Towards distant seas. Rebalancing China's military doctrine

Abstract

Since the early Nineties, China’s defence policy has been increasingly focused on the maritime domain, in sharp contrast with the country’s continental tradition. This change raises a number of questions: Why is China turning to the sea? Is it trying to exert control over the East Asian maritime domain, or is it preparing to project its naval power globally? While scholars of China’s seapower usually emphasize the global logic of China’s turn towards the sea, scholars of China’s foreign and security policy at large tend to underline the regional scope of Beijing’s defence policy. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it aims to overcome conceptual flaws in the scholarly debate by redefining the dependent variable as a type of change in China’s military doctrine. Second, it aims to explain this change with the empirical test of two hypotheses. The evidence presented in the article has significant implications for the wider debate on China’s rise, and offers suggestions for further research on military doctrines.