China’s Strategic Culture and the Challenge of Security Management in the South China Sea Dispute

Abstract

The most challenging task in creating peace in the South China Sea is how to deal with Chinese assertive behavior. This is important since many proposals of the regional security architecture have failed to engage China in order to establish a long-lasting peace in the region. This paper seeks to explain the failure of security management in the South China Sea. Using the concept of strategic culture deriving from constructivism in International Relations, this paper argues that China’s strategic culture is the main factor behind the aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. This culture is rooted from the pre-modern China’s history that has distinct perspective from the Westphalian international law with regard to territorial disputes. This cultural dimension, not the material one, is the key to rethinking security management in the region.