Abstract
In CLM 32, we examined how both Chinese and outside observers look at China’s growing assertiveness on the international stage, that is, the purely perceptual dimensions of the issue. In CLM 34, we assessed whether, to what extent, and in what manner the Chinese government is becoming more assertive in defining and promoting the concept of “core interests.”
The primary focus of this essay, as indicated in CLM 34, is Chinese assertiveness concerning U.S. political and military behavior along China’s maritime periphery. This topic inevitably also concerns Chinese behavior toward Japan, South Korea, and some ASEAN nations, given their status as both close security allies of the United States and maritime nations whose actions toward Beijing influence U.S. interests in the region (e.g., peace, stability, and freedom of navigation). Thus, this paper will examine Chinese actions along China’s entire maritime periphery, from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, with regard to both disputed and undisputed maritime areas, as well as those recent official PRC diplomatic statements and legal submissions of relevance to such maritime behavior.
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