@NBRnews asked me for some thoughts on 'Conceptions of Strategic Space in Republican China' for their latest project. This is what I pulled together... (It's based upon the work of many others.) 🧵 strategicspace.nbr.org/conceptions-of… 2/n The overall theme is that from 1912-1949, the Chinese state controlled only a fraction of the territory that it claimed. Strategic thinking was therefore focused on areas within its putative borders rather than beyond them.

Lots of rumours that #Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc is politically phucd. If true, unprecedented in recent decades. General-Secretary Trong breaking all precedents to clear out those his gang regards as insufficiently hard-line Changes at the top in Vietnamese politics look almost like an internal coup. Competent government officials - Phuc, Binh Minh & Dam defenestrated, the Ministry of Public Security taking over...

Looks like this phase of the Vietnam mega-corruption scandal will end with the ‘performance legitimacy’ team losing out to the ‘regime security first’ team. Ailing General-secretary Trong trying to secure his Leninist legacy… open.substack.com/pub/asiasentin… Add to this the arrests of two people thought to be relatives of the wife of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the picture becomes even more stark

Looking forward to reading this! First, a point of caution to breathless reporters - this is about MARITIME claims, not TERRITORIAL claims.

https://twitter.com/StateDeptSpox/status/1481394976424660998

It judges Chinese claims against UNCLOS - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - which China ratified in 1996. It finds four types of Chinese claims that are 'unlawful' - ie incompatible with UNCLOS

More nonsense history of the South China Sea published by the South China Morning Post - this time written by the CEO of a private equity firm. I guess this is what corporate bosses have to do to gain favour from Beijing these days. Anyway, rebuttal...
scmp.com/week-asia/opin… "until recently, the US had not disputed or objected to China’s claims"
The US is neutral on the TERRITORIAL claims of all sides. It (& many other states) is not neutral on the unlawful MARITIME claims of the various sides. If you don't understand this, don't write the article

Just been sent a fascinating US Govt telegram shedding light on Washington's attitude to territorial claims in the South China Sea during the 1956 episode that really restarted the whole contest. (I haven't seen the original piece of paper, just a scan.) Thread... 2. This was triggered by the Philippine entrepreneur Tomas Cloma who, in 1956, claimed most of the Spratly Islands for himself as his own personal country called 'Freedomland'. This upset everyone else - both Chinas, Vietnam and even his own government (story is in my SCS book)

How does China see Vietnam’s South China Sea policy? Very clearly, according to this April 2020 article by Zhao Weihua of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in 文化纵横 / Wénhuà zònghéng / ‘Cultural aspect’. Thanks to @khacgiang for alerting me to it. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LAsrVIVVcFGw… Caveat - I’m working off Google Translate so there may be errors…

It's taken six years since my book came out, but finally a response from some Chinese researchers. Let's see what they have to say...

https://twitter.com/SCS_PI/status/1282641624518897671

The first point is one of translation. @Zhengyimingdao states that the title of the 1934 map "中国南海各岛屿图" is "Map of the South China Sea Islands of China". I think that's wrong. It's ambiguous but I believe a better translation is simply "Map of the South China Sea Islands"

Very pleased that my chapter on "History as Problem, History as Solution: A Means to Resolve the South China Sea Disputes" has just been published in this @unihh collection. Other authors include @R_Ebbighausen @SteinTonnesson @FelixHeiduk @HSFK_PRIF
peterlang.com/view/978363180… My argument is as follows...

China establishes two districts to manage the South China Sea - a little thread to explain why this decision exposes the nonsense of China's territorial claims globaltimes.cn/content/118600… "Xisha District is set to administer the Xisha and Zhongsha islands" - the problem is that the 'Zhongsha islands' don't actually exist.

1/10 I’m very pleased to unveil the cover of my new book ‘The Invention of China’ due for publication in September 2020 by @YaleBooks. I thought I would explain why I think the cover - designed by @Mister_Kirby - is so great. 2/10 The book shows how many contemporary East Asian problems (Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, South China Sea etc) emerged from the construction of Chinese nationhood in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A thread about the historical explanation for Indonesia’s current stand-off with China in the South China Sea. The dispute is over who has the right to fish in an area of sea off the Natuna islands. The area is defined by an overlap of China’s ‘U-shaped line’ with Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone drawn from Natuna.

1/6 Some thoughts on the rumours that Exxon is pulling out of its major South China Sea gas project (Blue Whale / Ca Noi Xanh) off Vietnam…
corporate.exxonmobil.com/locations/viet… 2/6 Exxon is under pressure to increase its stock price, so it has been selling off assets to buy back shares - eg talk of $4bn Norway project sale to ENI, $1bn Gulf of Mexico sale to Enron, $2bn exit from UK etc…
offshore-technology.com/news/exxonmobi…