Chinese dictator Xi Jinping postures as a proponent of

multilateralism, but the regime’s actions in the South China Sea

suggest otherwise. They appear to follow Mao Zedong’s principle that
conflicts are best solved through the brutal application of force and
that “peace is lost through compromise.”

The South China Sea is the world’s busiest maritime trade route, and
its mostly barren islands, reefs, and atolls, and rich fishing waters,
have global geopolitical significance. China is in effect laying claim to
virtually 90 percent of the disputed region and shows no willingness to
resolve competing claims peacefully.

On April 3, a Chinese coast-guard ship intentionally rammed and sank a

Vietnamese fishing vessel. The two countries are in conflict over
jurisdiction of the Paracel Islands and fishing rights in the waters
around the archipelago. On April 18, China unilaterally announced the
establishment of the Nansha and Xisha administrative districts in the
Paracels and the Spratly Islands, drawing a protest from the
Philippines, which has a presence of its own on at least nine Spratly
islands and islets, including Fiery Cross Reef. The Asia Maritime
Transparency Initiative, which monitors territorial conflicts, says Fiery
Cross has been transformed into a Chinese missile base. In an earlier
move, in mid-February, a Chinese naval ship locked its radar on a
Philippines naval vessel near the Commodore Reef in the Spratlys,
signaling a strike as an act of intimidation. China in recent months has
also provoked conflicts with Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.

China’s aggression has made a mockery of efforts by members of the

Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) to adhere to a code of
conduct to resolve territorial disputes in the region. That code reflects
the organization’s commitment to “compromise, consensus, and
consultation.” According to Le Hong Hiep, an expert on Vietnamese
affairs at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, China’s “actions not
only create tensions with Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, but
also cause ASEAN members to question China’s sincerity in
negotiating a code of conduct for the South China Sea.”

China appears to be exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to advance

its South China Sea expansion project by “brute force … using its
increasingly powerful navy to assert its dominance by harassing the
shipping of rival states, even at times, in their own territorial
waters.” But just as China’s failure to stop a local epidemic from
becoming a global catastrophe has brought it precisely the bad PR it
was hoping to avoid, its South China Sea bullying has resulted in
intensified anti-Chinese reactions in Southeast Asia and around the
world. Beijing’s efforts to staunch the country’s hemorrhaging
international reputation have had the opposite effect. For instance, on
April 24, in the midst of the pandemic, the Chinese embassy in Manila
released a music video of a song called “Iisang Dagat” (“One Sea”).
Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian wrote the lyrics, the lead singer was
a Filipino-Chinese, and a Chinese diplomat joined the performers in
celebrating “a new era of friendship” between the two countries. But
the video received over 65,000 “dislikes” on the first day it was online.
Filipinos lambasted the video’s imagery of a sea shared by both
countries as belying the reality of the dispute.

China’s illegal assertiveness in the South China Sea — its wolf-warrior

diplomacy — is damaging the state’s and Chinese people’s reputations.
But it is also perhaps the greatest threat to international peace and
security in the world today. Understanding the sources of China’s
behavior is thus a matter of paramount concern.

Foremost among them is the ethno-nationalism embraced by Xi Jinping

and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Along with rapid economic
growth, since 1989 nationalism has solidified the legitimacy of CCP
rule. Economic growth had faltered before the onset of the coronavirus,
but now the country faces food shortages, unemployment, inflation, a
debt crisis, and, given the inflexibility of centralized and often corrupt
management, even the specter of financial collapse. The CCP has
relied merely on two factors to legitimize its rule in China despite its
notorious record of human-rights violations and corruption: economic
performance and nationalism. As the economy suffers, nationalism
intensifies.