With the notable exception of the long border with India, China has over the past 20 years settled all the territorial disputes on its land borders. But it has not settled disputes out at sea. These are becoming more important as China’s navy becomes more important and as trade and overseas investments become larger and larger. Moreover, modern weaponry and geopolitics suggest that if China were ever to be threatened militarily in the future, it would probably be from the sea or the air, not the land.
