The Asian renaissance in the twentieth first century, constituted by astronomical economic growth combined with the ambitious and authoritarian leadership of Xi Jinping's reign, has led China in the direction of proactive international policies. The South China Sea is one of the major arenas where such policies are taking place. This paper seeks to explain the case of  the Chinese expansionist initiative in the South China Sea through a case study with the structure of a systematic textual analysis. The study will further adopt the international political theory of realism as an explanatory model, which is commonly referred to as the most suited international political theory in explaining expansionist state behavior. Further concepts within the theoretical lens consist of; balance of power, regional hegemony and elements of national power. This paper finds that China seeks to militarize the South China Sea as an act of power-balancing towards the military presence of the U.S. The end-goal of the Chinese initiative is to establish regional hegemony in the region, where China seeks to dominate the waters in competitions with ASEAN states through the means of their maritime militia. Towards the United States, the effort of regional hegemony is mostly in the phase of verbal prompts and to some extent threatening. The initiative in the waters further serves to extract national elements of power, such as oil, natural gas and fishery to secure maintenance and growth of the Chinese nation.

The Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary is arguably the most critical transition in Earth history. This boundary is currently defined by the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) at Fortune Head (Newfoundland, Canada) at a point that was once regarded as the first appearance of the branching trace fossil Treptichnus pedum. However, T. pedum has been subsequently found below the GSSP, and its distribution is largely restricted to sandstone facies where chemostratigraphic correlation tools are difficult to apply. Thus, the stratigraphic value of the Fortune Head GSSP has come under scrutiny, and there is a need to search for an alternative definition of this boundary using other biostratigraphic criteria. Investigations of acanthomorphic acritarchs in basal Cambrian strata of South China suggest that these microfossils may provide an appropriate biostratigraphic marker for the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, because of their wide distribution in chert-phosphorite layers intercalated with carbonates and shales, thus allowing their biostratigraphic occurrences to be calibrated with small shelly fossil (SSF) biostratigraphy and carbon isotope chemostratigraphy. Acanthomorphic acritarchs of the Asteridium-Heliosphaeridium-Comasphaeridium (AHC) assemblage zone have been identified at 11 localities in chert-phosphorite layers in the basal Cambrian Yanjiahe, Liuchapo, and Niutitang formations. These localities span a 300 km transect in South China, with depositional environments varying from a shallow carbonate shelf, to an outer shelf-slope transition and an open ocean slope-basin. The Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary can be bracketed between basal Cambrian AHC assemblage and the upper Ediacaran fossils, Horodyskia minor and Palaeopascichnus jiumenensis (HmPj assemblage zone), which occur in the lower Liuchapo Formation. There is no stratigraphic overlap between the AHC and HmPj assemblage zones. Available data show that the AHC assemblage zone is in close stratigraphic proximity with the basal Cambrian SSFs and a negative "13C excursion near the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary. Thus, in South China, the first occurrences of AHC assemblage microfossils and last occurrences of HmPj fossils can effectively "bookend" the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary to fine-scale resolution (down to 0.5 m in present study) in the Yanjiahe and Liuchapo formations. We propose that the AHC assemblage can be used to redefine the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary and this proposal should be tested with detailed acanthomorph biostratigraphy beyond South China. / Master of Science

