“There is nothing ‘historic’ about China’s ‘historic rights’ claim” in the South China Sea.

The South China Sea popped into mainstream news in July with the U.S. State Department announcing a “strengthening” of U.S. policy regarding China’s claims in the sea. But while the statement resurfaced the South China Sea conundrum for the West, analysts of the region have been watching all along – among them Bill Hayton, an associate fellow in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. The Diplomat’s Ankit Panda spoke to Hayton recently about the goings on in the South China Sea, from the neverending discussions between ASEAN and China on a code of conduct to the ahistoric nature of China’s “historic” claims and future possibilities of even higher tensions in the region.

Hayton’s upcoming book “The Invention of China” will be published by Yale University Press in October.

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