China's Global Political Crisis

In the recent years, there is a conflict of territory between countries that caught the global attention. It’s about the ownership of several small islands in the South China Sea. Six primary countries are competing for its ownership. Each of them claimed the right to have these islands. The territory conflict supposed to engage only the competitors. However, at this time the whole world is

Today’s China is the most populous country in the world and is so one of the most important political and economical forces in the world.

The current Status Quo is complete US political and military domination in the South-China Sea, United States dominated and dictated trade deals, and unipolarity of hegemonic power (Beckley 2011) All of which, if China desires to grow its power, must challenge.

It is no longer appropriate to say, “China is quickly emerging as a global superpower.” The fact is China is just that. Realizing this the United States of America has attempted to once again turn its focus eastward. Continuing problems at home and in the Middle East however have made doing so difficult. Additionally more and more frequently attempts at influencing the ongoing narrative in the Asia- Pacific region have been rebuffed. Even allies have found strength in the emergence of a system that fails to conform to previously prescribed methods and ideals. This leads to a fundamental question America must answer quickly. Has the growing hypocrisy of idealistic political rhetoric versus actual foreign policy finally undermined American credibility with developing nations, or for the purposes of this paper more specifically China? The answer is yes.

When it comes to the political profile, seven different countries have competing maritime claims (mostly over the Spratly and Paracel Islands), some of which become even more complicated as some overlap with other nations’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Despite the “intraregional distrust, deeply rooted historical issues, and rapidly increasing military spending” in the region surrounding the South China Sea, one expert argues that “not only has the conflict not escalated into a serious military conflict; it has, in fact, been mitigated… in fact, a more stable peace has developed.” (Costlow, 2012, p.6).

The major actors involved in the Chinese challenge include the US government, the Chinese Government, US and Chinese businesses, and the American Citizens. When analyzing the hierarchy of goals for the Chinese government, it is important to note that the Chinese Communist Party is not democratically elected. Their mandate to govern has been based on China’s strong economic performance. Above all else, it is crucial for the Chinese government to maintain its economic success. 29% of China’s GDP is composed of exports of goods and services.

Morrison, Bruce Vaughn, and William Kennedy; the evolution and rise of China’s strength through soft power were discussed. Beginning on Yiwei Wang’s piece, its focus point aims at the redefining of China from a hard power into a soft power by rebranding its international image to suit its goals. (Wang, 2005) In the piece, China’s difficulties in achieving a full rebranding began the piece, yet its transformation has seen its return in success by going “from soft power to soft rise” with its ambitions in achieving this power. Going into Thomas Lum, Wayne M. Morrison, and Bruce Vaughn’s piece, the means China had used to actually reach this point of soft power were discussed especially focussing on its focus in Southeast Asia by conducting non-military inducements including culture, diplomacy, foreign aid, trade, and investment throughout the region. Through these non-military acts throughout the region, negative imagery previously associated with China during the Mao era had begun to be forgotten, in order to think of China as their hero of sorts. (Lum, Morrison, Vaughn, 2008) Lastly, through Kennedy’s piece these goals are reiterated in both the means China has been using to boost its soft power as well as the benefits of economic and diplomatic gains through the success of their gains in soft power, as well as reiterating Nye’s point in the strengths achievable through successful soft power usage. (Kennedy, 2016)

There is a delicate balancing act a country must be aware of when it is a military superpower. A superpower must exercise extreme care to protect their economic superiority, advance their foreign policies, and project their military might all while working to advance the global system. Enticing China to become a responsible pillar of the global system will be one of the greatest challenges of coming decades for the United States and the Western world-particularly since it appears for the moment China is uninterested in playing such a role. This is the unique situation the United States and China find themselves in, with so many mutual interests, and as the global economy begins to slow, challenges such as: China’s increase in military

