A reset of science collaboration allays ecological disaster and ensures peace-building opportunities in the South China Sea

By James Borton

The South China Sea is a unique natural laboratory for ocean research and exploration. And yet, this rifted basin, dotted with atolls, coral reefs and islets, some reclaimed, is mired in disputed territorial claims between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. Rather than serving as a promising gateway for oceanographic research, peace, and prosperity, rising tensions and mistrust in the region reveal a serious threat to Southeast Asian geopolitical and ecological security.

More than 625 million people of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) depend upon a healthy global ocean. Meanwhile, coral reefs are dying as a result of an ecological catastrophe unfolding in the region’s once fertile and prized fishing grounds. As reclamations destroy marine habitats, agricultural and industrial run-off poison coastal waters, and overfishing depletes fish stocks, it is no wonder that more marine biologists’ voices are vital in a rules-based ecological approach to protect the environment and the threats to endangered species, including sea turtles, sharks, and giant clams.

There’s encouragement that the China-ASEAN Plan of Action on a Closer Partnership of Science, Technology and Innovation plan (2021-2025) was agreed upon to explore new and sustainable science-driven cooperation mechanisms. This agreement, along with marine environment-focused forums and workshops, is shaping a new South China Sea narrative about the ecological dangers of biodiversity loss, climate change, coral reef depletion, pollution, and collapsing fisheries. “As scientists, we should rise above the politics and focus on the bigger and more important questions central to humanity’s long-term wellbeing,” claims Professor Nianzhi Jiao, an ecologist at Xiamen University, at a past South China Sea forum held in Shanghai.

There are historical precedents for oceanic international collaboration. This includes the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) tectonics drilling surveys conducted in 2014 among scientists from the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, India, and Brazil in the South China Sea. Others like, the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (1996-2001), initiated by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, brought together scientists from Taiwan, Australia, and the US. The collaboration chronicle includes the Joint Oceanographic Marine Scientific Research Expeditions conducted between the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea (JOMSRE-SCS) from 1996-2007. More recently, the Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to resume their joint marine scientific expedition later in 2022.

Additionally, China and Vietnam previously established a Working Group on Cooperation for Maritime Development, to enhance cooperation in waters beyond the Gulf of Tonkin in less sensitive geographic areas. Both nations successfully carried out bilateral maritime cooperation on sea-wave storm tide forecast models. Dalian Law Professor, Yen Chiang-Chang, believes that as China seeks to identify a cooperative development approach in the face of widespread disputed maritime zones, marine scientific research, with its low sensitivity offers distinct advantages in serving as a foundation for cooperation.

Marine scientists believe that the most effective way to engage in ocean science cooperation is to examine regional common interests. This encompasses an examination of climate change, ocean acidification, severe weather patterns associated with an increasing number of typhoons, and marine protected areas. Also, China has previously participated in the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) in collaborative ocean workshops held in Manila in 2009. The Monsoon Onset Monitoring and its Social and Ecosystem Impacts (MOMSEI) drew participants from Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Dr. Weidong Yu, a senior researcher at the School of Atmospheric Sciences at Sun Tat-Sen University, advocates for regional oceanographic cooperation. “I think the ocean science cooperation is the best way forward in collecting and stimulating the common interests to address many challenges, including climate change, extreme weather and marine ecosystems.” Although science diplomacy is not a new approach to international relations in general, the timing for its adoption in dispute management in the South China Sea has arrived. Ocean science has been adopted as a diplomatic tool for peace building since scientific evidence informs negotiations and fosters joint marine research and capacity building.

For example, science diplomacy has been used effectively in the Arctic through the Arctic Council, a leading intergovernmental forum, established in 1996. Comprised of eight Arctic nations, including rivals US and Russia and indigenous groups, it is a stellar example of science and technology-based collaborative research. Through scientific leadership, the Council members have enacted several legally binding agreements reinforcing environmental protection and sustainability, one of the recent ones was signed in May 2017 to enhance Arctic scientific cooperation. “The Arctic Science Agreement reflects a common interest to enhance scientific cooperation even when diplomatic channels among nations are unstable, recognizing first the importance of maintaining peace, stability, and constructive cooperation in the Arctic,” claims Dr. Paul Berkman, past director of the Science Diplomacy Center at Tufts and Fulbright Arctic Chair.

While some policy experts believe that China’s embrace of scientific cooperation offers evolving evidence of what Beijing characterizes as its ‘peaceful rise, others view the nation’s blue water ambitions and regional hegemonic actions in the South China Sea as a clear and dangerous threat to every state in the region. In the interim, claimant nations understand that there’s no time to waste in providing mechanisms for ocean governance in navigating a charted course in the development of science diplomacy to prevent geopolitical battles over the management of marine resources in the ‘Global Commons’. The convergence of science and geopolitics necessitates the expansion of scientific forums and collaborative problem solving among all neighbors.

Although nation-states have different approaches toward science diplomacy, in general, this type of diplomacy is defined by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as: (i) science in diplomacy (science to inform foreign policy decisions); (ii) diplomacy for science (promotion of international scientific collaborations) and (iii) science for diplomacy (establishment of scientific cooperation to ease tensions between nations). In that sense, it is widely accepted among environmental policy planners that science diplomacy contributes measurably to the terms of conflict resolution.

Policymakers may do well to take a lesson or two from nature as they examine how best to address the complex and myriad of intractable sovereignty claims through the lens of science. After all, marine biologists and oceanographers share a common language that cuts across political, economic, and social differences.

One specific area where there’s a consensus is the expansion of marine protected areas to mitigate the collapse of fisheries in the region. Destructive fishing practices and climate change are cited as major threats to coral reefs. China has more than 270 marine protected areas, and its neighbor Vietnam has 12 under protection. This linkage is an excellent opportunity for a revived China-ASEAN Cooperation Framework, especially in workshops on marine environmental protection. With the largest fleet of marine research vessels deployed in the Indo-Pacific, China has the ability to provide data sharing and the mapping of ecologically sensitive areas, in order to support fisheries for the benefit of all states.

In other words, science diplomacy can establish a useful and convenient starting point for regional cooperation to deal with assessing environmental problems but also in providing evidence on conservation and sustainability practices to ensure the region’s prosperity and peace in general. Of course, geopolitics is always at play in the contested South China Sea. While the Biden administration has called managing America’s relationship with Beijing “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century”, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the Ocean University of China (OUC) have been engaged in promoting research collaborations in deep-ocean and coastal regions in a changing climate.

In fact, cooperative science activities do not have any effect on the status quo of the South China Sea disputes. However, it keeps alive the hope for a solution to these disputes by creating a myriad of confidence-building activities with all of the involved parties engaged, instead of freezing activities and deadlocking the South China Sea issue, especially with regard to environmental and economic aspects.

For now, the tide may be lifting the possibility for science research surveys above the geopolitical noise and fray of sovereignty claims.

James Borton is a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and the author of a new book, “Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground.”