'Not so Fast, Thucydides!' Reasons to be Cheerful about the South China Sea

Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies hosts a talk with Bill Hayton on his book arguing for deescalation in the South China Seas.

Is war in the South China Sea inevitable? While there are many reasons to be gloomy about the prospects for peace, there are also reasons for optimism. As the region prepares for an imminent international court ruling on China’s maritime claims, there are signs that China is prepared to compromise to avoid conflict. In this presentation, Bill Hayton will present a corrective to the dominant 'Thucydides Trap’ narrative and instead argue that the international community needs to work with China to de-escalate the disputes.

About the Presenter:

Bill Hayton is the author of The South China Sea: the Struggle for Power in Asia, named as one of The Economist's books of the year in 2014, and Vietnam: Rising Dragon, published in 2010. He has worked for BBC News since 1998 and was the BBC's reporter in Vietnam in 2006-07. He spent 2013 embedded with Myanmar's state broadcaster working on media reform. He is also an Associate Fellow with the Asia Programme of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He has given presentations about South China Sea and Southeast Asian issues for think-tanks and government institutions in the UK, US, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. His written work has been published in The Economist, the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat and the National Interest, among other outlets.