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

ary and Maritime Affairs. The PLAN also constructed
a new naval base on Hainan Island focusing on the
South China Sea and has been making efforts to expand
its naval power eventually to a blue-water navy.
In addition to the above, China is also making efforts
to prevent the involvement of the United States in
these disputes. Throughout the years, China has been
very suspicious and sensitive to the U.S. position on
the South China Sea disputes. 124 The Chinese blamed
the United States for making the sovereignty of the
South China Sea open for dispute at the San Francisco
peace conference in 1951. They were also upset with
the United States freely using the South China Sea
to wage the Vietnam War (transporting forces and
launching air and naval attacks on Vietnam), ignoring
China’s claim and protests, and making Southeast
Asia and the South China Sea one of the three “anti-communism
breakwaters” in the Western Pacific
during the early years of the Cold War (through the
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization [SEATO]; the other
two are the U.S.-Japan and Korea alliances and the
U.S.-ROC [Taiwan] defense pact). 125
The Chinese were “grateful,” however, when the
United States took a “hands off” stand on the South
China Sea disputes following its rapprochement with
China in 1972. For instance, the United States turned
a “blind eye” to China’s military operation against
Vietnam in 1974 (China-Vietnam naval clash over the
Paracels), 1979 (China-Vietnam Border War), and 1988
(China-Vietnam naval clash over the Spratlys).
But they got upset again when the United States
took issue with China’s military clash with the Philippines
in 1994, warned of China’s “creeping encroachment”
of the South China Sea territory, and hinted
that the U.S.-Filipino defense treaty would cover the
136