China/South China Sea: Lowy Report: Chinese Rivalries Risk Spiralling Conflict in South China Sea

Dec 10, 2014 | John Garnaut, Sydney Morning Herald
View Original

Fierce rivalry between Chinese civilian, paramilitary and military agencies has created a "genuine risk" of conflict in the South China Sea, says a new report.

Reopening one of the great debates of Chinese foreign policy, analyst Linda Jakobson argues that President Xi Jinping is not a dominating leader and there is no "grand plan" of tailored territorial coercion.

Rather, she says, local governments, state oil companies, fishermen and as many as five maritime surveillance agencies are furiously competing to expand bureaucratic turf under the "pretext" of general nationalist policy directions from above.