An academic webinar on US Military Operations and Situation in South China Sea, the 9th Security and Strategy Seminar, was jointly hosted by Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS), China Forum and Peking University’s Center for Maritime Strategy Studies (CMSS) on April 7th, 2020.

The webinar was co-chaired by YAO Yunzhu, CISS Academic Committee member, AN Gang, CISS senior fellow, and HU Bo, CMSS director. 

Webinar’s deliberation was based on An Incomplete Report on US Military Activities in the South China Sea in 2019, published by the South China Sea Strategic Situational Probing Initiative (SCSPI) on March 28th. Experts deemed that the report persisted in exploring data information with open sources and objectively analysing situations, and presenting opinions with graphs and figures, which has been well received at both home and abroad. 

Experts stated that the frequency of US military operations against China in the South China Sea has been significantly improved in recent years, and this trend will not ceasein the future, but become stronger.

Experts also pointed out that in the short term,  the US military investment in the South China Sea will not increase significantly in the future.The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will also influence US military mobilization in the next stage. 

Some experts indicated that the situation of strategic stalemate between China and the US in the South China Sea has been shaped. The US military regarding its activities in the South China Sea as an important part of implementing military competition with China. It is still necessary for both sides to enhance crisis prevention and control under current competition.

The Weekend Forum on Security and Strategy is CISS’s brand forum, inviting Chinese experts and scholars from various fields for discussions on hot topics concerning areas strategy and security regularly.