Diplomacy Today | Figure for the Issue
© Chappatte dans Le Temps, Genève.
Diplomacy Today
While the global balance of power, under the impetus of the steady rise of China, is shifting towards the Asia-Pacific, and because the future of US policy is uncertain after the election of Donald Trump, tensions in the South China Sea have once again become a major strategic concern. The South China Sea is witnessing a series of sovereignty disputes between littoral states defending rivalling claims to maritime rights and boundaries. Adding weight and urgency to the disputes are the significant natural resources found in the coveted archipelagos and sea beds as well as the rising national sentiments in many of the claimant states. The geostrategic dimension of these quarrels is largely transcending the region and the involvement of external powers such as the United States further complicates the equation. The recent legal victory of the Philippines over China can be seen as a supplementary cause for anxiety in a latent conflict that may at any time escalate into a regional or global confrontation. Henceforth the search for a negotiated solution becomes crucial as military budgets continue to soar in the region.
In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly set a target for countries to allocate 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA). Today, against a backdrop of an unprecedented decline in international development funding, this goal seems further away than ever. Is the framework established after World War II — which shaped North-South relations for decades — collapsing? The elimination or drastic reduction of many public budgets reveals donor fatigue, calling for strategic changes in both the North and the South regarding the future of the very concept of development.
Are countries in the South facing a dangerous vacuum or an opportunity to forge new, less asymmetrical partnerships? This crisis may pave the way for a new paradigm, based on a reinvented solidarity, with the risk of a return to geopolitical competition and conditionalities for access to resources.
