Category: Asia

SHANGHAI — Many analysts argue that China has stumbled recently in the South China Sea and East China Sea in its aggressive territorial disputes with its neighbors, alienating so many of them that it is now viewed as a threat by the region. This in turn has resulted in America’s much-touted “pivot” (now renamed “rebalance”) to the Asia-Pacific. Such judgment is misplaced. On the contrary, history will probably prove that China has dealt with these situations with agility unmatched by the great powers of our time. China’s strategic objective in the region is to change the status quo — the establishment of which it did not have enough power to participate in or influence — to its advantage without resulting in actual military conflicts. In both the South China Sea against several Southeast Asian nations — most notably the Philippines, and in the East China Sea against Japan — China has accomplished that goal. Its naval presence near Huangyan Island, the now frequent visits by Chinese vessels to the areas of Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands, the growing international focus on the disputes and the recently established Air Defense Identification Zone attest to that achievement.