ABSTRACT

China’s maritime geography in the north and centre is constricted by the presence of external powers. Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping has argued that the South China Sea provides the only route for China to establish itself as a real maritime power. From this perspective, China’s intensified interest in the South China Sea, as seen in the pressure on the ASEAN claimants to accept its claims there, is the result of a shift in geopolitical priorities as China extends its interest into the Western Pacific. In 2013, China integrated the maritime surveillance agencies to better coordinate monitoring and patrols in the South China Sea conducted from Woody Island. Securing the South China Sea is critical for China’s ambition to become a major sea power and to achieve its strategic objectives in the Western Pacific. Strategic interests had reasserted themselves in Chinese policy, and past approaches that were based on the promotion of engagement and accommodation to multilateralism were downgraded.