China’s security problematique: critical reflections (original) (raw)
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China in Southeast Asia: The Search for a Chinese Model of International Relations
Despite China’s claims of a foreign policy of ‘peaceful rise’/‘peaceful development’ and of seeking a ‘harmonious world’, and despite its economic openness and active participation in economic multilateralism, China’s neighbours continue to be concerned about the overall direction and intent of Beijing’s security policies. These concerns are particularly heightened by China’s rapid military modernization of the past couple of decades. The announcement in 2010 that China considered its territorial claims in the South China Sea a ‘core interest’, can be seen as a setback to its regional diplomacy, so diligently crafted over the years and drove its Southeast Asian neighbours to seek closer engagement with the US. This article argues that the contradictions evident in China’s neighbourhood foreign policy reflect its continuing search for a model of international relations that can balance its domestic interests such as the need for political stability, including regime stability, on the one hand and its external ambitions for a decisive role in regional affairs, on the other.
Review of 3 articles in International Security 40:2 (Spring 2018): 85-204 David Shambaugh. “U.S.-China Rivalry in Southeast Asia: Power Shift or Competitive Coexistence.” International Security 42:4 (Spring 2018): 85-127. Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels. “Active Denial: Redesigning Japan’s Response to China’s Military Challenge.” International Security 42:4 (Spring 2018): 128-169. Jennifer Lind and Daryl G. Press. “Markets or Mercantilism? How China Secures Its Energy Supplies.” International Security 42:4 (Spring 2018): 170-204. Each of these three articles views China’s rapid growth in both economic and military power through a somewhat different lens. In all, though, the competition for power and influence between China and the United States, whether in Southeast Asia or Japan, over access to scarce energy supplies, or more broadly in Asia and beyond, is a palpable presence, its implications framing, underlying, and driving the entire essays. It seem that in the global context it is impossible to discuss China without also bringing in the United States. The relationship is fundamentally asymmetric, since the reverse is not true of the United States. For China, the constant near inescapable imperative to measure itself against the United States represents something of an existential dilemma. Should Chinese leaders set their country the competitive goal of performing better than the United States in areas where it currently excels, or should they rather change the arena and opt for a different and purportedly better playing field? Equally frustrating is China’s inability to operate internationally, most particularly in its own backyard, without in some manner falling under the shadow of the United States. Yet, however infuriating China’s leaders may find the constant references back to their sporadic model and great rival, at least for the indefinite future, they will almost certainly have to live with them. As these articles demonstrate, when considering China in any international setting, the United States is an inevitable part of the equation. http://tiny.cc/ISSF-AR104 https://issforum.org/articlereviews/104-china https://issforum.org/ISSF/PDF/ISSF-AR104.pdf
China and Asia-Pacific region in China’s Military Strategy
Torun International Studies, 2017
The growing power of the PRC implies a change in the international and security policy of the country, and even the perception of the international environment by the members of the CPC. The White Paper of Defence, published every two years by the Ministry of National Defence of the People's Republic of China aims to explain the ongoing evolution. The present paper studies in depth the Chinese point of view of the potential challenges for security in the region of Asia and the Pacific.
Asian Thought on China's Changing International Relations (Palgrave, 2014; ISBN9781137299321), 272pp
At the end of the Cold War, commentators were pondering how far Western ideas would spread in an international environment defined by 'the end of history'. Today, the debate seems to be how far Chinese ideas will reach. This innovative edited volume goes beyond the conventional focus on China's bilateral relations, in a bid to identify the extent to which China's nascent rise has provoked fresh geo-strategic and intellectual shifts within Asia. Offering a unique discussion of the evolution of Chinese schools of International Relations and the reactions of China's Asian partners to the practices of its international interactions, the contributors to this volume seek to explain and understand the relational nature of China's international outreach in the full spectrum of its unabridged complexity, contingency, and contradictions.
International Affairs, 2020
The ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) strategy, actively promoted by the United States with support from its allies and partners, is a significant geopolitical response to China's growing power and expanding influence in Asia and beyond. Beijing has adopted various new strategies to cope with the challenges related to FOIP. One of these strategies is to secure a robust relationship with south-east Asia in order to make these regional states either neutral to or less supportive of the Indo-Pacific vision. In addition to economic statecraft and soft power, Beijing believes that it can also tap into the domain of non-traditional security (NTS) to strengthen relations with this region to position itself better in the intensifying regional geopolitical competition. The article addresses the following question: what is the impact of China's NTS cooperation with south-east Asia on Beijing's geopolitical rivalry with other major powers in the Indo-Pacific region? The article argues that China's NTS cooperation with south-east Asian countries may help China maintain its geopolitical standing in the region, but it is unlikely to lead to any dramatic increase of China's strategic influence in the region. This essentially means that Beijing may be able to prevent ASEAN or most ASEAN member states from lending substantive and strong support to the Indo-Pacific construct, but it will not be able to stop ASEAN states from supporting some elements of the FOIP.