News Snapshot:
By Aristyo Rizka Darmawan* It has been a difficult couple of years for Southeast Asia’s South China Sea-claimant countries. While they have been struggling to deal with vaccine diplomacy and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, China has been accused of taking advantage of the situation by becoming increasingly assertive in the disputed areas. During the pandemic, manoeuvres by the China Coast Guard and even People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have provoked Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. One of the earliest incidents involved China sending its survey patrol vessels to the Indonesian North Natuna Sea, escorted by a PLAN warship destroyer,...
