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Dystopian Thinking and Fear in South China Sea Conflict
The conflict that is brewing between China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan is a dispute based on ownership of the contested South China Sea section of the pacific. The recent happenings in the pacific region set a good example of a dystopian thinking and fear that is happening in real time each day. The situation presents both dystopian thinking by the conflicting countries and the dystopian fear due to the actions of china. Currently, China, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam all lay territorial claim over the ocean region that is speculated to have oil deposits.
Both dystopian thinking and dystopian fear are at play in this case. The dystopian thinking comes in the way that china has been using its economic and military might to create fear among the nations that are claiming territorial rights over the South China Sea. Recently, China has been creating man-made islands in the contested region in order to prepare for any military conflict. This is aimed at causing fear to the smaller countries that are claiming territorial rights in the contested region, to vacate their interests and leave China alone. At the same time, the reaction of these states is equally the same as the Philippines have prepared their fighter jets in readiness for any war outbreak.
The dystopian fear exhibits in the way China uses its military power to create fear on the conflicting countries. China also exhibits fear that these nations are friendly to the United States, and controlling the region would be favorable to the U.S. Therefore, the reaction complicates the conflict, which can cause a dystopian war in the region if it breaks out. This conflict is purely based on dystopian thinking by the countries involved and dystopian fear by the dominant China.
The situation in the conflict shows how our modern culture is dominated by the parties that use fear to control others. Countries use fear and military might to control others, since the times of colonization, first world war, second world war, the cold war, and now the twenty first century conflicts like the of South China Sea. In this case, china uses fear to scare the Asian countries towards giving up territorial rights over the land. At the same time, china is against countries that seem to have the support of the western countries, and think china is unfairly aggressive. This reflects the dystopian thinking of countries in our modern culture in relation to human interaction.