Abstract
ABSTRACT The South China Sea (SCS) disputes reveal the centrality of maritime spaces for the political, economic and social life of East and Southeast Asia. It also exposes the tension between states’ actions and the currently accepted interpretation of the Law of the Sea (LoS). Focusing on China, we explore this tension by tracing historic Chinese understandings of maritime space and what constitutes ‘China’ as well as how the ‘Century of National Humiliation’ and crises in the early 20th century interacted with this history to turn the SCS into an important space in the Chinese geobody. Additionally, we assess how China’s contested entry into a Western-led system of International Law that was already well on its way to modern form influenced the way China came to understand maritime spaces within the international legal system.
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