Explaining the increase of China’s power in the South China Sea through international relation theories

Abstract

Since Xi Jinping took over power at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the Chinese government has changed its ambitions for the world, i.e., from implementing the strategy of ‘Hide your strength and bide your time’ by Deng Xiaoping or ‘Peaceful Rise’ by Hu Jintao to implementing the new strategy ‘Chinese Dream’. It is even harder for other nations to believe when the Chinese Defense White Paper all stressed a defense policy ‘never seek hegemony, never seek expansion’, and a military strategic guideline ‘we will not attack unless we are attacked, and if we are attacked, we will certainly fight back’, and that China’s development will not follow the ‘strong nations are bound to seek hegemony’ principle. China’s confrontations and territorial disputes with its neighbors have escalated as a result of the strategic shift, particularly in the South China Sea region where China views the region as having the same ‘core interests’ as Taiwan and Tibet. To be able to explain the changes and drastic measures of the Chinese government, the article starts with the process of the Chinese government gradually altering its strategy of expanding national power and steps to increase its influence in the South China Sea. Finally, the article uses modern theories such as Neo-Realism, Alfred Thayer Mahan’s Sea Power, and Mackinder’s Heartland Theory to interpret the strategic interests that China is trying to gain to realize its objectives of increasing national strength, and survive in an anarchic environment.

Keywords

• National power
• China
• the South China Sea
• neo-realism
• international relation theory
• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Kumasi, AShanti, Ghana