Challenges Toward a Rule-based Order in the South China Sea

This article discusses and analyses the various challenges that countries are facing in maintaining a rules-based order as an important condition for the direction of peace, stability, and development of the South China Sea area. Within the scope of the article, the challenges identified and discussed are (a) China’s assertive actions and behaviours; (b) negative international practices; (c) the ambiguity of international law provisions, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; (d) ineffective international law enforcement; and (e) challenges from the counterbalance and competition for international influence among great powers. Given these challenges and the increasingly complex situation of the region, the research demonstrates that the future of any rules-based order in the South China Sea will be increasingly contested, in which the efforts and determination of a few individual regional countries are far from enough.