Why China attacks: China's geostrategic vulnerability and its military intervention

This research deals with the puzzle of why China intervenes militarily in its neighboring countries, and attempts to explain China's use of force. The paper will address four hypotheses related to China's geostrategic vulnerability, and test the hypotheses through two case studies of the Korean War and the Sino-Vietnamese War. Then, as a conclusion, theoretical implications and future prospects for China's use of force against its neighbors will be suggested. The author's argument is that China's geostrategic vulnerability caused its military interventions during the Cold War era. In geostrategic terms, its weakening capability to control a "crucial space"-i.e. a neighboring state or a traditional sphere of influence, both of which are imperative for national security-was the main factor increasing China's geostrategic vulnerability, because it resulted in antagonization of the neighboring states, the loss of its traditional spheres of influence, and the possibility of strategic encirclement by the strong powers. Whenever it felt vulnerable, China launched armed interventions against its neighbors to regain control over the crucial space and endeavored to shape a more favorable strategic environment to counter the threats of a major enemy.