Goldstein in Foreign Policy: Don't Intervene in S. China Sea

August 25, 2011

Nonintervention should remain the basis of US policy in the South China Sea, Visiting Fellow Lyle J. Goldstein writes in a Foreign Policy article titled “The South China Sea’s Georgia Scenario.”
 
Goldstein describes “the alleged Chinese threat to ASEAN states” as “more hype than fact,” dismissing the possibility that China may seek armed conflict to defend its interests in the region. “The brutal truth,” Goldstein writes, “is that Southeast Asia matters not a whit in the global balance of power… [with] only a marginal impact on US national security.”
 
Dialogue and cooperation between the US and China is vital “in the fight against piracy and terrorism,” according to Goldstein. Military brinkmanship and use of force should be avoided, at the cost of escalating tensions “into actual violence.”
 
The article has been translated and republished by China's Xinhua news agency.