The 21st century has exemplified tectonic shifts in the realms of International relations with China being a major player. China’s rapid economic development and rise has drawn attention of the entire world (Guo, 2006). Ideally, a country’s growth is inherently dependent on internal factors. However, international conditions have a significant effect on the growth process. As a result, the United States’ presence in Asia has a prevailing influence over China’s growth. However, the political battle between China and the United States is in low tones (Lu, 2012). This is because confrontations between two big powers will translate to mutual discussion. As a result, this research attempts to determine whether China can rise peacefully without destabilizing Asia.
The research draws from the realism and interdependency theory with an aim of determining external conditions that will favor China’s peaceful rise. The current condition of the world cannot be explained by any perfect theory. However, as much as the realism theory has drastically changed, the sole objective of the realism theory is to explain the interdependence of common goals and interest of mutual interest of nations. After the Cold War, nations in Asia delved in the theory of win-win international relations. As a result, realism explains that nations foster peace so as to pursue mutual goals and mutual interests. Additionally, these nations agree to solve issues through dialogue, a means that costs the least. The China-US relationship depicts a corporation that aims at attaining mutual interest (Hu, 2000).
China and the US have realized the importance of working hand in hand to achieve mutual goals and interests in numerous regional and global affairs. China and the U...
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...esence in the region. Furthermore, the United States is skeptical to allow China’s growth. However, China has opted to cooperate with the United States instead of waging war against it. If this situation of mutual benefit is upheld, then it is most likely that China will rise peacefully.
Works Cited
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Gill, B. (2007) Rising Star: China’s New Security Diplomacy, Massachusetts Avenue: The Brookings Institution.
Lu, Y. (2012) China’s Soft Power and International Relations, Park Square: Routledge.
Hu, W. (2000) China’s International Relations in the 21st Century: Dynamics of Paradigm Shift, Maryland: University Press of America
Bearing in mind that the threat of China’s dependency on imports of natural resources has the potential to threaten the official ideology of Confucianism, the real threat is to the interests of the state and the Communist Party of China, because the future of the party and stability of the country is dependent on the continued growth of the Chinese economy. Maintaining the flow of raw materials is the main objective of the PRC because without them the economic engine of the China would be at a stand still, which has the potential to be seen by the people of China as a weakness and flaws in the current governing system. China should continue developing trade relations and international connections because the PRC has been remarkably successful in creating a network of countries who will be loyal in business and political reform. China has has a strategic focus on building relations with nations whom America is not keen on. This has also perpetuated the realization the the Chinese system of governance provides a second option to the ‘Western Consensus’, as a viable means for successful economic growth coupled with strict government control. China must operate multilaterally to continue the trajectory of relation and loyalty building in other countries. This will assist china with the key pillar goals of, building a comprehensive national power; advance incrementally in order to consolidate a position of strength, and maintaining stability, and with the objective that China will be in the position to continue imports of raw material to Chinese industry in the event of a sea trade embargo from opposition countries like the United...
Post-Cold War Asia has been witness to a China that increasingly focuses its foreign policy on its neighbors rather than on a regional or global context. This stems from China's realization that free markets have triumphed over centrally planned economies and that a world revolution is not going to happen. This has two implications. One, China no longer needs to divert resources to involve itself in global politics since the proletarian revolution is not going to take place. Second, China needs to embark on a program of economic development and modernization (F. Wang p. 32 and J. Wang p. 80).
Lanxin Xiang, a professor of international politics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva, claims there are two main theories in his article “China and the International ‘Liberal’ (Western) Order”: the one that Ikenberry follows which is that China will join the USA at the top, and the theory that China will “pose destructive challenges to the international order” (Xiang L. 2014). However, Xiang believes a third theory is more accurate. His believes that China will follow neither of these theories, but rather one in between. Xiang says that China has no reason to destroy the current world order, and also that it would “most certainly be prepared to alter some of the rules… according to Chinese tradition, culture and national interests” and “It’s totally unrealistic to expect China to stay at the receiving end of west dominated order, without making its own contributions to improve the rules of the game” (Xiang). This completely contradicts Ikenberry’s theory that “China and other emerging powers do not want to contest the basic rules and principles of the liberal international order” (Ikenberry). Xiang states that in a recent meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and US president Barack Obama, Jinping proposed an agreement that would
David M. Lampton, Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-China Relations: 1989-2000 (Berkeley, CA: California University Press, 2001).
