CNAS Flashpoints: Three Essays on the East and South China Seas

The
Center for a New American Security released today three bulletins as part of
its Flashpoints portal, a comprehensive, interactive research tool on the East and
South China Seas. As disputes, competition and proposals for cooperation
increase in this crucial maritime domain, the Flashpoints portal provides an
authoritative source of information on security in the East and South
China Seas.

Click here to access the CNAS
Flashpoints portal.

Defending
the Philippines: Military Modernization and the Challenges Ahead looks at the
impact of China's increasing belligerence in the South China Sea on the
decision of Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to
improve Philippine military capabilities. Author Richard D. Fisher, Jr., Senior
Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, argues that given
the political and economic stakes in the region, the United States now has a
strategic interest in the success of Philippine military modernization. Download Defending the Philippines here.



In Don't Forget About the
East China Sea, Michael Auslin, resident scholar in Asian and
security studies at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the East
China Sea may in fact be the most strategic location in all of Asia. Auslin
writes that disruption of free navigation in the East China Sea would affect
the economies of China, Japan and South Korea and could have significant implications
for the number of military forces that the United States has stationed in Asia.
Download
Don't Forget About the East China Sea here.



Studying the South China
Sea: The Chinese Perspective, by Yun Sun, Visiting Fellow at the
Brookings Institution's Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies and former
China analyst for the International Crisis Group's Northeast Asia Project,
examines three key features of the current research by the Chinese policy
community on the South China Sea and highlights the work of four leading
research institutions and studies on the issue. Download Studying the South China Sea here.

CNAS
will continue to regularly release bulletins on topics related to the
East and South China Seas through the portal. In addition, the Flashpoints
portal provides access to continuously updated information on incidents and
events through its comprehensive map
and timeline.
These resources depict dozens of events of record that have occurred since the
mid-1950s in the increasingly important East and South China Seas.

The portal
also includes an up-to-date research tool to
help scholars and policymakers find critical information on the East and
South China Seas, including background reading, key organizations, maps
and images, news items, new developments, publications and official documents.



Flashpoints, which is underwritten in large part by the Smith Richardson
Foundation, is a project within the Asia-Pacific Security Program of CNAS.



Stay up to date on all CNAS news and events by following @CNASdc on Twitter and visiting us on Facebook.

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The Center for a New American Security
(CNAS) is an independent and nonpartisan research
institution that develops strong, pragmatic and principled national security
and defense policies. CNAS leads efforts to help inform and prepare the
national security leaders of today and tomorrow.



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