How Should China Select Its Strategy to Participate in the Activities in the Area: A SWOT-AHP Analysis

CHENG Shihui ； XIE Hongyue ； Godfred Sowah Khartey

《中国海洋法学评论》 28期 (2018/12) Pp. 135-166

摘要

The international seabed area (the Area) constitutes an important part of the ＂global commons＂, and also a critical element that China should pay attention to when implementing its ＂maritime power＂ strategy. The paper uses the SWOT-AHP model to examine the internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats of China should it plan to participate in the activities in the Area, and draws a strategic quadrilateral based on the foregoing analysis. The SWOT-AHP analysis shows that: China's greatest strength comes from the steady rise of its comprehensive national strength, and its obvious edge over others in terms of the social and political system; its biggest internal weakness is its inferior deep sea mining technology; its biggest external opportunity is the peaceful and stable international environment; and the largest external threat comes from the difficulty to assess the risk of environmental damage, along with the increasingly stringent requirements on marine environmental protection. Based on the analyses, the paper concludes that China should adopt the SO (aggressive) strategy to participate in the activities in the Area.

關鍵字

International Seabed Area ； SWOT model ； AHP ； Maritime power strategy