In an April 11 article in The Diplomat, University of Macau Assistant Professor Dingding Chen asserts five main reasons why the rest of the world should “relax” about China reclaiming land in the South China Sea. Each of his arguments, which I summarize and critique below, is questionable, and he fails to prove his case that observers are wrong to worry.
1. The other claimants have also carried out land reclamation. True, but as Prof. Chen acknowledges, China’s activities are “different in terms of speed and scope.” China is undertaking massive and extremely rapid land reclamation, while the construction work by the other claimants has been modest and gradual, mere tinkering by comparison. This is not surprising, since China is a large country with massive resources. But it reinforces the general observation that while all the claimants have to some degree attempted to unilaterally strengthen their claims, China has done so more forcefully than all of the other claimants combined.
2. The important thing is that China does not “harbor offensive intentions toward other countries.” Prof. Chen’s evidence for this assertion is that China’s “overall foreign policy and grand strategy” is built on the recognition that war is a counterproductive way to increase national power, either for the superpower USA or for a “rising power” such as China. China is not so “stupid” as to “to go around conquering other smaller nations like it is still the 19th century.”
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