A critical political geography of China and the South China Sea islands dispute

• Main Author: Soler, Alejandro Christian D.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: China > Foreign relations; Boundary disputes; Geopolitics; International Relations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/2643
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper aims to provide an alternative viewpoint on China and the South China Sea islands dispute through the use of political geography. Specifically, this piece employs a world-systems approach and critical political geography [or critical geopolitics] to understand four phenomena: first, the political-economic rationale behind China’s territorial ambitions through the nexus of its political ideology and position in the world economy; second, these ambitions using the “One Belt, One Road initiative;” third, its rise as a potential global hegemon; and lastly, the narratives behind its actions in the South China Sea islands dispute. The paper makes no claims about the superiority of world-systems and critical political geographies in explaining a state’s territorial ambition or expansionary behavior. What it attempts to provide is a different, yet complementary, lens to probe issues like this, which typically are confined to the realm of traditional geopolitics or realist international relations. World-systems and critical political geography offer a promise of cogently examining regional and global issues of this nature. © 2019 by De La Salle University.