China’s Naval Operations in the South China Sea

This book seeks to examine the evolving perception of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) of the South China Sea (SCS), and Beijing’s accompanying maritime strategy to claim them, particularly in the context of the strategies of the neighboring stake-holding nations. In addition to long-standing territorial disputes over the islands and waters of the SCS, China and the other littoral states—Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia—have growing and often mutually exclusive interests in the offshore energy reserves and fishing grounds. Each chapter on the littoral states closely examines that state’s territorial claims to the islands and waters of the SCS, its primary economic and military interests in these areas, its views on the sovereignty disputes over the entire SCS, its strategy to achieve its objectives, and its views on the U.S. involvement in any and all of these issues.