Assessing the South China Sea Policy under Xi Jinping

Tensions in the South China Sea are on the rise in the context of competing sovereignty claims and increased militarisation by all claimants, while the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is examining the case instituted by the Philippines regarding the legality of some Chinese claims. Feng Zhang, Fellow in the Department of International Relations, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University, and Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director at ECFR, discuss the main features and drivers of Xi Jinping’s South China Sea policy.