On 9-10 November 2021, the Second Symposium on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance was held by National Institute for South China Studies, China, in Sanya. The symposium cast its sights on topics including "Opportunities and Challenges to Global Ocean Governance", "Reform a Security Architecture in the South China Sea", and "Ocean Governance Practices in the South China Sea". In the first topic, speakers shared frank opinions on the opportunities and challenges of the current global ocean governance. International and coastal efforts have been put in implementing the existing mechanisms, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and UNCLOS, etc., and exploring new approaches to enhance ocean governance in contested spaces.
Though some legal and practical challenges exist in multiple level, good intention behind the efforts shall be affirmed. However, the current trend of de-globalization, geopolitical competition, and erosion of the international law-based global ocean governance order gradually revealed shall not be ignored, and establishing a universal concept of maritime security and development and exploring the demonstration role of regional mechanisms in global ocean governance might be a good start.
Given the concerns that the South China Sea disputes may impede the cooperation on regional ocean governance, the speakers discussed a necessity reform over the current security architecture in the South China Sea. The reform asks for maintaining the peaceful security architecture in the South China Sea upheld by the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) and ongoing negotiation on the Code of Conduct (COC), supporting ASEAN centrality.
Coastal states of the South China Sea are possible to embrace some ocean governance practices collectively. For instance, establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), building regional fishery governance, learning advanced experiences from other coastal states in a worldwide, coordinating in the policy level within the region, and addressing the damage of marine microplastics. These practices are beyond the South China Sea disputes and closely relevant to the well-beings of every coastal resident of the South China Sea.
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1685796/image_1.jpg