ABSTRACT
As outlined in Chapter 1, the point of departure of this research is the observation that there is no simple direct relationship between what China claims'and how it behaves in a territorial dispute. In any claim to territory, a range of options are available to China for prosecuting the dispute in question. This observation may be confirmed by examining China's behaviour in the disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands during the 1970s and the early 1980s.
