The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

neighbors, especially the Southeast Asian nations,
and focus on its economic development. However,
30 years afterwards, China realized that it had paid a
heavy price for this policy—China left its disputed territories
largely unattended for another 30 years. (The
first 30 years was from 1949 to 1978 when the Chinese
were condemned to repeated political movements,
and the second 30 years from 1978 to 2008 when
China turned its attention to economic development.)
China’s territorial disputants, however, got 3 decades
to reinforce their effective control of the disputed territories.
Indeed, Vietnam and Malaysia have turned
their possessions into popular ocean vacation resorts,
fishing outposts, ocean natural resources exploration
stations, or military garrisons. Permanent structures
such as airplane runways, seaports, offices, and housing
are well in place. 115 It would be very difficult, if
not impossible, for China to negotiate the “return” of
those islands.
The policy of shelving dispute-promoting joint
development is now under heavy criticism in China.
Many Chinese feel that China is foolish to pursue
such a one-sided policy. 116 They argue that China is
the only one to follow this policy. The other claimants
welcome China’s “self restraint,” but none feels obligated
to reciprocate in kind (much like China’s “altruist”
calls discussed earlier, such as the Five Principles
of Peaceful Coexistence and the Harmonious World
concept that expects other nations to practice altruism
and exercise self constraint in international affairs
even though few, if any, would do it wholeheartedly).
Indeed, all of the other claimants know that China’s
policy is based on the premise that the sovereignty of
those islands belongs to China (主权属我). China, for
its part, has always maintained this bottom line in its
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