21st Century SEATO: a Renewed Approach to Security in the South China Sea

The South China Sea is one of the worlds most strategic waterways, marked by tendencies, potentials, trends, and tensions involving a distinct group of actors. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seeks continued economic growth and success. China has emerged as a revisionist state, taking competitive actions through territorial claims and confrontational maritime engagements. The U.S. continues to pursue regional security and stability with its allies and partners. In order to achieve a balance of power in the South China Sea, the turmoil and uncertainty must be replaced with stability, requiring a lasting security framework. Developing a coordinated multilateral security framework with its ASEAN partners will allow the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) to facilitate peace and stability in the South China Sea, while demonstrating strategic measured responses to competitive actions by China. A 21st century Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) represents a multilateral security framework that could be implemented as an effective approach to security cooperation in the region. Multilateral security cooperation will provide a number of significant benefits, including a balance of power in the South China Sea region, and ensuring ASEAN economic stability and growth. In the absence of a 21st century SEATO model of security framework, instability and conflict in the South China Sea will continue to increase. Allowing the status quo of volatility in the South China Sea will erode international order and could have considerable power balance consequences in the future. A 21st century SEATO has the potential to grow and evolve into an effective organization that could achieve regional security over the long term in the South China Sea.