China's Assertiveness in the South and East China Sea: A Constructivist Approach

This article aims to discuss the issue of China's assertiveness in the South and East China Seas within the constrictivist framework, as econo-mic (liberalism) and military power (realism) are not sufficient to explain the complexity of the problem. It aims to answer the following question: How does the constructivist approach lend itself to the understanding of China's as-sertiveness in the case of the South and the East China Sea territorial disputes? It will also ex-plore the following hypotheses: the victimized identity perception leads China to be assertive in the South China Sea dispute and the percep-tion of Japan's behavior as aggressive (as in the past) provokes China to be assertive in the East China Sea dispute.