ASEAN 's South China Sea Policy And China' S Countermeasures

The South China Sea dispute issue is an important factor that affecting regionalpeace and security, facing the increasing-tensed situation in South China Sea, theChinese government put forward the principle of “shelving differences and seekingjoint development” in the South China Sea at the beginning of1990s’, but onlyreceived negative reply from the direct-related countries. At the same time, AESAN,as the most important regional integration organization in South-east Asia, has gotinvolved in the South China Sea dispute gradually since the end of the Cold War，ithas an unique role on this issue: On one hand, it claimed itself has no position andremains neutral on the dispute between some members of it and China, on the otherhand, it involved actively in the South China Sea issue, and has become a part thatcan’t be neglected concerning the dispute.In this thesis, the author makes an introduction of the South China Sea dispute atthe beginning and makes an analysis of the relevant background and affecting factors.The emphasis is on the intervention ways and traits, from which we can conclude theposition and policy of ASEAN towards the South China Sea issue. At the end of thethesis, the author analyzes the impacts of ASEAN’s policy on China and the issue, andthe author also makes some suggestions for China to cope with the impacts fromASEAN’s intervention.The author deems that the reason why ASEAN intervened in the China Sea issueis that ASEAN is concerned about China’s rise and it wants to maximize its groupinterests, at the same time, it was pushed by individual internal member states andsome powers outside the region. Although ASEAN countries haven’t formed a unitedfront towards China concerning the South China Sea issue, yet its interventionactually brings China a lot of troubles and impacts. It is the only right way forASEAN to work with China together to inject positive impulse to the peace, securityand prosperity in the South China Sea region.