West Philippine Sea dispute: How will it end?

TERRITORIAL disputes are long-simmering affairs. They are not settled overnight. Spain, for example, has been seeking the return of Gibraltar from Britain since 1727. Argentina’s claim to the Falklands Islands (Islas de Malvinas) dates back to 1833. A country faced with such a dispute therefore must adopt a long-range strategy and pursue policies under the doctrine that “politics stops at the water’s edge.” Meaning, that policies concerning the dispute must be non-partisan so that changes in political leaders do not change those policies.

The appropriate policy to adopt gets more complicated if the dispute is between nations of disparate sizes. In the West Philippine Sea dispute, we are confronted by China, a nation with a population 12 times our own. As we will note later, this limits our foreign policy options.