At 7:31 p.m. July 15, 1971, 2 years after President Richard Nixon was re-elected as President of the United States of America, he made remarks that were broadcast on television and radio that would change the history of the Sino-American relationship. In the “Remarks to the Nation Announcing Acceptance of an Invitation To Visit the People's Republic of China”, Nixon announced that he would accept the invitation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to visit before May 1972. Nixon claimed that this action sought to normalize the relationship with the PRC, and would allow the leaders of the both nations to discuss common interests. However, Nixon emphasized that the tour was not ‘directed against any other nation.’ This, of course, was to comfort two other major stakeholders against the new relationship, the pro-western faction China – the Republic of China (ROC) and PRC’s communist ally USSR. The other point that Nixon emphasized was the concept of peace, he suggested the efforts to rebuild trust and good relations with PRC were an effort to ‘build a lasting peace’ in the world.
China’s current actiosn towrd the SCS dispute can be likened remarkably to Mersheimers offensive realism theory. In analyising China through this theory, China’s future
The author insists to look at China’s rise from the East Asian context by giving historical references and concluding that China was a dominating power responsible for peace in the region then; and is now as well. He asserts again and again that East Asian states do not fear china’s growth and do not work to balance its rise contrary to standard IR theories based on western experiences. This is mainly because of two bold reasons. For the first argument, David references to the hierarchical system prevalent in East Asia from 1300-1900 where the neighboring states looked over to China as a stable centroid. The second reason is that all the nations today are self-occupied in achieving economic growth and in their internal power issues.
Nathan, Andrew J. "U.S.-China Relations Since 1949." U.S.-China Relations Since 1949 | Asia for Educators | Columbia University. Columbia University, 2009. Web. 26 May 2014.
... challenge to unrestricted U.S. global-economic-dominance is threatening to the U.S and its allies in Asia. The arguments detailed in this essay of China’s rise posing a threat to Asia’s stability are much stronger than the counterarguments. Case in point, China’s continued rise might begin to foster the idea of neo-Bismarckism and world hegemony. With a continued alliance with Russia and North Korea and a reduced U.S. military, it will be easy to accomplish world-dominance over the long run. If China keeps licking its fingers from their “sweet super-power emergence” it could be a matter of time before a new leader comes along with a new vision and ideology to divide and conquer. World supremacy is addictive in itself. Therefore, the U.S. and its regional allies should contain and restrain China to maintain Asia’s stability before it becomes too powerful to curtail.
The awakening of China, as was predicted by Napoleon centuries ago, is gradually causing ripples across the world. This is contradictive in that even after engaging the UN militarily in the 1950s conflict with Korea, it later came to be a key factor in Cold War politics, a solid member of the UN Security Council, and today, it is one of the most-evaluated nations on earth as it greatly impacts on global politics.
4 Harry Harding, "Conclusion" A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China since 1972, Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press,(1992)
Since the initial warming of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970’s, policymakers have had difficulty balancing conflicting U.S. policy concerns in the People’s Republic of China. In the strange world of diplomacy between the two, nothing is predictable. From Nixon to Clinton, presidents have had to reconcile security and human rights concerns with the corporate desire for expanded economic relations between the two countries. Nixon established ties with Mao Zedong’s brutal regime in 1972. And today Clinton’s administration is trying to influence China’s course from within a close economic and diplomatic relationship.
Wei-Wei Zhang. (2004). The Implications of the Rise of China. Foresight, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, P. 223 – 226.
Yan, Xuetong. "The Instability of China–US Relations", The Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, no. 3 (2010): 263-292, http://cjip.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/3/263.full
In the race to be the best, China is clearly outperforming the United States. China has strong economic fundamentals¬ such as “a high savings rate, huge labor pool, and powerful work ethic” (Rachman, Gideon. "Think Again: American Decline). Their economy has grown an astonishing 9-10% over the past thirty years; almost double of what it used to be decades ago. China is also the “world’s greatest manufacturer and its greatest market” (Rachman). The continuing growth of China's economy is a source of concern for not only the U.S. but surrounding nations as well. One could argue that the U.S. need not worry about China’s growth because of the spread of globalization and that western ideologies would influence China to turn to democracy. Yet China has still managed to “incorporate censorship and one party rule with continuing economic success” (Rachman) and remains a communist country. Hypothetically, even if China does resort to a democratic state, this does not gua...