The View from Beijing

The U.S. rebalance policy in the Asia-Pacific has led to a deterioration of China’s security environment, with increasing tensions in the East China Sea, including the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkakus Islands, and the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.  The situation has provoked a fierce debate in China on how to respond.  The mainstream view in China is that the U.S. policy is to maintain the American dominance in the Asia Pacific and beyond, with some even believing the U.S. rebalance to be a covert containment of China.

From Beijing’s perspective, the rebalance policy is not just to rally the U.S. allies and win support from the other countries in the region, but it aims to gain the upper hand vis-à-vis China.  Thus, despite repeated statements that the U.S. does not take sides in territorial disputes between China and its neighboring countries, the Obama Administration has seized upon opportunities created by emerging tensions over these disputes in the East and South China Seas, and intervened under the “excuse” that the U.S. has a substantial stake in maintaining regional peace and freedom of navigation in international waters.  As a result, the U.S. effectively took the strategic initiative and put China on the defensive in its own neighborhood.