南中國海內有零星島群，其中以南沙群島為最，乃是世上最多國家涉及主權爭端的海域，其背後有當年殖民主義所遺留下來的歷史因素、現代海洋法公約所造成的曖昧不清的劃界以及主權權利劃分的問題，以及海洋資源的爭奪與政治上戰略地位的考量。上述因素相互關連並交織成南沙群島的主權爭議，中華民國、中華人民共和國、越南、菲律賓、馬來西亞與汶萊六方各執一詞，從法理、歷史甚至是國土安全等論點來宣示主權，不過各爭端國在論點上各有利弊，所以南沙群島的主權劃歸至今仍無解。但是即便各方在主權議題上互不相讓，然而就南沙群島主權爭議而言，這些理性的行為者在幾番考量下仍願意共同合作。就目前的情況來看，先行暫時擱置主權，再進行共同開發似乎是唯一可行的方法，特別是合作的目標物為海上石油與油氣資源，因為能源資源乃是具有高度價值的不可再生性資源，而據相關單位估計，目前全球已開發的石油資源即將面臨耗竭狀態，因此潛在的石油存量才更加吸引各國的目光。 / 依照各方的合作意願與態度，本論文將以新自由制度主義中理性選擇下的合作精神與建制概念分析南海共同開發的可適用性與限制性。先論述共同開發的意涵，再闡述新自由制度主義與共同開發的關連性。接者為了配合南海的共同開發，筆者先介紹學者針對南海合作的觀點，再針對一九九零年馬來西亞與泰國暹邏灣大陸架資源共同開發案、二零零二年中國與越南北部灣劃界與漁業協定、二零零五年中、菲、越三國南海聯合海洋地震工作協議與二零零八年中國與菲律賓所發表的有關共同捕魚區的合作建議等四項案例作分析，從實際合作中探討未來針對南沙群島水域的共同開發可行性，並從新自由制度主義探討合作的展望與限制。 / Of all the islands in the South China sea, the island groups of the Spratlys is one of the most keenly disputed territories in Southeast Asia, where overlapping claims for sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction are hotly debated. There are a lot of reasons giving rise to the debate. First some scholars view the problem over the Spratlys as part of the historical legacies left behind by the former Western colonial powers. Second, other scholars place greater emphasis on ambiguous legal aspects of territorial jurisdiction. Third still other scholars emphasize political and geo-strategic considerations to explain the complex situation. Lastly nowadays a lot of studies focus on the possibilities of the discovery of major gas and oil field. Those perspectives above can explain why there is no concrete agreement among the six parties including the Republic of China, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Although the issue of sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction is too complicate to deal with now, those rational actors still may cooperate and jointly explore and exploit. At present the only possible way to joint development is to first put sovereignty aside and then collaborate. / In this thesis, the objective is to analyze the feasibility and limitation of joint development from Neo-liberal Institutionalism which is mainly about cooperation and regime. First I explain what joint development is and then analyze the linkage between Neo-liberal Institutionalism and joint development. And the next part focuses on the Spratly islands and I analyze four cases including the agreement between Malaysia and Thailand on the constitution and other matters relating to the establishment of the joint authority, the agreement between China and Vietnam on Beibu gulf, the joint authority agreement on joint seismic survey of the South China Sea among the oil companies of China, Vietnam and the Philippines, and the recommendation of common fishing zone. I analyze and predict whether the joint development is feasible in the future through the analysis of practical cooperation.

美國「南海」政策旨在為其「再平衡」戰略服務,並透過此一政策,能夠作 為深入亞洲地區的切入點。華府希冀南海爭端各方遵守國際規範、透過多邊機制 的談判與整合,來促使南海主權爭端議題和平解決,以及南海海域的航行自由等 均視為美國的國家利益。不過,美國實際舉措某種程度上而言仍存在著圍堵中共 之意味,尤其從「再平衡」政策推廣以來,無論是透過與亞洲地區傳統盟邦的軍 事同盟關係更新,拓展新型夥伴關係,不斷增強與東協國家互動密度,並在亞太 區域各處執行聯合軍事演習,種種作為都宣告著美國致力於亞太事務及其區域霸 權維護之決心。而美國「南海」政策挾其既有優勢以遏制中共的崛起與擴張,也 正逢此一適切時機,為美國爭取更大更多的戰略空間以及時間,來形塑美國所預 期的有利態勢與結果,包括符合美國利益的《南海行為準則》,更長遠的目標則 是透過這樣一個區域戰略創造出最佳的地緣戰略,奠定其未來放眼全球戰略上, 增加更多正面的選項,延長並維繫美國之超強霸權。 / The United States has enacted South China Sea policy. The main purpose of the policy is to support its rebalance strategy in the Asia Pacific. Moreover, it can be as the entry point which is driven deeper into the Asia Pacific. Washington intend to multi-national parties who involved in territorial sovereignty in South China Sea resolve the disputed issue peacefully by abiding international norms and multilateral mechanisms’ negotiation and integration. Also, the U.S. desires to maintain the freedom of navigation in South China Sea. From the viewpoint above, it seems like the solutions are beneficial to the multi-national parties, however, the U.S. would have more benefits on it. On the other hand, to certain extent, the intention of the U.S. is to contain the Mainland China. The progress of rebalance strategy mainly demonstrates (1) The U.S. is ramping up the relationship with allies in Southeast Asia, (2) They hold joint military drills in Asia Pacific frequently. From the rebalancing policy, it can be clearly seen that the United States determine to maintain and strengthen its power in the region. To sum up, the U.S.’ South China Sea policy may not only curb the Mainland China rising and expansion but also provide opportunities for the U.S. gaining greater strategic space. Whether the 12 July 2016 arbitral award will be incorporated into the South China Sea Code of Conduct is indeed a problem which in conflict with the national interest between the United States and Mainland China. Additionally, a long-term goal of the U.S. can be built such as creating a regional strategy based on geostrategic policy in order to ensure that they may extend and maintain their hegemony.

