Recently, a number of claimants of sovereignty in the South China Sea

Abiding by international law a prerequisite for the maintenance of free movement and peace in South China Sea

Recently, a number of claimants of sovereignty in the South China Sea have intensified their activities to control the seas in dispute, and even caused the risk of armed conflicts in the region. China conducted live-firing exercises in the sea area around Taiping Island claimed by Taiwan. China’s Ministry of Transport had identification signs on Ebing and Gaven coral reefs from March 6 to April 2, 2023, while China’s marine research vessel Ocean 4 repeatedly entered Vietnam EEZ, followed by Siangyangko 10 from May 7 to June 6, 2023. China has also unceasingly reclaimed man-made islands in the South China Sea, built military bases, deployed their weapons and, at the same time, strongly prevented the involvement of countries that have relevant interest such as the US, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. This is an ambitious attempt toward controlling and turning the South China Sea into China’s “inner sea”.

To cope with China’s intensification, the Philippines has allowed the US to use another four military bases from the beginning of 2023, raising the total to nine under the bilateral national defense cooperation agreement. Of these, the Camilo Osisa navy base and the Barlo airport located near the South China Sea hold an important role with the US’s presence in the sea area. Those moves have worsened concerns by regional countries on the risk of a military conflict, negatively affecting the freedom of travel and peaceful settlement of the disputes in the South China Sea. The demand for the littoral countries, especially China, to respect international law, including the UNCLOS 1982, has become more and more urgent.

For the Republic of Korea, the Indo-Pacific in general and the south of the Pacific in particular have close relevance in terms of strategic interest as they occupy up to 87 percent of its total export value and 67 percent of its import value. To rise into a “global key state”, the Republic of Korea has worked out and accelerated the implementation of the strategy of “Indo-Pacific of freedom, peace and prosperity”, including the maintenance of the order in the region, the opposition against the use of force and the threat to use force to change the status quo, and the protection of navigation and overflight freedom in the South China Sea.

The problem of the South China Sea is not purely on territory but a complicated one relevant to many countries and aspects such as the order in the region, international law, security and economic development. Although China and its neighboring countries wish to join dialogues and consultations but, in fact, China is still continuing its unilateral acts and showing no goodwill in settling the disputes by peaceful measures, in perfecting mechanisms to settle the disputes, especially the UNCLOS 1982, and in the demand for upholding international law and respect the right of each country. Above all, the countries should cooperate instead of intensifying unilateral acts of affirming sovereignty so as to find out a solution to every dispute./.