China's Revisionist Aspirations in Southeast Asia and the Curse of the South China Sea Disputes

China has significant revisionist objectives in Southeast Asia, including revamping the existing regional security architecture and strategic realignment, reforming the current regional political and security institutions, revising the rules and norms that help regulate regional relations, and aspiring to play a bigger role in regional agenda-setting. Beijing has achieved some success in changing the regional status quo through its good-neighbourliness policy over the past 20 years. But the intricate South China Sea issue is likely to prevent China from fulfilling its revisionist aspirations in the region in the decades to come.