Abstract:

In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the United States became the world's largest economy then and urgently needed to open up new overseas markets. To scramble for the potential "largest world market" which was considered at the time, the United States occupied the Philippines, a Spanish colony on the east coast of the South China Sea, as a stronghold into the Chinese market. This was the initial U.S. cognition to the geography of the South China Sea. For the next 30 years, the United States did not touch the South China Sea until Japan invaded Southeast Asia. Japan incorporated Southeast Asia into the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Circle" and took advantage of the geographical advantage of the South China Sea to attack the U.S. military, which made the South China Sea take on important geostrategic value for the first time. The new geopolitical changes in the South China Sea prompted the US to recognize the South China Sea. Since then, with the rise of the "rimland theory", the United States had paid more and more importance to the geostrategic value of the South China Sea and sought to serve its national interests. In the 1950s, the Asia-Pacific region had formed a socialist camp led by China and a capitalist camp led by the United States which were completely rival. Containing the expansion of communism in the Asia-Pacific had become the general policy of the U.S. hegemony strategy, which directly affected the U.S. geostrategic cognition on the South China Sea. Using the geostrategic value of the South China Sea to contain China had become the inevitable option of the U. S. policy toward China.

Key words: Sea Power Theory, geostrategic value, South China Sea, Rimland Theory, the American South China Sea strategy, containment

摘要：

19世纪末20世纪初，美国成为世界第一大经济体，亟须开辟海外新市场。为了争夺当时被认为是潜在的“最大的世界市场”，美国侵占西班牙在南海东岸的殖民地菲律宾，将其作为进入中国市场的据点，这是美国对南海地缘的最初认知。在以后的30多年时间里，美国都没有染指南海，直到日本侵略东南亚。日本把东南亚纳入“大东亚共荣圈”，利用南海地缘优势攻击美军，使南海首次呈现重要的地缘战略价值。南海地缘的新变化促使美国重新认知南海。此后，随着“边缘地带论”的兴起，美国越发重视南海的地缘战略价值，并谋求为自己的国家利益服务。进入20世纪50年代，亚太形成了截然对立的以中国为首的社会主义阵营和以美国为首的资本主义阵营。遏制共产主义在亚太扩张成为美国推行霸权战略的总方针。这直接影响美国对南海的地缘战略认知，利用南海的地缘战略价值围堵遏制中国就成为美国对华政策的必然选项。

关键词: 海权论, 南海, 地缘战略价值, 边缘地带论, 美国南海战略, 遏制