As we enter the twenty-first century, we will encounter a China that is rapidly growing both economically and militarily, and which may once again assert its dominance against neighboring countries, as it has done in ages past. With the end of superpower dominance after the Cold War, we also face an Asia-Pacific region that is in strategic flux but is of increasing economic importance, not only to the United States, but also to Japan and the countries of the European Union. After the recovery of sovereignty over Hong Kong on 30 June 1997, China still has a few territorial claims against its neighbors. These territories were considered by the Chinese to have been detached from their country through a series of “unequal” treaties forced on it in the last century by Russia, Japan, and European imperialist powers, then also colonizing neighboring South and Southeast Asia. These so-called “unequal” treaties were immediately repudiated when the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949, which had the effect of placing in limbo the legal status of many stretches of China’s international boundary.
What do You think about China's Territorial Disputes?
