US-China Relations (Steve Chan)

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