How to Defuse South China Sea Conflicts

Wall Street Journal
OPINION ASIA
June 26, 2012
How to Defuse South China Sea Conflicts
The Scarborough Shoal standoff holds lessons for the region's many other territorial disputes.
By M. TAYLOR FRAVEL
The standoff between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal, which has lasted for more than two months, may be winding down. On Monday, the Philippines announced that all boats had left the shoal's lagoon. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that "the overall situation in the waters around Huangyan Island is easing." As perhaps the longest such confrontation in the South China Sea in almost two decades, the standoff holds several lessons for similar disputes in these contested waters. 

 

1. How to Defuse South China Sea Conflicts

    

   
   

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   The Scarborough Shoal standoff holds lessons for the region's many other territorial disputes, writes M. Taylor Fravel in an op-ed in The Wall ...