WPR: China's Naval Strategy

China's Naval Strategy
In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China's extensive claims to sovereignty over the waters of the South China Sea, saying they lacked legal basis. In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry dismissed the ruling: “China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards.” China refused to participate in the tribunal, arguing that the court doesn’t have jurisdiction.

In his March in-depth article for World Politics Review, James R. Holmes explored China's naval posture, asking if China is building a "string of pearls" — a network of naval bases or lesser port facilities encircling India from the sea and fettering its ambitions — in the Indian Ocean. Although New Delhi has been wary of Beijing's naval posturing, Holmes writes that, contrary to its aggressive and coercive use of sea power in the South China Sea, Beijing appears to play by different, less confrontational rules in the waters west of the Indonesian archipelago.

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