Mark J. Valencia, an internationally renowned maritime policy analyst focused on Asia, passed away on 6 December 2023 in Hawaii, surrounded by his family.
A regular author for Pearls and Irritations, Mark was an Adjunct Senior Scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China; and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Huayang Institute for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, Sanya, China.
Our condolences to Mark’s family. We will miss him.
A selection of Marks latest articles is included below:
Albanese, Xi meet in the shadow of the Australia-China-US triangle
As Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Beijing in an attempt to improve relations, Elena Collinson warned that untangling Australia- China relations from China- U.S. relations would be difficult. Indeed, AustraliaChina relations remain deeply troubled. Because the dynamics and dangers in the relationship are still the same, it is worth revisiting a piece I wrote last year for Pearls and Irritations.
A worst case scenario for the South China Sea
The increasing militarisation of the South China Sea disputes sets the stage for the worst case scenariofrequent and widespread conflict that eventually results in a military confrontation between China and the US.To avoid this scenario, the reality is that China, its rival claimants and the U.S. have to compromise.
The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.
