China’s Diplomatic, Security, and Legal Perspectives on the South China Sea Disputes

Despite China’s high-profile role in the South China Sea maritime territorial disputes, Beijing’s perspectives are often misunderstood within the international community. With the aim of bringing clarity to the issue, this article discusses China’s viewpoint on the disputes from diplomatic, security, and legal angles. From a diplomatic perspective, Beijing acknowledges that disputes exist in the South China Sea, favors bilateral negotiations for dispute settlement, is steadfast in its promotion of non-interference in regional relations, has no choice but to always take the Taiwan factor into consideration, and is forced more often than it wishes to engage in tit-for-tat, reactionary diplomatic behavior. From a security perspective, China holds that it has exercised remarkable restraint in the face of security threats and has argued, albeit unconvincingly, that its development efforts on disputed features are primarily for civilian purposes. From a legal perspective, the article assesses the PRC’s position with regards to international maritime law following the 1982 signing of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in the context of the ongoing international arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines in 2013 under Annex VII of the Convention, in which China has declined to participate. It then concludes with a discussion of the implications of the article and suggests that there is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of Beijing’s diplomatic, security, and legal perspectives within the international community if there is ever to be a resolution to the South China Sea disputes that does not seriously damage the interests of one stakeholder or another.

並列關鍵字

Chinese Maritime Policy ； International Law ； Maritime Security ； Maritime Territorial Disputes ； South China Sea

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