Avoiding War in the South China Sea

Pekingology · Jul 9, 2026 · 49m

Ten years after an international tribunal found the vast majority of China’s claims in the South China Sea to be unlawful, the risk of conflict in this vital global throughway remains stubbornly high. This week on Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Greg Poling, Director and Senior Fellow of the CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and Southeast Asia Program, for a wide-ranging discussion on China’s strategy, successes, and failures in the South China Sea. They examine the evolving nature of China’s maritime claims, why Beijing cares so much about small rocks in…