As of today, China has expanded and built over seven artificial islands in the South China Sea since 2014. The South China Sea has recently come to be a major problem in Asia as issues have risen over who has rights of passage and claims in this area. The Chinese of recent have been making territorial claims in the South China Sea that are in areas of free passage for many other Asian countries and the United States. In October 2015, a U.S. guided missile destroyer encountered one of the artificial islands and China’s response was that it would “take any measure” to maintain its security in “their territory”. The Chinese have been questioned in the Permanent Court of Arbitration by the Philippines after claiming rights to historical locations in the South China Sea, which violates sovereign rights of the Philippines, yet China responded to this outcome with refusal and has continued to advance itself in the territory causing huge disputes with its neighboring countries as freedom of navigation has been compromised through China’s actions.. In order to guarantee resolution and maintain the freedom of navigation aspect of international law there needs to be a foreign policy put in place that puts more United States military in the South China Sea with support from disputing countries like Japan and the Philippines as a way to make the issue multilateral and law abiding.

The events that have taken place over the past couple of centuries, and more so the past decade, have monumentally impacted the relationship between the United States and China for better and for worse. Today, China and the U.S. have evolved into two of the most elite superpowers in the world, and they classify as some of the most prominent leaders in economics, military, technology, and universal innovation. Currently, the United States is just weeks away from electing their next president, cyber-attacks are being investigated exponentially, and the South China Sea Debate continues to be disputed. The outcomes of all these events will undoubtedly affect the relationship between China and the United States for the next 10 years.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended

Realism assumes that under a balance of power, the overriding aim of all states is to maximize power and become the only hegemony in the system. States only help themselves in the anarchic international system. Therefore, China’s rise is regarded as a disconcerting threat to the U.S.’s primacy of power in the present international stage. The power shift in East Asia is creating security dilemmas; the U.S. thus demands more security to its Asian allies including Philippines, Japan and South Korea. The rapidly-rising Chinese power would inevitably challenge the current international balance of power and appear aggressively in the eyes of weaker power such as the Philippines. Therefore it seeks help to its ally, the U.S., to counterbalance the power of China. China intends to gain more resources and to transform current international order to its favor according to its national interests. The 2010 Chinese White Paper on National Defence states that: “Contradictions continue to surface between developed and developing countries and between traditional

The territorial and maritime disputes over the South China Sea (SCS) have been ongoing for decades. The disputes have been considered to be one the fiercest-contested in Asia. The South China Sea is an enclosed sea surrounded by several different states. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia all surrounded the South China Sea. The main cause of tension in this dispute is because China claims to have “historical sovereignty” over all of the South China Sea. Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have come up with different discussions and suggestions on how to end the disputes with favorable conditions for all contending states. They use the principles of the United Nation Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and form the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The states surrounding the South China Sea possess 12 nautical miles territorial sea and 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Thus, the South China Sea is not only international waters, instead, it is also overlapping exclusive economic zones. According to UNCLOS, disputes over exclusive economic zones must be resolved through negotiations by the contending states. Many of these contending Southeast Asian states have negotiated their maritime boundaries, however, China fails to comply. China claims that it owns all of the South China Sea, and therefore, has no need to

In order to better understand the dispute of these islands and this body of water, geography plays a role considering the area sea is located to borders on many different regions. According Chmillier-Gendreau (2000), the south-west of the Indian Ocean, the sea connects with the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. To the north-east, the sea connects with the Sea of Japan and the Strait of Korea. The position of this body of water is interconnected with many other bodies of waters which coincide with many countries. The islands residing in the middle of this sea therefore lies in the middle of many different countries. The two islands, Spratly and Paracel Islands lie in the middle of the maritime zone. Since it is in the middle, no neighboring country is really physically connected to these islands by geography (Chemillier-Gendreau, 2000, p. 16). Despite that fact, China and Vietnam both claim sovereignty over these islands based on historical and

In the Western Pacific, the South China Sea is a global crossroads that holds strategic importance for many nations world wide. The South China Sea stretches from the Taiwan and Luzon Straits in the north to Indonesia and the Strait of Malacca in the south with Vietnam on the west and the Philippines and Borneo on the east. In total size, the South China Sea surpasses the Mediterranean Sea. However, unlike this Near-Eastern comparator, territorial disputes and conflicting claims threaten the movement of global trade through the South China Sea, thus unbalancing regional stability in the Asia-Pacific. Claimants include the bordering coastal countries of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (a.k.a. Taiwan), the