《Approaches to China＇s Current Maritime Disputes》.pdfVIP

ApproachestoChina CurrentMaritimeDisputes ApproachestoChinasCurrentM aritime Disputes W angZaibang木 f~hinaiSoneofthelargestAsiancountries．sharinglandborderswith 14 ~countriesandseaborderswith6countries ． Ithasa22，000．kilometer landborder,na 18，000．kilometermainlandcoastlineanda14．000一kiolmeter island coastline．Maritimefrontiershaveagreatimpactonhtenational securityofChinaanditsrelationswiht neighboringcountries．Recentyears haveseen increasinglycomplicateddisputesaboutcertain islandsandthe seaareasaroundhtem inhteEastandSouthChinaSeas．1willexamine thesedisputesfrom multipleperspectives． ThePerspectiveofHistory Untilhte lateQingDynasyt Chinahad maintained stableand harmoniousrelationswith neighboringcounrtiesin EastAsiathrough a “tributesystem．’’ChinasrapiddeclineinthelateQingDynastyandAsia~ colonizationbyhte既 stem powerstoredown isrtaditionalEastAsian regionalsystem．Duringhtestruggleforindependenceofhtecountriesin thisarea，htecolonialpowerssowedhteseedsofpotentialfutureconflicts betweenregionalneighbors．SincehtefoundationofhtePeoplesRepublic ofChina，hteChinesegovernmenthassolvedlandborderdisputeswith mostborderingcountriesthroughprotractedpeaceuflnegotiation．During thisprocess，basicprinciplesofgoodneighborlinessandfriendship，and respectforhistoryaswellasofrlegaltreatieswereinsistedupon．Thislaid htefoun dationsforpeacefulCO．existencebewt eenChinaanditsneighbors． However,Chinesegovernna ceofitsislandsandhteseaareasaround htem was very weak ofrmany years，because ofhte country’S slow development during hte early years of the Communist era．The WangZaibangisVicePresidentoftheCICIR CIR September／October2012 73 万方数据 WangZaibang constructionofacoastaldefenseforcetookalongtime．Moreover,there wasagene