Great powers and conflict management patterns (a case study of maritime conflicts in East and Southeast Asia)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, International Relations Department, Allameh Tabatabaei University

2 Researcher & Ph.D. Candidate in International Relations, University of Tehran

Abstract

The security environment of East and Southeast Asia has always been a source of conflict and confrontation between regional and extra-regional powers due to its geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic capabilities. These factors combined with different exposures of actors, changed the nature of conflicts and made them more insecure. In recent years, the scope of these conflicts has expanded and led to the escalation of confrontations. Therefore, it is important to know the key factors that cause these conflicts between multiple variables and can be effective in explaining the strategies of the actors involved. This research has investigated the type of confrontation between China, Russia and the United States as well as their behavior and strategy in these conflicts based on a descriptive-explanatory approach and has focused on finding a model for the conflict management of these actors. The results show that the adoption and persistence of certain approaches, strategies and goals by China, Russia and America have led to the formation of three different models of conflict management. These models are respectively the model of peaceful settlement of conflicts by the involved parties, the model of regional continuation of conflicts and the model of escalation and internationalization of conflicts.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  • منابع

    الف) فارسی

    • بهرامی مقدم، سجاد (1397). «پاسخ امریکا به قدرت‌یابی دریایی چین در دریای شرقی و دریای جنوبی»، فصلنامه روابط خارجی، 10(1)، صص 161ـ131.
    • حافظ نیا، محمدرضا و میرزایی تبار، میثم (1398). «تبیین ژئوپلیتیکی منازعات مرزی و سرزمینی کمربند صفر تا 15 درجه شمالی آفریقا از پایان جنگ سرد تا 2014 میلادی»، فصلنامه سپهر، دوره 28، شماره 112، زمستان، صص 167ـ185.
    • حافظ‌نیا، محمدرضا؛ متقی، ‌منوچهر؛ بوالحسنی، خسرو و روشنی‌‌، رضا (1398). «دغدغه‌های ژئوپلیتیکی مشترک و موثر بر روابط جمهوری اسلامی ایران و چین»، مطالعات بین‌ رشته‌ای دانش راهبردی، 9(34)، صص 116-91.
    • خضری، رؤیا (1391). «استراتژی چین و آمریکا در دریای جنوبی چین»، فصلنامه سیاست خارجی، 26(3)، صص 758ـ743.
    • سیمبر، رضا و حسینی، سیدمصطفی (1395). «بررسی عوامل موثر بر همگرایی و منازعه روسیه و چین در عصر پساجنگ سرد»، مطالعات آسیای مرکزی و قفقاز، 22(96)‌، صص 99ـ67.
    • صبوری، ضیاء‌الدین و قیاسی، امیر (1393). «تحولات ژئوپلیتیک دریای جنوبی چین و راهبرد بازیگران منطقه‌ای و فرامنطقه‌ای: آثار و پیامدها»، فصلنامه علمی پژوهشی پژوهش‌های روابط بین‌الملل، دوره 4، شماره 14، زمستان، صص 58ـ31.
    • طهماسبی، مریم؛ حاجی یوسفی؛ امیر محمد و برزگر، کیهان (1400). «درهم تنیدگی عناصر منازعه و همکاری در حوزه آبریز هیرمند»، فصلنامه سیاست جهانی، 10(2) ، صص 184ـ157.
    • مجتهدزاده، پیروز؛ کریمی‌پور، یدالله؛ ربیعی، حسین و ضرغامی، ابراهیم (1397). «استراتژی دریایی و قدرت ملی (رویکردی نو به استراتژی دریایی)»، مطالعات بین‌ رشته‌ای دانش راهبردی، 8(33) ، صص 212-189.
    • محروق، فاطمه (1401). «گذار دریاپایه و پویایی های دریایی چین-امریکا»، پژوهش‌نامه ایرانی سیاست بین الملل، 11(1) ، صص 320ـ295.

