Non-Traditional Security Issues and the South China Sea ― Shaping a New Framework for Cooperation

While there is abundant literature discussing non-traditional security issues, there is little mention of such issues existing in the South China Sea. This area is vulnerable to natural hazards and marine environmental degradation. The marine ecosystem is threatened by various adverse sources including land-based pollution, busy shipping lanes, and over-exploitation activities which threaten the security of the surrounding population. This area is also threatened by piracy and maritime crimes but law enforcement becomes difficult due to unclear maritime boundaries. This volume is designed to explore the security cooperation and regional approaches to these non-traditional security issues in the hope to build a peaceful environment and maintain international and regional security and order in the South China Sea region.

Shicun Wu, PhD, is currently President of National Institute for South China Sea Studies. Visiting scholar to the School of Advanced International Studies(SAIS) of John Hopkins University in 1998, to the Seminar on the Dynamics of US Foreign Policy-Regional Security sponsored by U.S. Government in 1999, and senior research fellow with Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in 2001, and the Harvard Kennedy School in 2008. His research focuses on history and geography on the South China Sea, ocean delimitation, international relations and regional security strategy. His main publication includes Maritime Security in the South China Sea: Regional Implications and International Cooperation (2009)i??Origin and Development of Spratly Disputes (2010), Collection of Literatures on the South China Sea Issues, A Bibliography of Research on the South China Sea, The Issue of the South China Sea Islands in the Time of the Republic of China (1911-1949), Contest on the South China Sea and Zheng Hea€?s Voyages to the Indian Ocean, Historical background on the 1943 Sino-British New Treaty, On Relativity of Cognition of the History, The Foundation of Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Zone and Cross-Strait Commercial Relations, Imperative Task-the Exploitation of South China Sea Resources, etc. Keyuan Zou is Harris Professor of International Law at the Lancashire Law School of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom. He specializes in international law, in particular law of the sea and international environmental law. Before joining UCLan, he worked in Dalhousie University (Canada), Peking University (China), University of Hannover (Germany) and National University of Singapore. He is Academic Advisor to the China National Institute for South China Sea Studies and the Centre for Ocean Law and Policy of the Shanghai Jiaotong University in China. He is member of the ESRC Peer Review College and the Commission on Environmental Law of IUCN. He has published over 60 refereed English papers in nearly 30 international journals and 8 single-authored and co-edited books. He is member of Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Martinus Nijhoff), Ocean Development and International Law (Taylor & Francis), Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy (Taylor & Francis), and Chinese Journal of International Law (Oxford University Press), and Advisory Boards of the Chinese Oceans Law Review (Hong Kong: China Review Culture Limited), Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law (Brill) and Global Journal of Comparative Law (Brill).