Leaders in Beijing have a talent for edging China to the outer edges of the zone of globally acceptable behavior, pushing outside that zone momentarily, then easing back into it, and repeating that pattern until they have effectively pushed the boundary, and created a “new normal” for what is considered to be acceptable behavior for China.

This has been the case with Beijing’s applications of international rules, its compliance with World Trade Organization laws, and, most recently, with China’s behavior in the resource-rich South China Sea.

In 1994, China signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which says that a nation has an “exclusive economic zone” extending 200 nautical miles beyond its coastlines. Then in 2002, China and the asean nations agreed to demilitarize the South China Sea’s Spratly Island group, and to develop joint drilling projects for the oil and gas that the islands are believed to contain.

But in the last few years, China has reneged on those agreements, asserting “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire 1.3-million-square-mile South China Sea, and Beijing’s stance clashes with competing claims by Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Chinese aggression has now escalated to a degree that has led U.S. intelligence to call the South China Sea one of the top flashpoint areas on the globe.

The Philippines

On May 24, China lurched outside the zone of internationally acceptable behavior by announcing that it will unilaterally deploy a $30 billion oil rig only 125 miles from Philippine territory. So much for the joint drilling projects Beijing had previously agreed to participate in. And so much for respecting the 200-mile zone that surrounds the Philippine’s coastlines. The rig could be deployed as early as this month, and is expected to generate at least 500 million barrels of oil by 2020.

Manila says that since February of this year, Chinese air and watercraft have intruded into areas unmistakably within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone at least nine times. These previous provocations were only obnoxious jaunts outside the parameter of lawful behavior so that Manila would later be less shocked by China’s trespassing into its waters to drill for oil.

Ignoring its previous agreements, China now says it has held sovereignty over the whole South China Sea for hundreds of years. And the Chinese ambassador in Manila said China will “do whatever is appropriate for us to do to exercise our jurisdiction.”

Vietnam

Hanoi says Chinese vessels have also attacked Vietnamese ships inside of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. In one such incident, a Chinese boat is said to have severed the survey cable of a Vietnamese exploration ship. The tension has fueled anti-Chinese demonstrations throughout Vietnam with thousands protesting China’s behavior in the disputed territories.

Is Beijing preparing Hanoi for a jolt like the one it delivered to Manila with the news of the oil rig?

U.S.: China ‘Has Arrived’

China has brazenly told Washington to stay out of these regional disputes, insisting that they be resolved bilaterally—between China and any nation that has a problem with it. China’s Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said Washington may be “playing with fire” if it gets involved.

Despite the U.S.’s vastly superior military might, it is taking China’s saber rattling increasingly seriously.

In January of this year, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said China was a “rising power.” But on July 13, the U.S.’s top military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, declared that China “has arrived as a world power” and said Washington’s previous descriptions of China as a “rising power” are now out of date.

China’s Walk Backs Up Its Talk

China’s ramped-up assertiveness has not come without mushrooming military might to back it.

In recent years, Beijing has bolstered its military power to a degree that has unsettled many of its neighbors and many in the West. Just since the beginning of this year, China has unveiled the world’s first anti-ship ballistic missiles, capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers from hundreds of miles away; conducted test flights of stealth fighters that compete with the most modern American jets; and made preparations to launch the first of several planned aircraft carriers, which may happen later this month.

China’s ‘Eyes in the Skies’

And now China has satellite technology in place that greatly multiplies its other military strengths. New research published on July 12 shows that China’s satellite program has rapidly expanded and blossomed into a network that is now almost as advanced as that of the U.S.

Prof. Joan Johnson-Freese of the U.S. Naval War College believes China’s mushrooming satellite program represents a significant shift in Asia’s power dynamics because it grants Beijing the ability to restrict the U.S. military’s operational ability in the region. “The United States has always felt that if there was a crisis in Taiwan, we could get our naval forces there before China could act and before they would know we were there. This basically takes that off the table” (emphasis added throughout).

Last weekend, in response to the news about Beijing’s burgeoning satellite capability, Admiral Mullen said it was clear that Beijing is focused on “access denial”—a strategy of shoving the U.S. out of the western Pacific region.

Matthew Durnin of the World Security Institute also believes China is anxious to oust the U.S. from Asia. China’s “strategic priority is to keep the U.S. out of its backyard,” Durnin said, adding that Beijing now has the satellite technology in place to attain that goal.

Mullen and Durnin have good reason to suspect China of such a strategy.

As China’s military might grows, its leaders are also openly telling Washington to scale back its military spending because of America’s economic woes. On July 11, Chen Bingde, the chief of the General Staff of China’s army, said this: “I know the U.S. is still recovering from the financial crisis. Under such circumstances, it is still spending a lot of money on its military and isn’t that placing too much pressure on the taxpayers? If the U.S. could reduce its military spending a bit and spend more on improving the livelihood of the American people … wouldn’t that be a better scenario?”

Chen also recommended that the U.S. cease its joint naval exercises with China’s neighboring nations in the South China Sea, saying, “It’s not a proper time for the United States to conduct military drills in the region with the Philippines and Vietnam.”

Why Now?

United Nations correspondent John J. Metzler recently wrote that the timing of China’s surge in nationalistic behavior is no coincidence. He said:

[T]he Beijing leadership is facing some significant milestones. The 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1 and the countdown to the Autumn 2012 Party Congress in Beijing have provided platforms for ramped-up nationalist sentiments.Pressing patriotic themes such as China’s rightful role in the world offers a clear political payoff for factions’ political jockeying among the assertive security establishment as well as the [Communist Party of China’s] vocal left wing. Beijing’s heated rhetoric combined with China’s surge in naval power allows for geopolitical hubris in viewing the South China Sea as a “Chinese lake.”

Metzler also pointed out that Beijing, perceiving the Obama administration to be politically uncommitted to East Asia, “is probing for weak resolve among regional states,” and said that if Beijing senses a power vacuum, it will certainly try to fill it.

As the center of the global economy shifts eastward, China’s burgeoning pride will drive Beijing to cross the line of globally acceptable behavior more and more, until it creates a “new normal” that allows Beijing to dominate Asia without restriction.

China’s retired Maj. Gen. Xu Guangyu recently warned Washington to expect a more assertive China, saying, “The U.S. must accept the changing situation. As China becomes more powerful, we’ll start voicing our opinions about our maritime demands, and any conflicts regarding surrounding territories.”

Asian nations look on with concern as China booms, and American strategic limitations become more visible than at any time in the post-Cold War era because of the U.S.’s financial crises and military entanglements. For these smaller Asian states whose survival depends on an accurate appraisal of the situation, the shift is significant.

At present, countries like the Philippines and Vietnam still resist China and cling to the U.S., but the shifting reality—the “new normal”—will soon prompt them to abandon the sinking U.S. ship and align themselves with China.

Bible prophecy reveals that China’s ascension and the unification of Asian nations is leading to the greatest military conflict in mankind’s strife-ridden history. But just beyond that massive conflict lies some amazingly good news. Jesus Christ will return to usher in an era of divine rulership that will bring about peace and prosperity for all of mankind. To understand more about China’s rise, and its prophetic connection to this most hope-filled future, read Russia and China in Prophecy.