Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground

Abstract

J ames Borton in Dispatches from the South China Sea primarily dwells on the interactions between humans and the environment in the South China Sea. Through his journalistic acumen, Borton intricately embarks upon anthropogenic catastrophes such as coral reef destruction, overfishing, illegal annihilation of sovereign territories, evolving environmental refugee crisis (both forced and motivated environmental migration), over-exploitation of resources by China to mention a few. Therein, Borton dwells on the failures of regional governments (past and present), civil societies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and multinational bodies under the UN. The principle argument underpins how these various stakeholders, driven by their ‘altruistic’ motives and visions, often are the culprits of their own ‘perverted’ visions in praxis. Given the bone-chilling effects of climate change and environmental degradation that every individual living under the sun is experiencing today, makes Borton’s efforts more exemplary, particularly through the Vietnamese case study. The book raises some pertinent questions about the implementation and policies by governments across the global North and South. A key question raised in the book is, do countries in the broader Indo-Pacific region have any multilateral legal instrument in place amidst unbridled Chinese influence to address the question of environmental degradation? And linked to it, is the question of an alternative global environment governance. Further, the book outlines the maritime conflicts emanating from Chinese activities in the South China Sea that can pose an ‘existential threat’ for regional countries in the Indo-Pacific. The current entanglement, rather, stiff tensions which are evident between the US and China on technological, spatial, environmental, economic, social, political and cultural fronts, can only be dealt with an intense, renewed and conscious international collaboration. Borton lays emphasis on letting humanity and science be the guiding force for international collaborations. However, such an approach might only suit the policy-making apparatus of the US. Thus, amidst the ever-evolving geopolitical and geo-economic dynamism in the broader Indo-Pacific, the suggested approach seems only to cater to US and Chinese mutual interests rather than an encompassing thrust towards the global commons. This is likely to incur a backlash, and raise significant questions concerning the North-South divide. However, Borton’s bold gesture of impinging on China’s varied illicit activities in the South China Sea region outlines the current Strategic Analysis, 2022 Vol. 46, No. 5, 551–552, https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2022.2115232