ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF): THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY TOWARDS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN THE CASE OF SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES (2002 - 2014)

Abstract

Tensions in the South China Sea (SCS) have increased due to China’s aggressiveness in the territorial disputes and some of the ASEAN countries as well. Those claimant states have claimed its land and water areas borderlines that based on several reasons, including historical facts and national law. The claims created complicated conflict and clashes, which could influence the regional peace and stability in Asia-Pacific region and have made the region became one of the flashpoints in international issues. As a multilateral forum, ARF has important and strategic role on managing disputes in SCS by facilitating and mediating those claimant states to conduct friendly negotiation. The goal is to defuse tensions among the claimants and seek a long-term and peaceful agreement in negotiation with China for peace, stability, security and development in the region. It reflects the use of one of evolutionary process stages in ARF that called preventive diplomacy measure, which is also implemented through track one and track two activities. Therefore, this thesis will provide the detailed information and analysis of SCS disputes. Moreover, this thesis also will provide the information of ARF’s conflict management approaches in responding to disputes in Asia-Pacific region, especially the SCS disputes. The result of this thesis will explain about how ARF implements preventive diplomacy in managing SCS disputes and what are the challenges, failures, and limitation ARF in controlling SCS disputes.