Chinese Assertiveness and the Business of Politics in the South China Sea Dispute
Dr Pichamon Yeophantong*
This article was first published in the Australian Naval Review, 2020, Issue 1, in June 2020.
Despite Beijing’s ongoing attempts to project its soft power appeal and don the mantle of global leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has managed to stir up deep-seated tensions in the region. Not only did Chinese jets reportedly cross the Taiwan Strait’s ‘unofficial middle line’, with military drills taking place later in February, but China’s liaison office in Hong Kong also controversially declared earlier in April how it is no longer bound by the Basic Law’s non-interference principle. In the South China Sea, Beijing has sustained its pressure campaign on rival claimant states, especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, throughout the first half of 2020.
