Barrack Obama, The President United States of America

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TO: Barrack Obama, The President United States of America
FROM: Insert your name and title here
DATE: October 11, 2016
SUBJECT: America’s Policy in the South China Sea
Relevance of the Issue
At a recent Track II meeting, an Asian participant mentioned, “We are all afraid of China, but we are also afraid of what China might do to our economy if we cross them” (McDevitt, pp.28). This forms the basis of this proposal, which focusses on American policies that could be implemented to curb China’s aggression in the South China Sea. To begin with, an estimated one hundred and eighty islands in the South China Sea are owned fully or partially by Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Philippines. However, China has been bullying its neighbors while being careful enough to avoid a war. In fact, history reveals that the Chinese paramilitary and military forces are known to capture islands in the South China Sea (Erickson, pp.8). Additionally, China placed an oil exploration rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in May 2014 claiming that the rig was within Chinese exclusive economic zone (McDevitt, pp.24). It is notable that the South China Sea is important to the world of commerce implying that a peaceful South China Sea would promote global trade. This owes to the fact that The South China Sea is one of the heavily journeyed shipping routes in the topical world. In fact, fifty percent of global trade and ninety percent of regional imports and exports pass through the South China Sea alone. On the contrary, Chinese actions in the area threaten peace, which could hamper with global trade. As evidenced, China deployed aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles on the Woody Island by March 2016, which threatened neighboring countries. Critical to the discussion is the fact that a series of confrontations between the United States of America and China occurred in the area from October 2015 to mid-May 2016 (Colin, pp.57). It follows that America should examine its foreign policy in the region owing to the importance of the region not only to neighboring States, but also to the entire world. Consequently, the upcoming paragraphs discuss the problem in question before providing recommendations on American plicies that could aid resolve the issue.
The American Policy on the Issue
Apparently, China and America have different opinions based on their interpretations of the UNCLOS. It follows that it is important to discuss America’s policy on the issue because understanding the policy could aid in providing a solution to the problem. For instance, it is notable that America has a policy advocating for non-favoritism of ASEAN countries involved in the dispute. Further, America advocates that the international laws of the sea allow freedom of navigation in the area. Moreover, the country recognizes dispute resolution mechanisms set out by international law and will support small countries from the region to resolve the dispute peacefully. As evidenced, America signed a treaty to help Philippines in case China threatens them (McDevitt, pp. 26). It is notable that A...