000 01588nam a22001457a 4500
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100 _aHayton, Bill
_951818
245 _aStrategic forgetting: Britain, China, and the South China Sea, 1894–1938
260 _aModern Asian Studies
300 _a57(3). May, 2023: p.966-985
520 _aThis article clarifies a mythologized episode in the early development of the South China Sea disputes and shows how it was later ‘forgotten’ by British policymakers for strategic reasons. Using documents from the UK National Archives it confirms, for the first time, that Qing/Chinese officials did deny responsibility for the Paracel Islands in 1898/1899. It then shows how this correspondence was strategically ignored by British officials during the 1930s in the context of renewed disputes between China, France, and Japan over the sovereignty of the islands. It argues that during the 1930s, British officials sought to bolster the Chinese position in the South China Sea because of a concern that France would remain neutral in any forthcoming conflict. This resulted in Britain taking a view on the sovereignty disputes that was at odds with the evidence in its own archives but which provided useful political support for the Republic of China. – Reproduced https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/abs/strategic-forgetting-britain-china-and-the-south-china-sea-18941938/BBC1EF4C133C350D1AABF62206D9A5CC
773 _aModern Asian Studies
906 _aINTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
942 _cAR