On the Frontlines of the South China Sea

The waters of the South China Sea - including areas the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea - are at the centre of some of the Indo-Pacific’s most important maritime disputes. These waters bring together competing territorial and maritime claims, strategic interests, and the rights and interests of coastal states. They are also vital to fishing communities and populations whose livelihoods and security depend on access to the sea.

How maritime rights, jurisdiction, and access are interpreted and managed has implications for regional stability and international law. The future of freedom of navigation, the peaceful resolution of disputes, who has access to resources, and the ability of states to manage differences without coercion are questions with significance well beyond the South China Sea.

What does the situation in the West Philippine Sea reveal about the resilience of international law? How are regional states responding to the pressures of great-power competition while advancing and protecting their maritime rights? And what are the human dimensions of these disputes: for fishing communities, coast guard personnel, and coastal populations whose lives are shaped by what happens in these waters?

A La Trobe Centre for Global Security event in association with Australians for Philippine Human Rights Network

Register for a special screening of the movie Food Delivery: Fresh from West Philippine Sea, presented on the 27th September by the Australians for Philippine Human Rights Network