China’s strategic culture professes both peace and aggression, but is also marked by ruse and deception. Military power is a necessary ingredient of great power status and China’s current rise includes hi-tech military modernisation that can challenge the only contender it has in the Asia-Pacific, the United States.
The China Bull in the Ring
The Chinese decision to send warships to the Scarborough shoals was intended to send a message not only to the Philippines but also to the United States as well as other Asian countries in dispute with China over the South China Sea.