BALANCE OF POWER POLITICS AND THE RISE OF CHINA:

Author(s):  
Robert S. Ross
Author(s):  
Jude Woodward

The Obama administration announced in 2010 that the US would make a strategic foreign policy turn towards Asia i.e. China. This chapter shows that the discussion on this policy in the US is framed by a shared perception that the rise of China presents an existential challenge to the US-led world order that has prevailed since 1945. Some see conflict as an inevitable consequence of Great Power politics; others allege conflict will be unavoidable because China has regional expansionist aspirations or because China is a revisionist power that does not accept the rules of the ‘pax Americana’. The Pentagon is developing military strategies in the case of conflict with China. This chapter demonstrates that wherever the argument, starts, whether from a neocon or liberal perspective, whether concerned about the US’s economic, military or strategic position, all arrive at the same conclusion: China must be brought into line.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-362
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Kawasaki

An unprecedented geopolitical landscape, driven by the reduction of Arctic ice and the rise of China as “a Polar power,” is emerging. What does this mean for Canada, and how should Canada respond to it in a systematic and strategic manner? We need a coherent and holistic conceptual framework to answer these key policy questions. Yet, the current literatures do not offer us such a concept. In an attempt to fill the void, this article presents a vision that conceives of Canada as “a peninsula state” exposed to great power politics in its vicinity, involving China as a rising power as well as the United States and Russia as resident powers. Furthermore, it argues that Canada should be prepared for three kinds of strategic dynamics as it enters the game of great power politics: theatre-linkage tactics and wedge-driving tactics vis-à-vis China and Russia, as well as quasi-alliance dilemma with the United States. Moreover, in order for Canada to cope with this complex international environment effectively, this article calls for creating a cabinet-level unit to coordinate various federal bureaucracies’ foreign and security policies.


Author(s):  
Cai Congyan

This chapter discusses the relationship between China and global security. Since the 1980s, the landscape of global security has transformed and, accordingly, China has redefined its concept of security, first contending that the risk of global confrontation and, in particular, military threats to China had significantly reduced in the 1980s and, secondly, by proposing the New Security Concept in the 1990s. Moreover, China was welcomed internationally for its increasing contribution to international security by participating in United Nations peacekeeping operations. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, however, a number of events have occurred which have adversely affected global security. Ultimately, the question of how to deal with global security concerns that stem from the rise of China is part of a far-reaching process on how a rising China treats, and is treated in, the international legal order. As such, the chapter addresses the following issues: What is the international security landscape in relation to a rising China? How has China transformed its traditional conception of sovereignty in order to engage with international security? Should any new legal regulations be considered to address security threats in relation to a rising China? Should legal means exclusively be relied on to address international security?


This book demonstrates how structural and domestic variables influence how East Asian states adjust their strategy in light of the rise of China, including how China manages its own emerging role as a regional great power. The book notes that the shifting regional balance of power has fueled escalating tensions in East Asia and suggests that adjustment challenges are exacerbated by the politics of policymaking. International and domestic pressures on policymaking are reflected in maritime territorial disputes and in the broader range of regional security issues created by the rise of China. Adjusting to power shifts and managing a new regional order in the face of inevitable domestic pressure, including nationalism, is a challenging process. Both the United States and China have had to adjust to China's expanded capabilities. China has sought an expanded influence in maritime East Asia; the United States has responded by consolidating its alliances and expanding its naval presence in East Asia. The region's smaller countries have also adjusted to the rise of China. They have sought greater cooperation with China, even as they try to sustain cooperation with the United States. As China continues to rise and challenge the regional security order, the chapters consider whether the region is destined to experience increased conflict and confrontation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Han ◽  
T V Paul

Abstract The post-Cold War international system, dominated by the United States, has been shaken by the relative downturn of the US economy and the simultaneous rise of China. China is rapidly emerging as a serious contender for America’s dominance of the Indo-Pacific. What is noticeable is the absence of intense balance of power politics in the form of formal military alliances among the states in the region, unlike state behaviour during the Cold War era. Countries are still hedging as their strategic responses towards each other evolve. We argue that the key factor explaining the absence of intense hard balancing is the dearth of existential threat that either China or its potential adversaries feel up till now. The presence of two related critical factors largely precludes existential threats, and thus hard balancing military coalitions formed by or against China. The first is the deepened economic interdependence China has built with the potential balancers, in particular, the United States, Japan, and India, in the globalisation era. The second is the grand strategy of China, in particular, the peaceful rise/development, and infrastructure-oriented Belt and Road Initiative. Any radical changes in these two conditions leading to existential threats by the key states could propel the emergence of hard-balancing coalitions.


Author(s):  
Francisco Cabral ◽  

This article seeks to cover the Dynamics between China and the United States of America through the perspective of Power Transition Theory. This analysis aims to dispute the notion that the nature of Power Transitions has a tendency towards bellicism between the Actors in question. Through the study of the theoretical matrix behind China’s internal and external politics, this article establishes how Beijing has accumulated a power that’s as deep and prolific as it is dependent on the very international order that its precepts appear to denounce. Keywords: Power Transition; Balance of Power; World Order; Pluralism; Solidarism


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