South China Sea Needs Science Diplomacy Policy

Nov 8, 2017 | James Borton
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Despite White House efforts to deny well-established climate change reports, coupled with US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, most might question the wisdom of laying down a wild card in the midst of a scheduled high-stakes summit between President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.  Yet science may prove to be the lynchpin for bringing about cooperation rather than competition not only among the claimant nations in the contested South China Sea but also between Washington and Beijing. After all, science has always been a key part of the US diplomacy arsenal when informing foreign policy. The territorial claims among China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei in the turbulent waters of the South China Sea remain a serious threat to the political and ecological security of Southeast Asia. As such, environmental degradation remains at the center of South China Sea scientific policy conversations, and for an increasing number of policy shapers and scientists, there’s an urgent need to address acidification, biodiversity loss, regional impacts of climate change, coral reef destruction, and fishery collapse. Enter science diplomacy. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) defines the role of science as being used to inform foreign policy decisions, promoting international scientific collaborations, and establishing scientific cooperation to ease tensions between nations.