South China Sea: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects for Collaboration

South China Sea is one of Malaysia’s most strategic but vulnerable maritime domains, and its challenges are long-standing and well known. Ivy Kwek shed some thoughts on the situation on South China Sea and the prospects for collaboration during a webinar entitled “The South China Sea: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects for Collaboration” organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia.

Watch the full video here.

Going forward, we need to:

• Stop seeing SCS from the lens of strategic competition with each other. Prospects for collaboration in SCS hinges on the future of US-China relations and their ability to defuse tensions at the macro level. 

• Malaysia needs a more proactive SCS policy and step up our dialogues and cooperation with all partners. We also need a whole-of-government, inter-ministerial approach to deal with the issue holistically.

• A better ocean governance, especially on marine conservation and climate changes mitigation. SCS should not be rendered into a case of the tragedy of the commons amid power contestations.

For further write-up, visit here.