    ب) انگلیسی

    • Acheson, (2011).‌‌ “Disputed Claims in the East China Sea”, An Interview with James Manicom. the National Bureau of Asian Research, pp 1-2.
    • Asia, T., & Cheng, D. (2016).‌ “China and Asian Maritime Security”, The heritage Foundation, pp1-12.
    • Burke, E. J., Heath, T. R., Hornung, J. W., Ma, L., Morris, L. J., & Chase, M. S. (2018). “China’s Military Activities in the East China Sea”, Implications for Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, pp 1_36.
    • Cheng, J. Y., & Paladini, S. (2014). “China’s ocean development strategy and its handling of the territorial conflicts in the South China Sea”, Philippine Political Science Journal, 35(2), pp 185-202. ‌
    • Cho, S. (2021). “China’s quiet challenges at sea: explaining China’s maritime activities in the Yellow Sea, 2010–2020”, Asian Security, 17(3),pp 294-312.
    • De Castro, R. C. (2016). “The Philippines discovers its maritime domain: the Aquino administration’s shift in strategic focus from internal to maritime security”, Asian Security, 12(2),pp 111-131.
    • Dikarev, A., & Lukin, A. (2022).‌ “Russia’s approach to South China Sea territorial dispute: it’s only business, nothing personal”, The Pacific Review, 35(4), pp 617-646.
    • Dolven, B., Lawrence, S. V., & O'Rourke, R. (2021). “South China Sea Disputes: Background and US Policy”, Current Politics and Economics of Northern and Western Asia, 30(2/3),pp 285-291.
    • dvocate, S. J. (2021). “US Protests China's Maritime Claims in the South China Sea”, International Law Studies, 97(1), pp 87-96.
    • Elgoibar, P., Euwema, M., & Munduate, L. (2017). “Conflict management”, In Oxford research encyclopedia of psychology, pp 1-23.
    • Fravel, M. T (2011). “China's strategy in the South China Sea”, Contemporary Southeast Asia,pp 292-319.
    • Furuya, K. (2019). “Maritime Security—The Architecture of Japan’s Maritime-Security System in the East China Sea”, Naval War College Review, 72(4), pp 1-27.
    • Glaser, B. S., Bush, R. C., & Green, M. J. (2020). “Toward a stronger US-Taiwan relationship”, Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, pp 1-57.
    • Heiduk, F, and Paul, M. (2015). “Seas of trouble: enduring territorial conflicts in East and Southeast Asia”, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs, pp 1-7.
    • (2021). “China geopolitical interests in eastern Asia and south China sea”, international institute for law of the sea studies, pp 1-5.
    • Koo, M. G. (2019). “Japan and the identity politics of East Asian maritime disputes”, Japan and Asia’s Contested Order: The Interplay of Security, Economics, and Identity, pp 239-259.
    • Korolev, A. (2019). “Russia in the South China Sea: balancing and hedging”, Foreign Policy Analysis, 15(2),pp 263-282.
    • Korolev, A. (2017). “The two levels of Russia's South China Sea policies. Marittime security”, the vergion online at: https://isnblog.ethz.ch/maritime-security/the-two-levels-of-russias-south-china-sea-policies.
    • Kuo, J., Huang, M. H., & Chu, Y. H. (2022). “Maritime Territorial Disputes and China’s Soft Power in East Asia’, Journal of Contemporary China, 31(133),pp 72-85.
    • Lin, C. P. (2015). “Behind rising East Asian maritime tensions with China: Struggle without breaking”, Asian Survey, 55(3),pp 478-501.
    • Morton, K. (2016). “China's ambition in the South China Sea: is a legitimate maritime order possible?”, International Affairs, 92(4),pp 909-940.
    • Ogunnoiki, A. O. (2020). “The East China Sea disputes: Examining China and Japan’s territorial Claims”, Korea, 3(2), pp 79-92.
    • O'Rourke, R. (2022). “US-China strategic competition in South and East China Seas: Background and issues for Congress”, Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, pp ‌ 99-294.
    • Patalano, A. (2013). “Sea power, maritime disputes, and the evolving security of the East and South China Seas”, The RUSI Journal, 158(6),pp 48-57.
    • Prasetya, D. M., Haffsari, P. P., & Estriani, H. N. (2020). “Identity Matters: Indonesia’s approach towards territorial disputes in South-east Asia”, Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime Foundation of India, 16(2),pp 89-105.
    • Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., & Vladicic, A. (2020). “Russia in the Asia-Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye”, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pp 1-50
    • Shih, Y. C. (2020). “Taiwan's progress towards becoming an ocean country”, Marine Policy, 111, 103725. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X19302180
    • Stanzel, V. (2016). “Danger on the high seas: The East Asian security challenge”, European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), pp 1-12.
    • Storey, I. (2021). “The Russia-China Strategic Partnership and Southeast Asia: Alignments and Divergences”, RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE ANALYSE CURRENT EVENTS, ISSUE: 2021 No. 117. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207020241232987
    • Storey, I. (2020). “The South China Sea Dispute in 2020-2021”, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, pp 1-13.
    • Strating, R. (2019). “Maritime Disputes, Sovereignty and the Rules‐Based Order in East Asia”, Australian Journal of Politics & History, 65(3),pp 449-465.
    • Strating, R. (2021). “Maritime and Sovereignty Disputes in the East China Sea”, Commentary from the Maritime Awareness Project, pp 449-465.
    • Strating, R. (2022). “Norm contestation, statecraft and the South China Sea: defending maritime order”, The Pacific Review,35(1),pp 1-31.
    • Tan, S. S. (2020). “Consigned to hedge: south-east Asia and America's ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’strategy”, International Affairs, 96(1),pp 131-148.
    • Thakore, D. (2013). “Conflict and conflict management”, Iosr Journal Of Business And Management (Iosr-Jbm), 8(6), pp 7-16.
    • Thrall, A. T., Cohen, J., & Dorminey, C. (2020). “Power, Profit, or Prudence? US Arms Sales since 9/11”, Strategic Studies Quarterly, 14(2),pp 100-126.
    • Toghuj, R., & AbuAlghanam, B. (2022). “The Game of Fluctuating Interests: USA and the Security Architecture in the South China Sea”, Politics and International Relations, pp 1-14.
    • Wood, J. R. (2021). “China’s maritime strategy and national security in the South China Sea”, Intelligence and National Security, 36(3),pp 444-450.
    • Xie, Z. (2014). “China's Rising Maritime Strategy: Implications for its Territorial Disputes”, Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, 3(2), pp 111-124.
    • Yee, A. (2011). “Maritime territorial disputes in East Asia: A comparative analysis of the South China Sea and the East China Sea”, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 40(2),pp 165-193.
    • Zou, K. (2020). “Towards the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea: maritime security dimensions. In Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea”, Edward Elgar Publishing,‌ pp 202-217.

    COPYRIGHTS

    2025 by the authors. Published by The National Defense University. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0