On 23-24 October 2024, Prof Robert Beckman participated in the 16^th South China Sea International Conference at the Vinpearl Hotel in Halong Bay, Vietnam. This is the 16^th annual conference on the South China Sea that has been organized by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam with support from governments and aid agencies in Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia, and Prof Beckman has participated in 15 of the annual conferences.

The theme of the 2024 Conference was “Navigating Narratives, Nurturing Norms”. Prof Beckman made a presentation in Session 5, which was entitled “Revisit the obligations of non-use or threat of use of force for peaceful resolutions and conflict prevention.” In his presentation Prof Beckman focused on how the rules of international law governing the threat or use of force, self-defense, aggression, etc, might apply to “grey zone” activities in the South China Sea by State and non-State actors. He also stated that the grey zone activities should be examined in light the provisions in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the international cases interpreting its provisions.

Prof Beckman also participated in a Conference Side Event on 22 October which was an ASEAN Dialogue Session on “Southeast Asia and Responses against Natural Disasters: United We Act”. The dialogue event was triggered by the fact that Ha Long suffered serious damage from Typhoon Yagi in early September, 2024.