Coincident with the end of the Cold War, the international society has paid increasing attention towards the arms reduction. However, China's clear intention for naval supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region has caused a great concerns from many states i...
Coincident with the end of the Cold War, the international society has paid increasing attention towards the arms reduction. However, China's clear intention for naval supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region has caused a great concerns from many states including the Republic of Korea.
Among the top priorities is buildup of naval capabilities to safeguard China's expanding maritime interests.
It is in the maritime arena that China sees manu of its interests at risky today, in particular territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas including Spratly Islands.
Chinese Navy at present lacks the ocean-going capabilities to control the disputes.
But major efforts are being made to correct this.
Since the 1980s, the navy has adopted an offshore defense strategy to replace a more narrow and passive coastal defense strategy that was drawn up during Mao Tse-Tung rule when the main fear was a seaborne invasion of China.
The offshore defense strategy is intended to effectively control territorial waters extending to the boundaries of China's 200 mile exclusive economic zone(EEZ) and more than 1,000 miles into the China Sea to include the Spratly Islands.
This strategy is directed primarily against Vietnam and other Southeast Asian states who has claimed the Spratly Islands as their territory.
The extent of Chinaese maritime regime is now being codified into law by the Chinese government.
The National People's Congress in April 1992 passed a law on its territorial waters that claimed all of the Spratly Islands and control over much of its adjacent waters.
This sent shock-waves around the region as neighboring littoral states speculated whether this would see a more belligerent Chinese policy to back up its claims.
The purpose of this research is to examine the origin and development of the disputes over the Spratly Islands to understand the background of the Chinese naval power improvement policy.
In addition, the current capabilities of the Chnese navy and prospects on the Chinaese naval policy will be presented. Finally, what should be done by the Republic of korea will be examined to respond to the possible maritime disputes in the future.