Abstract
Territorial tensions in the waters surrounding China have escalated in recent years. Maritime disputes in the South and East China Seas are, however, not just territorial, but are fundamentally underpinned by China’s attempts to display its growing regional dominance. In this vein, this article focuses on both the tangible and intangible values inherent in the concept of territory, analyzing existing studies proposing that contemporary territorial disputes may transform themselves into military clashes. It shows how China’s national pride and burgeoning military nationalism are connected to tensions with the USA by presenting two case studies. Congruently, the paper critically assesses contemporary claims that the territorial disputes are, in fact, a product of China’s ‘Monroe Doctrine,’ which frequently functions as a warning to the USA. In so doing, the article contributes to understanding the implications of the region’s instability for American foreign policy and, more significantly, for international security.
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Notes
The ‘first island chain’ is territorially defined by the Korean Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan (including the Ryukyu Islands), Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. All of these areas, except for Australia, are potential flashpoints for military action (see USA Department of Defense 2011).
See the USA bill HR4310, 112-239. Available at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4310 (13 August 2014, date last accessed).
Since the mid-1990s, China has pursued a strategy of delaying a resolution to the dispute. The goal of this strategy is to consolidate China’s claims, especially with regard to its maritime rights and jurisdiction over the waters (see Taylor Fravel 2011).
The Monroe Doctrine was first described in 1823, by USA President James Monroe, as a means of articulating the USA position of forbidding European nations from colonizing or interfering in the affairs of states in the Western hemisphere. The USA, they announced, was entitled to an ‘indisputable sovereignty’ over the islands and waters within a line on the map that enclosed the vast majority of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Monroe and Adams proclaimed that these claims constituted a ‘core interest’ of the USA—an interest for which the republic was prepared to fight.
In 2009, President Barack Obama and former Chinese President Hu Jintao established the USA–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to allow high-level officials from the two nations to discuss important economic, political, and geostrategic issues. For more information, see http://www.brookings.edu/research/topics/us-china-strategic-and-economic-dialogue.
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Chun, Jh. When national pride meets naval power: maritime insecurity and Chinese hegemony. Int Polit 54, 598–617 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-017-0050-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-017-0050-z