Author(s): Ebonine Victor

Abstract: South China Sea has become an area where power politics continue to play out in each passing day. Though, there have not been the use of force by any claimant, the intense nature of the dispute is exacerbated by the power politics between China and United States. The dispute is between six states — China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and Taiwan, with China and Taiwan the only non- Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) members. The dispute and the power politics are not unconnected with the strategic, economic and political significance of the sea to not only the claimants but non-claimants like United States. At the centre of the dispute is China with its nine-dash line claims which encompass all the islands — the Spratlys, the Paracels, the Pratas and the Macclesfield Bank. As a regional grouping with committed responsibilities, this paper interrogates ASEAN’s role in the dispute and argues that there is a large divide that affects the potency and masculinity of ASEAN to act; a divide that is caused by intra-ASEAN disjoint and incursion of United States. China is at the centre of the causes of the divide. Sufficiently relying on the existing related literatures (secondary sources) for proper analysis with empirical data in form of tables, the paper recommends that ASEAN needs to recalibrate and reinvent itself by forging a common bond against China after reconciling their overlapping claims, reconstructing the provisions of, and strengthening the enforcements of Declaration of Conduct of Parties (DOC), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and East Asia Summit (EAS).

Keywords: ASEAN, China, South China Sea, U.S., DOC, ARF.