No common ground? Decoding China's sustained territorial disputes

Abstract

China has attracted much criticism from the international community in recent years
with regard to the country’s assertiveness in territorial disputes in the South and East
China Seas. The PRC’s military modernization and ongoing frictions with Taiwan have
further amplified China’s depiction as a revisionist power in the international relations
discourse; a growing threat to regional security and the global order. China currently
asserts ownership over nine contested territories in its periphery. Past territorial
disputes have seen China display rather benevolent behaviour, in most cases actually
preferring conciliation over coercion. Yet, in some disputes China has resorted to
military force or deterrence in order to consolidate its territorial claim and has given
no indication of retreat. Why does China sustain certain disputes but settle others? This
paper seeks to decode the causal mechanisms behind China’s territorial behaviour in
the 21st century by examining disputed territories in regards to four characteristics
relating to international as well as domestic policy issues: energy resources, economic
value, geostrategic location and nationalist motives. The paper finds that China
sustains disputes due to a variety of territorial interests beyond mere power politics,
and discusses potential implications of China’s ambiguous behaviour in territorial
disputes on the country’s future role within the Asian community and international
relations at large. Moreover, the study suggests that assessing the PRC’s territorial
disputes requires a more sophisticated understanding of China beyond the dichotomous
framework of liberal institutionalist versus realist, status quo versus revisionist power.