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

15th anniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam rapprochement.
But put in the context of this recent tension between
China and the United States, China clearly interpreted
at it as part of the Obama strategy to make new friends
and a U.S. effort to form a U.S.-Vietnam “united front”
against China. The timely arrival of the George Washington
carrier strike group (immediately following its
joint exercises with South Korea in Northeast Asia)
gave the Chinese solid evidence to support their views.
The Chinese see that the United States is abandoning
its half-hearted neutral stand and moving toward
an active involvement approach. 143 To the Chinese,
this is like a nightmare come true—the last thing they
want to have is a confrontation with the United States
over the South China Sea disputes. Unfortunately,
they see it becoming a reality. By any account, these
open and subtle exchanges constitute a defining moment
in the U.S.-China power transition. South China
Sea disputes have also become a complicated part of
this contentious process between China and the United
States. The Chinese believe that this development
is inevitable and beyond China’s control (中美在南海
的博弈迟早都会发生, 这种局面也不会以中国的意志为
转移).
East China Sea Disputes. China has tough challenges
in the East China Sea. It has territorial disputes with a
great power, Japan. Moreover, China also has to deal
with the United States as a result of the U.S. treaty obligation
to defend Japan if China and Japan were to
use force against each other to settle the disputes.
China and Japan have two closely related disputes
in the East China Sea. One is about the delimitation
of the two nations’ maritime boundary; the other, the
sovereign right over a group of islands known as the
Diaoyu Dao (钓鱼岛) in Chinese and Senkaku gunto
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