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South China Sea or “Asian Mediterranean Sea”: Re-Conceptualizing a Common Regional Maritime Zone*

The division of Southeast Asia into “mainland” and “insular” components hides a focal, unifying geographic element-the central body of water that the two halves bracket and encircle as a common heritage. Because this body of water, like its Near Eastern counterpart, has been a common maritime highway for all traders of Asia since ancient times, it might just as well be called the “Asian Mediterranean Sea.” The main purpose of the paper is to argue that current and future policies related to the exploitation of marine resources in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Asian Mediterranean Sea, should be carried out on a region-wide and collaborative basis. Such a multilateral approach is supported by a fuller understanding of the past sociocultural, political and commercial relations that marked this region in pre-colonial and colonial periods.