Geopolitics in the South China Sea: An extension of the regional and global reconfiguration?

Abstract

This paper analyzes the territorial, maritime and air conflicts of China with other countries over the South
China Sea. Beijing claims it as its own and in recent years, it has built artificial islands, incorporating military bases. The United States interferes in the area arguing “freedom of navigation”, maintaining military cooperation with its allies and carrying out naval and air operations, as mechanisms to have influence in Asia. The military exercises carried out by China and the United States in the disputed sea should be read as a process of regional and global geopolitical reconfiguration. To address this phenomenon, literature and media releases on the topic and the region were reviewed. Also, theoretical elements of geopolitics were incorporated, as a first-order conceptual scaffolding to understand international conflicts.