Chinese strategies and American policies in the South China Sea : A qualitative study of a geopolitical conflict based on neorealistic theory

Abstract: The tense situation over the territorial conflict in the South China Sea has intensified in recent years with China's increased military presence and actions. This has contributed to increased concern among the ASEAN states in the region. It has also affected the United States´s security policy on how to relate to China as an international power. The main objective of this study is to examine the political goals and strategies of its military presence that China and the US have in the SCS and how these are reflected in the relevant scientific literature. Within the framework of the theory of international relations, this paper is based on the perspective of neorealism in order to explain China's and the US position to each other within the scope of the SCS conflict. By using qualitative discourse analysis, I have been able to identify significant discourses in how scholars in the social sciences view the conflict in the SCS based on China's interests and the US's position. This study found that the discourses on China's military escalation in the SCS could be divided into two directions of neorealiasm, the defensive and the offensive, where the former affirms the pursuit of national security and economic stability, while the latter affirms the pursuit of increased hegemonic power and national sovereignty. The US policy in the SCS is to preserve its unipolar role as a superpower with the intention of maintaining security and stability with its allies in the region by limiting China's military power influence.