En tant qu'un des plus grands bassins sédimentaires du bloc de Chine du Sud, le bassin de Nanpanjiang a attiré une grande attention de la communauté géologique depuis de longtemps. Après plusieurs années de recherche, il reste encore de grand débats sur i) la provenance du bassin, ii) l'âge du changement de régime extension à compression, iii) le type de bassin et son contexte géodynamique. Dans cette thèse, nous avons conduit une étude pluri-disciplinaire incluant l'analyse des faciès sédimentaires et leur distribution géographique, paléocourants, spectres des minéraux lourds et leur geochimie, la géochronologie U-Pb sur zircon et baddeléyite, et le magnétisme des roches pour reconstrurier l'evolution de ce bassin. Les résultats indiquent un trois-étapes évolution. i) durant la période du Permien supérieur au début du Trias, la diabase mise en place 269Ma annonce l'ouverture du bassin, l'environnement sédimentaire est devenu plus profond. ii) durant la période du stade tardif du Trias inférieur (~ 245 Ma) au Trias moyen, à cause des influences de l'orogène Xuefengshan et de l'orogène d'Indochine situées à l'est et au sud du bassin, le bassin a évolué en bassin d'avant-pays. La diabase arrête sa mise en place durant cette période. Les analyses de détritus et de paléo-courants indiquent que durant cette période, les provenances de la partie est et de la partie sud du bassin étaient respectivement l'orogène Xuefengshan et l'orogène Indochinois. iii) la fin du Tirassique, la profondeur de l'environnement sédimentaire a fortement diminué, indiquant que le bassin a commencé à se rétrécir sous l'effet de la compression de l'orogène Xuefengshan et de l'orogène d'Indochine. / Ranks as the largest sedimentary basin in the South China during the Triassic, The Nanpanjiang basin attracts a large attention of the geology community for a long time. After many years study, there still exist several debates on i) the provenance of the sedimentary detritus, ii) the time of the change of the tectonic regime from extension to compression, iii) the type of the basin and its geodynamic background. In this thesis, a multidisciplinary study including analysis of sedimentary facies, paleo-current, frame work detritus mode, heavy mineral combinations and their geochemistry feature, rock magnetism and Zircon-baddeleyite isotopic dating on diabase was conducted to rebuild the evolution of the basin.The results show a three-stage evolution, i) during the Late Permian to the Early Triassic, the 269Ma diabase intruding into the basin announces the opening of the basin, the sedimentary environment became deeper. ii) During the late stage of the Early Triassic (~245 Ma) to the Middle Triassic, owing to the influences of the Xuefengshan orogen and the Indochina orogen which are located to the east and south of the basin, the basin evolved into a foreland basin. The diabase ceased emplacement in this period. The detritus and paleo-current analysis indicate that during this stage, the provenances of the East part and the South part of the basin were Xuefengshan Orogen and Indochina Orogen respectively. iii) During the Late Tirassic, the depth of the sedimentary environment decrease drasticly, indicating that the basin began to shrink owing to the compression of the Xuefengshan Orogen and the Indochina Orogen.

