East Meets West: Wu Shicun: What Lies Ahead for Global Ocean Governance?

Since the late 1940s and early 1950s, global ocean governance has emerged and developed along with the globalisation process and is an important practice in the transformation of the international ocean order towards a cooperative, normative, and unified path. With enduring exploration and joint efforts by all countries, global ocean governance has gradually formed a multilateral order centred on the United Nations, consisting of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereafter referred to as the Convention), the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international conventions, institutions, regional treaties, and cooperation mechanisms such as the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee and the United Nations Ocean Conference.

These rules and mechanisms have established norms and frameworks for international and regional cooperation on ocean governance among sovereign states, enabling significant progress and many breakthroughs in global ocean governance. However, with the accelerated evolution of the world's political and economic landscape, new issues and dilemmas have emerged in the field of maritime strategy.

In the current global ocean governance system, three aspects are more prominent.

First is the fragmentation of global ocean governance. This is mainly reflected in the mechanisms and rules of governance. Since the 1950s, global and regional ocean governance mechanisms and institutions have sprung up, but some have overlapping jurisdictions and blind spots in governance.

A flock of migratory birds in Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao. Photo by Wang Haibin

UNESCO, UNEP, FAO and its subsidiary COFI, WMO and its Marine Meteorology and Oceanography Programme (MMOP) have all put forward their own ocean governance programmes and projects.

According to incomplete statistics, there are currently at least 40 regional cooperation mechanisms related to ocean governance in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific Ocean, covering various areas such as security, search and rescue, fisheries, environmental protection, economics, anti-piracy and armed robberies at sea, and maritime affairs. An example is fisheries governance. There are more than eight regional cooperation mechanisms in the Indian-Pacific region, including the North Pacific Fisheries Commission, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, the Asia-Pacific Fisheries Commission, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission, the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement, the China-Pacific Island Countries Fisheries Cooperation and Development Forum, and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre.

Secondly, the ocean game has involved different camps. Since the introduction of the "Asia-Pacific Rebalance Strategy", the United States has issued a series of important strategic planning documents, and has adjusted the regional maritime security strategy under the new global, "Asia-Pacific", and subsequent "Indian-Pacific" frameworks. The practice of successive administrations has led to a gradual clarification of the "camp" trend of the US Indian-Pacific maritime security strategy, with "like-minded" partners, including its treaty allies and those with common interests and strategic fit.

Thirdly, maritime disputes are heating up. At the global level, conflicts and disputes over maritime delimitation, exploitation of fisheries resources, territorial sovereignty over islands and reefs, and the use of sea lanes have arisen. According to rough statistics, more than 200 maritime disputes are arising from issues relating to territorial sovereignty over islands and reefs, claims to maritime jurisdiction, and exploitation of marine resources, in which at least 60 countries are involved. Maritime disputes are often entangled with history, national sentiments, and significant economic and security interests. They are by no means easy to resolve.

A seine fishery in the Saronic Gulf, Greece. Photo by Milos Bicanski

At present, global ocean governance is faced with three other dilemmas.

Firstly, the 'counter-current' of globalisation is affecting ocean governance. Some studies point out that globalisation has slowed down significantly or even come to a standstill since 2007, and the international system has entered a phase of "counter-globalisation" since 2009. Since the first half of 2020, the pandemic has swept the world and intensified the rejection and resistance to globalisation in the West. The process of global ocean governance has not only lost the driving force of globalisation, but, like other areas, has been questioned and rejected by the international community. For example, in the case of global maritime waterway security governance, studies have shown that the wave of "counter-globalisation" has significantly reduced the demand and willingness of countries to promote multilateral governance in areas such as anti-piracy and waterway security.

Secondly, unilateralism and protectionism have also become prevalent in ocean governance. As an important part of the international order after the Second World War, global ocean governance has been dominated and manipulated by the United States. As the dominant player in the international system, the US has a decisive influence on the rule setting, system creation, agenda setting, and political process of global ocean governance. The UK, Japan, France, Australia, and others also maintain their discourse on global ocean governance under the support and protection of the US. However, since 2017, the US has promoted protectionism and unilateralism in many areas, including global ocean governance, in pursuit of its "America First" goal. At the same time, the UK and EU countries have been affected to varying degrees by populism, nationalism and "anti-globalisation" thought.

