On Thursday June 20, The German–Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG) and the Asian Governance Foundation (AGF) will present an international seminar, Flashpoint South China Sea: Military and Marine Resources in 2019.

It will be held at the Jitti Tingsabhad Room, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus. TU students who wish to attend are cordially invited to register at this link.

As the CPG website observes,

The South China Sea (SCS) is the maritime “commons” of Southeast Asia. Its relevance in terms of resources, trade but also what can be described as “geopolitical implications” can hardly be overstated. The SCS holds vast amounts of petroleum and natural gas and is at the same time one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet. The SCS is critical for local food supply throughout Asia where fish protein accounts for a substantial amount of overall protein intake. In terms of trade, some 30% of all global trade passes through the vicinity of the SCS, including almost all East Asia-bound crude oil, turning parts of the SCS into the world’s most critical Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) for major and minor powers alike. Maritime domain control in the SCS is one of the major areas in which great power competition becomes visible today…

The TU Library owns several books about different aspects of South China Sea studies. As TU students are aware, the subject of the fate of the SCS is a lively matter of debate. Last month, The Nation Newspaper ran an unsigned editorial comment:

Our pressing foreign policy issues are no longer traditional security threats but instead mega-infrastructure investments such as China’s Belt and Road initiative, and doctrine to defend free trade like Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. Yet looming behind those issues is a broader threat to the stability and security of our region. That threat is crystallised in a question posed by the Nikkei Asian Review yesterday: “A Chinese military base in Southeast Asia? Some say it’s inevitable,” reads the headline. The article notes that China has provoked international outcry for building military facilities in the disputed South China Sea…

The CPG seminar will also discuss environmental issues. Last month, a cargo fire at Laem Chabang Seaport in Chon Buri province was caused by undeclared highly flammable toxic chemicals on a South Korean ship, KMTC Hongkong.

Just a few days ago, The South China Morning Post reported that Philippines had lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing after a fishing boat was hit in the disputed South China Sea by a Chinese vessel, leaving 22 Philippine fishermen stranded at sea.

Among the scheduled speakers on these very current subjects will be H.E. Kasit Piromya of the Citizen Activation Foundation, Former Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand and Dr. Li Nan of the East Asian Institute, National University Singapore.

Speaking on Marine Biological Resources: Environmental degradation in the South China Sea and its consequences for the region will be Dr. Ma. Carmen Ablan-Lagman of the Center for Natural Science and Environment Research (CENSER), De La Salle University, Philippines

Dr. Ma. Carmen Ablan Lagman is professor at the Biology Department of De La Salle University and Head of the Practical Genomics Laboratory. De La Salle University is a private research university founded in Manila in 1911. Among her fields of expertise are fisheries and transboundary resources in the South China Sea. She has led a project among scientists investigating connectivity of coral reef associated species. As she explains online,

I specialize in the integration of genetic markers and other molecular biology techniques with the use of image analysis, GIS-based modeling and mapping to provide fisheries, aquaculture and agriculture solutions. I lead a team which develops simplified laboratory methods and/ or computer or web-based platforms that will require less training and equipment for non-specialists or non-scientists on the field to access the benefits from the use of advanced technologies…I joined De La Salle University upon my return to the Philippines in 2008. Prior to DLSU, I was a Research Scientist at the WorldFish Center, one of the 16 Centers for Global International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) under the auspices of the WorldBank. My expertise is in population genetics and molecular ecology. I teach courses in genetics, cell biology, ecology, molecular biology, systematics and bioinformatics at the graduate and undergraduate levels. My research focuses on integrating information form DNA, RNA and protein markers with image analysis, GIS mapping and mobile computing to develop platforms and products which allow non-specialists and non-scientists to access biotech and the associated technologies. Partnerships are key to my research…

Among recent projects was one in 2015, monitoring biodiversity in the Verde Island Passage. De La Salle University and partner institutions retrieved 30 autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS), which had been deployed in 2012 at the Verde Island Passage, considered the center of the center of the world’s marine biodiversity. The passage hosts over 1,700 marine species in one of the largest concentrations of coral in the world. Students and researchers worked to better understand coral reef building in the marine ecosystem, mimic complex coral reef structures, and allow organisms to survive in the artificial reef.

Among other activities, Dr. Ablan-Lagman also participates in a project to support the expanding  coffee industry in her homeland. Philippine coffee is currently being promoted by the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP), providing access to planting materials and training. The Land Bank of the Philippines prioritizes loans to farmers who wish to start planting Philippine coffee. Dr. Ablan-Lagman’s international group, Pinoy Espresso Shots, communicates the details of growing Philippine coffee to the world.

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Balazs Szanto of the College of Arts and Sciences, Webster University Thailand. Dr. Szanto is on the Faculty of International & Strategic Studies at Webster University Thailand which has campuses in Bangkok and Hua Hun. Dr Szanto specializes in international security and international relations in the Asia-Pacific, primarily China, Japan and the ASEAN states.

Among his research projects is the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute between the People’s Republic of China and Japan, focusing on China’s foreign policy options and its implications for key stakeholders. He has also studied territorial disputes on the South China Sea between the People’s Republic of China and ASEAN claimant states, the increasing assertiveness of Chinese foreign policy, and the performance of the ASEAN Way of conflict management in addressing the dispute.

In January, Dr. Szanto participated in the 4th Benedict Anderson Memorial Roundtable on Chinese Nationalism at Asia Centre in Bangkok. Dr. Szanto suggested

that nationalism in modern China was generated in order to increase the legitimacy of the Communist Party. China’s foreign policy advances China’s nationalist narrative that seeks to justify its territorial pursuits in the region. Dr Balazs also argued that Xi Jinping is over-reliant on nationalism as a means to boost the legitimacy of his government.

Asia Centre is a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to create social impact in the region. It serves as a think-tank, meeting space, project partner and social enterprise. Asia Centre was first established in 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand and in 2018, a second branch was registered in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)