Yes, the South China Sea is a valuable piece of real estate (if with a bit of a permanent flooding problem). So let's compare two approaches. In one you buy and bribe enough consent out of neighbours to have them agree that the South China Sea is yours (and the nice goodies they got are theirs). In another one you plop down your military into the middle of the contested area and say "Do you feel lucky, punk?".

Which approach, do you think, is more compatible with the idea of "re-establish[ing] itself as the center of the world by dominating the global economy"?