The Costs of Control: Chinese Strategy in the South China Sea, 1988–2015
Speaker: Andrew D. Taffer, Associate, International Security Program
Why has China risked alienating the region — and undermining its grand strategy of rising peacefully in Asia — to advance its claims in the South China Sea (SCS)? How has Beijing managed the tension between its interests in the SCS and its broader strategic objectives? This seminar examines the evolution of China's conduct in the SCS from its entry into the Spratly islands in 1988 until 2015. A framework is developed for conceptualizing the strategic costs and risks associated with Chinese conduct, and it is used to explain variation in China's behavior both over time and among its three major rivals — Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvc-mhrTkqE9DzXTy0XlhAG7QVdsuAETpu
![The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) conducts patrols in international waters of the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands as the People's Liberation Army-Navy [PLA(N)] guided-missile frigate Yancheng (FFG 546) transits close behind, May 11, 2015.](/sites/default/files/styles/440xy/pantheon-files-migration/images/event/web-bow_view_of_uss_fort_worth_patrolling_near_spratly_islands_with_guided_missile_frigate_in_background_.jpg.webp?itok=U3H8OGD-)