過去有關南海問題的研究，多是從法律的角度探討南海主權的紛爭，可是若能配合國家間的互動關係、權力政治、國家利益、衝突等面向，似乎更能有效觀察到整個事件的。因此本論文從這個角度切入來探討南海問題的癥結以及中共南海政策的演變，並從外交與軍事手段的運用分析中共對南海的經營以及對主權的維護。有關南海主權問題的糾紛，不但涉及南海諸島主權歸屬問題，同時也涵蓋了整個海域礦產資源（如石油、天然氣）的開發與漁業資源分配的糾紛。同時南海居太平洋與印度洋的交通要衝，也是亞洲各國經濟發展的生命線。因此，爭端的多邊性，使得南海的局勢更加複雜化。本論文歸納了自中共建政以來同鄰國發生領土主權及國家利益的紛爭，即一九五○年的「抗美援朝」戰爭、一九六二年「中印邊界」戰爭、一九六九年中蘇共「珍寶島衝突」及一九七九年中共「懲越戰爭」。從中共當時的國際環境、國內環境、與對手國的關係演變、決策中心內部的意見為決策產出的依據，並分析其處理過程中外交與軍事手段運用的特質。在探討中共南海政策中外交與軍事手段運用的特質中，筆者從中共海權發展的角度切入，從一九四九年至今，分析中共海軍及其戰略演變以及對於內、外環境的認知和對海洋法態度的轉變，依此決定在同南海週邊國家進行捍衛主權「鬥爭」時所採取的手段。同時對中共爭奪南海加以評估，以作為我國南海政策的參考。

二次世界大戰結束後，以美國為首的民主國家採取長期的對蘇聯的社會主義國家圍堵不接觸的「冷戰」作為，此種兩極體系發展產生一種軍備競賽方式取代戰爭模式，1991年蘇聯共產體制瓦解，原已經於一九八九年宣告結束的東西「冷戰」正式結束，冷戰結束後，世界軍事格局脫離了兩極對峙，1978年鄧小平掌權後，判斷世界新形勢，修正社會主義路線，經濟上遂行改革開放政策，帶動了中共國力崛起。 崛起的中共在軍事上不斷現代化，威脅著南海爭議相關國家，同時也代表美國在亞洲的利益受到挑戰，中共近期將南海島礁主權列為國家重大利益，軍力部署轉向海洋及東南方，也使中國威脅論升高，導致東協部份國家紛紛加強軍備，增加亞太地區的不穩定性，促使東協國家引進美國力量介入。 美國持續在東亞地區透過雙邊同盟或軍事關係，維持美國的國家利益，美國第44任總統歐巴馬也以重返亞洲為國務外交重大政策，因此美國與中共兩國在亞洲地區的合作或競爭作為，未來將左右南海爭議走向，這也是南海問題複雜的原因。 南海領土主權爭議是二戰結束後，亞洲國家戰後紛紛掙脫殖民國控制，先後完成各種制度的國家獨立開始，另外1952年國際海洋法公佈領海及鄰接區公約，也喚起世界各海洋國家的重視，然而國際法著重現實主義立場，使得南海周邊各國莫不以島礁「先佔」（Occupation）的行為爭取國家利益。 本文以南海地區的情勢發展為基礎，探究中共與美國對南海的國家戰略，首先從國際海洋法論南海主權問題，接續再由政治外交、經濟貿易、軍事等戰略面向分析，最後比較兩個大國的戰略互動行為，以求更進一步認識南海問題。 / Since the end of WWII, the democratic countries which led by U.S. have been adopting a policy with isolating and encircling measures to against former USSR and its follower communist countries for more than 3 decades which known “Cold War”, instead of traditional warfare, the pattern of these two poles of the political bodies gradually developed another situation of armament competition, in 1991, the communist body of the Soviet has collapsed, it was also a formal declaration of the end of West-East confrontation which we called Cold War. Ever since the Cold War, the pattern of the military strategy has been changed, in 1978, under Deng, Xiao-Ping’ ruling, he re-aligned its original socialist route by judging reality of world environment and adopted open policies on the aspect of economy, this movement has caused China’s power rising. China’s rising continuously keeping PLA modernized militarily, that also caused significant threats to countries who involve the dispute of South China Sea issues, mean while, it represent that the U.S. interests in Asia have been challenged as well, China has claimed the sovereignty of isled of South China Sea as critical interests of PRC recently, the deployment of forces has been moved to south east of China and its coastal areas, this move has elevated the possibility which known as “theory of China’s threat” and relatively increased Pac-Asia regions unstable and caused armaments enforcement themselves, it also welcome US power involve by ASEAN. The US continuously intent to maintain it’ interests in South Asia through bi-lateral allies and military relations cooperation, the President Obama has announced that return to South Asia will be a significant policy for US, thus the competition between US and China in the area will affects the dispute among the countries and makes it more complex. The dispute of South China Sea sovereignty had started after WWII and countries which out of colonial controlled and had all their policies established, on the other hand, in 1952, the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) issued has reminds and abstracts oceanic countries attention, however, international laws tend to reality, so that there is no country around the South China Sea without struggling for its own interests which by measure of pre-occupying isled on that. The context is base on the development of South China Sea as fundamentals so as to explore the strategies both US and PRC whom involved South China Sea disputes, first will start to discuss the problems of sovereignty base on international ocean laws, and then to discuss on analysis of various aspects such as political diplomacy, economic trade and military and will be wrapped up by the comparison of US-PRC on strategic interaction so as to make readers gain more understanding on the issues of South China Sea.