The US Navy crossed the Strait of Hormuz. Credit: visual.people.cn

Thirdly, the inherent flaws and lagging development of the global ocean rules and order have become increasingly apparent. Since the adoption and entry into force of the Convention, differences in the application and interpretation of the Convention have become increasingly evident, and there is an urgent need for new international rules to fill the gaps in the system, such as biodiversity conservation, microplastic pollution control, and ocean acidification control.

Currently, global ocean development is facing unprecedented challenges, such as biodiversity degradation, depletion of fishery resources, ocean pollution, seawater acidification and temperature rises, sea level rises, waterway safety, and other areas. Governance is a long way to go, and maintaining and improving the multilateralism of the global ocean governance system is a common issue facing all countries in the world. How should all countries respond?

Firstly, according to the main priorities, we should accelerate the pace and process of improving the rules related to international ocean governance. International agreements on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), regulations on the exploitation of resources in international seabed areas, and rules on international cooperation in the management of marine plastic waste can be the key areas, and relying on important international mechanisms such as the United Nations Ocean Conference, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international ocean governance rules can be revised and improved in line with the times.

On 8 June 2017, several giant sculptures of waste were unveiled in front of the United Nations headquarters building on the occasion of the United Nations Ocean Conference. The sculptures were created from the marine waste collected from the sea. Pictured here is a 10-foot (3m) tall 'seahorse'. Photo by Volkan Furuncu

Secondly, we need to protect the oceans on which humanity depends and build a global blue partnership. Goal 14 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and marine resources for sustainable development. The oceans will remain the main vehicle for global economic growth in the 21st century. Countries worldwide should work together to find a balance between 'conservation' and 'development', avoid the 'tragedy of the commons' in the global oceans, and improve the utilisation and economic benefits of marine resources through innovation in marine science and technology.

A coral conservation area at the "Sea Ranch" in the Boundary Island tourist area of Lingshui Li Autonomous County, Hainan. Photo by Luo Yunfei

Thirdly, a three-pronged approach - international, regional, and national - is being taken to expand the supply of public goods for global ocean governance. In response to the "fragmentation" of regional and international ocean governance mechanisms at this stage, countries should take multilateralism as a principle and gradually integrate and improve regional and international ocean governance cooperation mechanisms through dialogue and consultation under the framework of the United Nations, to fill in the blind spots in the original governance mechanism network. We should promote the establishment of national-regional-international coordination, avoid overlapping and complement each other, and build a network to supply public goods for global ocean governance.

Fourthly, we should abandon the Cold War mentality and jointly promote global maritime security governance. Today, piracy, maritime disputes, struggles over the command of the sea, and other non-traditional and traditional security challenges overlap, so global maritime security does not look optimistic. Therefore, we should break out of the strange circle of "zero-sum security" and the "Cold War Mentality", and establish a stable and long-term dialogue, consultation, and cooperation mechanism around issues such as the maintenance of waterway safety, the settlement of regional maritime disputes, and the control of the maritime security situation through cooperation, commonality, and equality.

Finally, the special role of sea-related NGOs, think tanks, and scientific research institutions in global ocean governance should be brought into play. For example, the Global Pact for the Environment was initiated by The Club des Juristes, a leading French legal think tank, and the United Nations has already adopted a resolution to develop a basic framework for the draft pact. The international community should support marine-related NGOs, think tanks, and scientific institutions in providing scientific research data, research recommendations, and information sharing across borders and sectors for intergovernmental consultations and the decision-making processes of governments.

Wu Shicun, PhD in History, is a doctoral supervisor, research fellow, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the China-Southeast Asia Research Centre on the South China Sea, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Huayang Ocean Research Centre, Founding Director of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, and Chair Professor of Xiamen University. He has been a visiting scholar at the Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, the Center for Asia-Pacific Security Studies, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and has participated in training programs such as the US Government's "Fundamentals of the US Foreign Policy". From 1993 to 2000, he participated in the Sino-Vietnamese negotiations on the demarcation of the Gulf of Tonkin as a member of the Chinese government delegation and expert group.

Wu Shicun has devoted himself to the study of the South China Sea for nearly 30 years, and has long been engaged in interdisciplinary research on the history and geography of the South China Sea, maritime delimitation, international relations and regional security, and the construction of Hainan's free trade port, etc. He has presided over more than 400 related projects. He has published more than 30 books in Chinese and foreign languages, and more than 300 academic papers and commentaries in English and Chinese on well-known media platforms in China and abroad.