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China’s Strategic Culture and the Challenge of Security Management in the South China Sea Dispute

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Abstract

The most challenging task in creating peace in the South China Sea is how to deal with Chinese assertive behavior. This is important since many proposals of the regional security architecture have failed to engage China in order to establish a long-lasting peace in the region. This paper seeks to explain the failure of security management in the South China Sea. Using the concept of strategic culture deriving from constructivism in International Relations, this paper argues that China’s strategic culture is the main factor behind the aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. This culture is rooted from the pre-modern China’s history that has distinct perspective from the Westphalian international law with regard to territorial disputes. This cultural dimension, not the material one, is the key to rethinking security management in the region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Relations, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia

    Mohamad Rosyidin

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  1. Mohamad Rosyidin
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Correspondence to Mohamad Rosyidin.

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The earlier version of this paper was prepared for the Asian International Symposium “The Contemporary Maritime Security Issues in the Asian Region: Challenges and Opportunities for Peace, Stability and Sustainability,” Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jakarta, 21–24 August 2016. The author would like to thank the committee of the symposium for the permission to publish the paper as well as anonymous commentators and reviewers.

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Rosyidin, M. China’s Strategic Culture and the Challenge of Security Management in the South China Sea Dispute. East Asia 34, 133–145 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-017-9270-5

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