Power Dependence And Counterbalance

Since China explores rich oil and gas resources from The South China Sea, thedispute around the island’s sovereignty has not subsided. Many countries such asVietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei use different ways to claim sovereigntyover the South China Sea. With the policy of "return to Asia" related to the interestsof the United States, some Southeast Asian countries adjust their policy on the area ofSouth China Sea, limited to the content of no more than "power dependence" and"counterbalance" by the big powers outside the region to counterbalance China. At thesame time, each of them intensifies the military deployment in the South China Seaand draws up the military modernization program, including purchasing the advancedweapons and holding joint military exercises to strengthen military cooperation withthe country outside the region. Some Southeast Asian countries through a variety ofpolitical means make the South China Sea to "multilateralization" and"internationalization", trying to bring big powers outside the region into the SouthChina Sea.besides, each of them Invites a great power outside the region to join theEast Asia Summit, introducing the South China Sea issue into the summit topics, andgets help from the United States and other countries to balance Chinese influence inthe region. Some Southeast Asian countries expand cooperation with multinationalcompanies to exploit the South China Sea resource, as well as demand the SouthChina Sea islands sovereignty. These actions are not helpful to the resolve of theSouth China Sea dispute, and to make the situation was worse in the South China Seaarea, affecting the area peace and stability.This paper tries to study the trend of some Southeast Asian countries on the policiesof the South China Sea recently, analysis of the external strategy of Vietnam, thePhilippines and other countries, some Southeast Asian countries, the South China Seapolicy characteristics summarized as "power dependence"and"counterbalance".focuson these two characteristics to analyse these countries,The face of some SoutheastAsian countries, the policy adjustment trends in the South China Sea, China shouldactively seek to participate in the South China Sea regional security mechanism tobuild maritime cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, the Foundation for Chinamaritime cooperation with these countries to eliminate confrontation to cooperation,to cooperation to increase mutual political trust, to eliminate the distrust of theSoutheast Asian countries of China.