Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Between assertiveness and self-restraint

Understanding China's South China Sea policy

Bibliographic Data

ID4035344
AuthorsZhou Fangyin (0009-0006-9608-1926, Professor and Director of the Center for China's Regional Strategies, Guangdong Institute for International Strategies; Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume92
Issue4
Pages869-890
Publication date2016-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1468-2346.12657
OpenAlexW2469081465
LanguageEN
Citations received30

Since 2010, there has been obvious escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, coinciding with China's rise and the United States’ ‘pivot’ to Asia. Has China become more aggressive in its approach to the South China Sea? What strategic goal is China is pursuing in this area? Where does the South China Sea rank in China's overall foreign policy agenda? This article addresses these issues from the Chinese perspective. In the first part, the article discusses China's changing strategy and the leadership's thinking behind the changes. In the second part, it examines in detail several incidents involving China in the South China Sea, including confrontations with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and the Second Thomas Shoal and China's more recent land reclamation. The article argues that China's strategic goal in the South China Sea is a relatively modest one. The South China Sea disputes do not rank particularly highly among China's strategic priorities. To a great extent the handling of these issues is also subject to the dynamics of the overall relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

China · Economics · Economy · Geography · Political science · Shoal · Asian Studies and History · International Maritime Law Issues · Law · Maritime Security and History · Oceanography

  • The Roots of China’s Assertiveness in East Asia

    Open Access•Camilla T N Sørensen•The Copenhagen Journal of Asian…•2021

  • Strongman politics and China's foreign policy actors

    Open Access•Kacie Miura•International Affairs•2023

  • China’s grand strategy and Myanmar’s peace process

    Open Access•Chiraag Roy•International Relations of the…•2020

  • India, Japan and the Indo-Pacific

    Open Access•Jojin V John•Journal of Asian Security and…•2024

  • Why Quasi-Alliances Will Persist in the Indo-Pacific? The Fall and Rise of the Quad

    Open Access•Frederick Kliem•Journal of Asian Security and…•2020

  • Halting and Reversing Escalation in the South China Sea

    Open Access•Siniša Vuković, Riccardo Alfieri•Global Policy•2020

  • United States Leadership in East Asia and China’s State-by-state Approach to Regional Security

    Open Access•Xuefeng Sun•Chinese Political Science Review•2017

  • Great Power Divergence

    Open Access•Asad Ullah, Li Xinlei•Chinese Political Science Review•2025

  • Maritime politics as discourse in the Indo/Asia-Pacific

    Tim Summers•Territory Politics Governance•2021

  • Humanitarian diplomacy as an instrument for China’s image-building

    Open Access•Lina Gong•Asian Journal of Comparative…•2021

  • Disputes in the South China Sea

    Open Access•Serafettin Yilmaz, Fu-Kuo Liu•Asian Politics & Policy•2022

  • What’s Really Going On in the South China Sea

    Open Access•Mark Raymond, David A Welch•Journal of Current Southeast…•2022

  • Rediscovering the Transition in China’s National Interest

    Open Access•Xiaodi Ye•Journal of Current Chinese Affairs•2019

  • The new nomos of the earth and the channelling of violence

    Open Access•Ignas Kalpokas•Journal of International…•2016

  • Determining the Determinants

    Open Access•Yves‐heng Lim, Jiye Kim•Pacific Focus•2020

  • The Evolving Geopolitical Landscape in the Post‐Arbitration South China Sea

    Open Access•Serafettin Yilmaz, Fu-Kuo Liu et al.•Pacific Focus•2019

  • China’s Security Signaling in the Taiwan Strait

    Open Access•Titus C Chen, Titus Chih-Chieh Chen et al.•Journal of Chinese Political…•2026

  • Assessing China’s response to the South China Sea arbitration ruling

    Feng Zhang•Australian Journal Of International…•2017

  • The Socialization of China’s Assertiveness

    William Norris, William J Norris•Issues & Studies•2019

  • The Sino-American confrontation in the South China Sea

    Anisa Heritage, Pak K Lee•Cambridge Review of International…•2019

  • Harmonizing the periphery

    Stephen N Smith•The Pacific Review•2019

  • Sitting in silence or standing in protests

    Open Access•Minh Phuong Vu•The Pacific Review•2023

  • Domestic sources of China’s wolf-warrior diplomacy

    Xiaofang Duan•The Pacific Review•2023

  • The transformation of asymmetry

    Guangyi Pan, Thu Hien Phan•The Pacific Review•2022

  • China's Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada

    P Whitney Lackenbauer, Adam Lajeunesse et al.•China's Arctic Ambitions and What…•2018

  • Westward ho-the China dream and 'one belt, one road

    Open Access•Peter Ferdinand•International Affairs•2016

  • Beyond Paradigms

    Open Access•Salvador Santino F Regilme•International Studies•2018

  • Explaining China’s large-scale land reclamation in the South China Sea

    Ketian Zhang•Journal of Strategic Studies•2023

  • Coercion and Restraint in the South China Sea

    Open Access•Joseph Ching Velasco•Journal of Current Southeast…•2026

  • Studying Chinese Foreign Policy Narratives

    Open Access•Michal Mochtak, Richard Q Turcsányi•Journal of Chinese Political…•2021

Unique citing works30
Citations per year3
Citation span2016 - 2026 (11)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 29
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae