Feasibility of Power Transfer in the South China Sea: China Rises Against American Hegemony

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Corresponding Author: Associate Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Visiting lecturer, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

During the post-Cold War era, the ground was set for the growth of regional powers in a multipolar world. One of these regions is the Southeast Asia which encompasses China South Sea, which is considered as a geopolitical basin. The geographical location of the South Sea of China is strategically important as it is believed that huge oil and natural gas reserves lie beneath its seabed. Moreover, China South Sea is the habitat of a large number of aquatic plants and animals. China's economic rise and rapid growth in recent decades, the South China Sea has become a hotbed of conflict between coastal neighbors, regional organizations, as well as extraterritorial powers. It is probable that international relations and the traditional US-led traditional order in East Asia change as an important consequence of emerging a power in the East. This study seeks to explain the concepts and sources of power in international relations and examine the conflict of power between the United States and China in the South China Sea Basin. This paper has answered with a qualitative approach and studying documents with a descriptive-analytical manner whether Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea paves the way for the decline of traditional US hegemony in the region. The findings of this study indicate that China's rapid growth and increase in military power and the exercise of monopoly power over the South Sea of China have led to strong opposition from neighboring countries and supra-regional powers. This opposition will be a challenge for any peaceful transfer of power in the region.

Keywords

References

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American Strategic Studies
Volume 2, Issue 3 - Serial Number 7
February 2023
Pages 49-80

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 July 2022
  • Revise Date: 19 November 2022
  • Accept Date: 19 November 2022

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