The Year in Review: South China Sea Edition

As 2016 (finally) comes to an end, we’re looking back on an eventful year. This week, Lawfare will be rounding up coverage of some of our favorite national security topics of the past twelve months.

First up: the high seas.

We bought you legal analysis on the hottest spot in Maritime Law, the South China Sea:

• Submarines and the Law of Espionage

• Secretary Carter Illuminates the South China Sea FONOP

• Taiwan’s U.S. Defense Guarantee is Not Strong, But It Isn’t That Weak Either

• Why Does the U.S. Demand Innocent Passage in the South China Sea, But Not in the Persian Gulf?

• Taiwan President Ma’s “Unhelpful” Visit to the South China Sea

• Isolating China: Why the Latest U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operation May Have Already Succeeded

• The US-China Arrangement for Air-to-Air Encounters Weakens International Law

• The U.S. Government’s Continued Indecision on the South China Sea: Can We Get Past the FONOP Debate?

• Is the Nine Dash Line a Super-Sized Exclusive Economic Zone?

• Is a U.S.-China “Face-Saving Compromise” Possible in the South China Sea?

• Back to Basics in the South China Sea

• Does the U.S. Have a Legal Obligation to Defend the Scarborough Shoal for the Philippines? Not Until It Decides Who Owns It.

• We’ve Seen This Movie Before: The Latest U.S. “Innocent Passage” Freedom of Navigation Operation in the South China Sea

• China’s Ridiculously Weak Legal Argument Against Complying with the South China Sea Arbitration Award

• Europeans in the South China Sea

• A Guide to Countering Chinese Government Spin on the Fairness of the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal

• The Philippines Should Dare China to Challenge the Arbitral Award in the ICJ

• Short, Quick Take on the Philippines’ Sweeping Victory in the South China Sea Arbitration

• Tribunal Issues Landmark Ruling in South China Sea Arbitration

• Possible U.S. Responses to the South China Sea Arbitration Award: The Aggressive FONOPs Option

• China’s Legacy Maritime Claims

• The South China Sea Arbitration: Implications for the Senkaku Islands

• U.S. Response to the South China Sea Arbitration and the Limits of the Diplomatic “Shamefare” Option

• More Possible U.S. Responses to the South China Sea Award: Why Not Economic Sanctions?

• Military Activities on the Continental Shelf

• Whether the South China Sea Arbitral Award Matters Will Depend Almost Entirely On the U.S.

• Tracking China’s Compliance with the South China Sea Arbitral Award

• The Latest US Freedom of Navigation Operation Opens the Legal Door to More Aggressive US Challenges to China’s Artificial Islands

• Vietnam, the UNCLOS Tribunal, and the Latest U.S. FONOP in the South China Sea

• Tracking China’s Compliance with the South China Sea Arbitral Award: Scarborough Shoal Update

• Would a Military Sail-by at Mischief Reef be a FON Operation?

• Tracking China’s Compliance with the South China Sea Arbitral Award: Traditional Fishing Rights Inside the Lagoon at Scarborough Shoal

• U.S. Defense Department Confirms USS Decatur Did Not Follow Innocent Passage and Challenged China’s Excessive Straight Baselines

• The Nonexistent Legal Basis for China’s Seizure of the U.S. Navy’s Drone in the South China Sea

• China’s Capture of U.S. Underwater Drone Violates Law of the Sea

And each week, Water Wars recapped the latest news, analysis, and opinions related to ongoing tension in the South China Sea and beyond.