South China Sea: What China is really saying

19120651895 c6f855775c o U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi delivers remarks at the Strategic Track Oceans Meeting in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2015.

Writing recently for the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), Stanford scholar Donald Emmerson analyzed China’s stance on the South China Sea in the context of remarks given by Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi at a bilateral dialogue in Washington, D.C. on June 24.

In the past year, China has unsettled many countries with its island-building campaign in the disputed South China Sea, an area that has multiple claimants and whose waters are heavily used for international trade and commerce. Johnson South Reef, for example, is being enlarged and turned into what could be a military base. At the same time, China’s leaders continue to disregard rising demands to clarify their intentions in the South China Sea.

In the CSIS article, Emmerson offered an “edited" version of Yang’s statement to provide one reading of its “useful ambiguity” for China.

Emmerson said China’s participation is inevitably required to resolve the maritime disputes. But his reading of Yang’s remarks is not encouraging in that respect, as China behaves more and more as if it were part of the problem not the solution.

The full article is accessible on the CSIS blog, http://cogitasia.com/?s=emmerson.