ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the People's Republic of China resorted to military force in order to enhance and preserve its standing and status by fulfilling its societal obligations toward the international socialist movement, to punish slights and revenge affronts against it, to clarify that China should be taken seriously, and to make the point that China was not to be bullied into submission. It is obvious that contemporary China differs eminently, and in many regards, from the revolutionary Middle Kingdom it was during the heyday of Mao Zedong's leadership. In September 2012, the long-standing conflict between China and Japan over the ownership of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea gained dramatic momentum. As a major maritime crossroad for commerce and trade, the South China Sea is of global relevancy. Despite China's impressive economic and military rise, the United States is still the predominant power and principal guarantor of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