Abstract The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea in the world and connects with the East China Sea (ECS) through the Taiwan Strait (TS). This study investigates the distribution and biogeochemical behavior of both particulate and dissolved organic matter in the SCS and the TS based on samples collected on several cruises of the R/V Ocean Researchers I and III. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus (DIN and DIP), particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON) as well as dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphorus (DON and DOP) concentrations were determined. Concentrations of DON and DOP in the SCS are in the range of 1.2-9.9 mMN and 0.04-0.21 mMP, respectively. The surface DON concentration is the highest in the northern SCS, whereas it is the lowest in the southern part. The DOP does not show a similar trend. DON and DOP concentrations all decrease with depth but increase slightly near the bottom, perhaps on account of sediment resuspension. Because of the preferential degradation of DOP over DON, the maximum concentration of DOP appears at a shallower depth than that of DON. Approximately 11 % and 2 % of DIN and DIP respectively are attributed to the degradation of DON and DOP above 500 m in the SCS. Concentrations of POC and PON in the SCS are in the range of 1.06-2.84 mMC and 0.07-0.36 mMN, respectively. The distributions of POC and PON show similar patterns with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The concentrations of these are the highest at the surface layer, decrease with depth, but then increase slightly near the bottom, perhaps again because of resuspension of the bottom sediments. The ratio of PON/POC is 0.138 in the euphotic zone, a value close to the Redfield ratio of 0.15. In the TS and the adjacent coastal zones, the effect of terrestrial input is obvious and results in higher POC, PON, DON and DOP nearshore. Ranges of these concentrations are 0.06-59.6 mMN, 0.01-1.29 mMP, 3.80-57.1 mMC and 0.19-3.4 mMN, respectively. There was an attempt to use the one-dimensional diffusion-advection model to estimate the DIN and DIP production rates and the DON and DOP consumption rates over the depth range of 900-2500 m. These values are, respectively, 0.036, 0.006, 0.021 and 0.002 mmol/kg/yr.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes special study report entitled: Lighting and ventilation for sports. Includes bibliographical references.

Gas hydrate is a very complicated reservoir system characterized of temperature, pressure, gas composition, pore-water geochemical features, and gas sources, gas hydrate distribution within the gas hydrate stability zone. Temperature, pressure and the gas composition of the sediments were suitable for gas hydrate formation in the gas hydrate reservoir system of Shenhu Area, north slope of South China Sea. The high-resolution seismic data and the gas hydrate drilling getting high concentrations of hydrate (>40%) in a disseminated form in foram-rich clay sediment showed that gas hydrate is distributed heterogeneously at all spatial scales in all drill holes, and the hydrate-bearing sediments ranged several ten meters in thickness are located in the lower part of gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), just above the bottom of gas hydrate stability zone (BGHSZ). It is likely seem that the methane to crystallize gas hydrate is from in-situ microbial methane.