Da Wei - S - Has China Become “Tough”?

These have included the mutual criticisms between Chinese and American officials at the Copenhagen conference, the intense reaction by China to American arms sales to Taiwan, reports by the American and Japanese media that China had proclaimed the South China Sea a core interest, China’s opposition to a US carrier entering the Yellow Sea for military exercises and China’s serious face-off with Jap. [...] By opting for a simple explanation for the recent disturbances in relations be- tween China and the outside world, foreign pundits have missed the more important story: China’s foreign policy decision-making environment has changed, as have the strategic mentalities of the United States and China’s neighboring countries. [...] Because of the humiliations suffered by China in modern times at the hands of the West and Japan—especially the loss of Taiwan and other terri- tory—events that touch on territorial sovereignty are particularly sensitive to the Chinese public. [...] For example, in the United States’ China policy, the executive branch often plays the “good guy,” while the legislative branch plays the “critic”; the hardliners become the “bad cop,” and moderates play the “good cop.” This realization, in addition to the development of the media, has given Chinese scholars more courage to express differing viewpoints. [...] China’s supposed decla- ration that the South China Sea is a “core national interest” is one of the primary grounds for the theory that China is “getting tough.” Leaving aside for the moment that all related reports have been in the American and Japanese media, and neither the United States’ nor Chinese governments have officially acknowledged this point, such a declaration would not illustrate a.