China says that the core interests of the state are to safeguard the basic guarantee of state sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity, national unity, the constitutionally established state political system, the stability of society as a whole, and the sustainable development of the economy and society. This is because, as the scope of its national interests expands and diversifies, China must choose the means according to the nature and importance of its interests. This is because it is difficult to meet the expectations of Western countries and continue cooperation and harmonisation. In addition, China is pursuing a policy of maritime hegemony on the grounds of expanding its maritime interests, which it believes are under threat with the growth of its national power and international status, in order to safeguard its core interests, including its legitimate rights and interests in its sovereign waters, the security of maritime passages, the maintenance and expansion of its overseas interests, and the maintenance of peaceful coexistence and regional stability. This means that neighbouring countries are increasingly likely to confront Western powers, led by the United States, in the sea.
China believes that compared to Western powers such as the United States and the United Kingdom, it has not yet achieved full unification and established a full nation-state, as many areas of its territory are still outside the scope of administrative control. Geographically, the southern part of the Xijiang region, which covers an area of 90,000 km2, is under the control of India, and the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands has been continuously disputed with countries such as Taiwan, which has been separated from China for more than half a century, Japan's occupation of the Diaoyu Islands, Vietnam and the Philippines. The main reason for the loss of control in these areas is believed to be the stagnant development of China's maritime rights. The September 2011 white paper "China's Peaceful Development" by the General Office of the State Council of China stated that "the sacred mission of all countries is to maintain their sovereignty and territorial integrity", which is the main motive and purpose of China's maritime development claims.
China believes that it faces a real potential threat in terms of security issues, as it has been invaded by foreign countries in the past. In other words, it sees itself in a defensive situation where countries like the United States and Japan control almost all the important islands in the Western Pacific and use them as forward bases to threaten China with their superior military power. It also sees the possibility of its maritime territory being threatened from the east coast of China.
At present, however, it is highly unlikely that China will face a large-scale external invasion. This may be because of China's current national power, but also because it is at the centre of the competition and development trends in the world power struggle. Today's hegemony and strong-arm policies are mostly used to achieve their goals through the use of war, while using their strong capabilities to negotiate threats and other methods. China also wants to deal with surrounding threats and secure a balanced international status by developing and strengthening its maritime rights, which it believes it is currently losing. This is also linked to China's ongoing economic development issues. China, with its huge population, has become a global G2 power, but the resource bottlenecks associated with economic development are becoming more serious. China believes that in this situation it should have an important international position and sufficient say in the development and exploitation of deep sea resources. Therefore, it is taking a challenging stance in developing its maritime rights to legally exploit marine resources in economic waters, continental shelves, the high seas and regional maritime areas.
In addition, the following measures are being pursued to strengthen maritime rights in order to ensure the safety of sea lanes and strengthen overseas interests. First of all, about 85% of China's trade is carried by sea. 19% of the world's maritime cargo and 22% of export containers are destined for China. The sources of China's imported strategic resources are mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Oceania and Latin America, and China needs to ensure the security of all sea routes for the transport of key strategic resources from these regions to its country.
Second, the US can always block sea lanes regardless of China's intentions, which China believes could completely control its foreign trade and oil imports. At the same time, countries such as India and Japan are also believed to be taking advantage of the vulnerability of Chinese maritime vessels to seek a compromise in the disputed areas.
Third, international opposition forces believe that they can control China's energy and natural resource imports by blocking and disrupting sea lanes, thereby hindering economic development and increasing costs. The 1993 Galaxy incident The Eunha is a container freighter owned by the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). On 7 July 1993, the ship loaded cargo at Tianjin New Port and sailed to the Middle East, delivering 628 containers via Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Jakarta. On 23 July 1993, the United States demanded that the ship be investigated, claiming that the Chinese cargo ship Unha was transporting chemical weapons material to Iran. On 1 August, US warships began following the Galaxy-1, and the containers were examined under the supervision of the US, China and Saudi Arabia, but no chemical weapons materials were found.
This was an event that made the Chinese government aware of the need to improve maritime security. In recent years, China has increased and expanded the types of overseas interests, but it cannot avoid various contradictions and conflicts in the process of globalisation interaction in economic, social and cultural aspects. Under these circumstances, China is strengthening its pursuit of regional maritime hegemony in East Asia as a priority in order to maintain a powerful means for its overseas economic interests.
