Reações político-militares chinesas às operações de liberdade de navegação dos Estados Unidos

Abstract

This research aims to explain, starting from a qualitative and exploratory analysis based on a case study, the Chinese responses to the north-American presence in the South China Sea, with the intention of ensuring the achievement of its objectives in the area. More precisely, the monograph asks what are the Chinese political-military reactions to the United States’ Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea between 2017-2020. In a more delimited perspective, we pursue to understand the context of the clashes in the South China Sea. We only focus, however, on China and the United States. From the recurrent activities of the United States near Chinese ships and islands, it is of notorious importance to identify Chinese movements in response. China's political-military responses in its surroundings come taking advantage of a moment of vigorous economic growth and consequent accumulation of military capabilities, combined with the fall of the United States’ military primacy. The monograph manages with the panorama of Chinese history, elucidated by authors such as Arrighi, Kissinger and Visentini, to enter the debate on the Chinese peaceful ascension, in which Xuetong and Mearsheimer collaborate, among others. In order to accomplish the proposed objectives, we work with Posen's contested zone dynamics, Gochman and Maoz's concept of militarized interstate dispute, and other Eastern and Western theoretical contributions. It uses documentary research from think tanks, documents and official political positions of China and the United States, databases and press sources. We seek to understand, in order, the rise of China, the contested zone, the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea and how Beijing responded between 2017-2020. The specialized bibliography works with three perspectives of analysis: more general clashes between major powers, the study of the geopolitics of the South China Sea, and the understanding of naval competition in the area as militarized interstate disputes.