ABSTRACT
The Southeast Asian states have successfully used the ~pratly dispute to establish a new model of interaction that has weakened China's potential for regional dominance. They accomplished this feat by turning the Spratly dispute, which should have been a minor dispute for China, into an essential dispute, thereby challenging China's ability to use the balance of power, diplomacy and international law to settle the dispute on its own terms. The chalienge was issued because the dispute revealed the incompatibility of the divergent foreign policy practices applied by China and Southeast Asia.
