China Case Study

• When engaging in international trade, China focuses on the business arrangement, not its political implications. Do you think the United States should act more like China, strengthening its economy by fostering mutually beneficial partnerships with foreign countries that do not promote democracy or fair labor practices?

Communication between China and the United States has played a momentous role in the development of both nations for centuries. In class, we’ve learned how nationality, politics, economics and international relations have all come into play when discussing communication between the two powers. However, throughout history we’ve seen how it has been an uphill battle for China to maintain a healthy and productive relationship with the United States, and vice-versa. A number of historical events have been accounted for producing numerous generalizations, creating stereotypes and popular opinions. Ultimately, China and the United States have dealt with a great amount of mistrust and misunderstanding that has been very formative to the nations as we know them today.

Realism is one of the most dominant international relations theories in the academic world. But within Realism, Realists are split on a number of issues. A perfect example of which being the rise of China. Over the past 30 years China has increased not only in population and power, but has also achieved one of the strongest economies in the world. The rise of China is seen as problematic by many realists. Since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has enjoyed a position of hegemony in the unipolar power structure of the world. Many fear that the rise of China could upset the current balance of power. One such individual is a prominent realist scholar, John Mearsheimer. He believes that war with China is inevitable and “calls for the US to do whatever it can to slow China’s rise.” Another political theorist Jonathan Kirshner wrote this paper to counter many of Mearsheimer’s claims, stating that Mearsheimer’s offensive realism “is wrong, and dangerous”. Kirshner suggests that instead of using offensive realism we should look instead to the theories roots in classical realism to analyse the rise of China.

First of all, every little detail is necessary for a job applicant. The interviewer has to select specific questions in order to find the best applicant for the job.

The program includes initiatives to bolster the national economy and gain global influence through exploiting natural resources, increased missile program, and development of a eugenics program to foster a greater generation (Lieberthal 3). The program is an attempt by China to become a world power by the end of the decade. While China has started developing these programs it is still necessary for them to build a large amount of infrastructure to become a global leader. People that worry about China’s comprehensive national power program fear a slow increase of China’s influence in global conflicts and economic presence. While a slow increase in China’s influence would change the global dynamic, America would remain as a global power. However if war with China and a large selloff of American debt, China would quickly rise to as a global power by reducing America’s economic stability. War with China and a selloff of United States debt would create drastic changes in American stability, and should be of greater concern than China’s comprehensive national power

He focuses on China and how it has awakened from its nap and dormancy to challenge the United States. China has slowly modernized itself with gradual reforms and it gains its strength in the form of Confucian ideas of practicality, ethics, and rationality. China also has a non-combative style of foreign policy. Compared to the United States, it does not act as an interventionist demanding reforms. Zakaria also spends time discussing our ally, India. India has a strong regionalist political system placing high priority on regional interests rather than national interests. Some of India’s major advantages are its ability to protect private property, its established rule of law, private sector, and India is home to many smart English speaking businesspeople.

The recent interactions of emerging and established states suggest that the existing standards of the current global economy are shifting. According to Stewart Patrick in his article “Irresponsible Stakeholders? The Difficulty of Integrating Rising Powers,” the United States must accommodate for emerging states within the global economy and refrain from enforcing their values of an open and liberal international economy in order to achieve effective cooperation. Similarly, Andrew Nathan and Andrew Scobell argue in their article “How China Sees America: The Sum of Beijingʻs Fears” that as China gains more influence within the global economy, the United States will have to respond appropriately to maintain its economic values. Both articles ultimately assert that

The United States and China have had a well-documented rocky relationship. It has become common knowledge that America is in debt to China for around a trillion dollars. With countries like the United States indebted to them, there seems to little doubt that China is well on it's way to becoming a super power. Author John Tkacik agrees with this notion, and suggests that all evidence points to China becoming a military superpower. He goes on to state that in less than a decade, China will become America's only competition for both military or strategic influences. On the other hand, however, author Samuel Bleicher disagrees due to the disadvantages of having a Communist government, as well as, weak economic, social, and legal structure. He

The current Status Quo is complete US political and military domination in the South-China Sea, United States dominated and dictated trade deals, and unipolarity of hegemonic power (Beckley 2011) All of which, if China desires to grow its power, must challenge.

In his article, “The Future of the Liberal World Order”, John Inkenberry discusses what he sees as a global shift in power, from the Western and Northern powers such as the United States and Great Britain to the more Eastern and Southern developing states like China, India and Brazil. This potential shift in power has sparked a fear in many people. This fear, as the global power switches from West to East and North to South, stems from the thinking that these new nations that are coming to power will abolish the liberal world order that we all know. I however believe that instead of challenging the United States for power and changing the world order to more reflect their ideologies, these emerging nations will instead seek a greater position of leadership in the already existing world order. Firstly, I will provide an argument of Inkenberry’s main arguments and why realists’ have started to worry. Second, I will show how China is rising to threaten the United States superpower position in today’s world order, and finally I will illustrate ways which show that China is not challenging the Liberal World Order and why.

Two authors agree, and one, the offensive realist John Mearsheimer, a man many IR majors and theorists have grown to know and love, continues to maintain his position. Mearsheimer’s next book should be called, Mutually Assured Destruction by John Mearsheimer. His Offensive Realist perspective creates a “gloomy forecast” that he wishes to refute for the Chinese-American great power debate. With this book being published in 2001 and the most updated copy in April 2014, it is probably very interesting to read the first edition of this book in comparison to the most update version. However that being said Mearsheimer’s initial arguments of the chapter assigned, has proven to be true. Recently assigned, was an article on the current situation in the South China Sea. An imperative region specifically for the U.S and home to one of the busiest shipping lanes in the World, Mearsheimer discusses in depth the Chinese position in this region. Mearsheimer gives an extensive synopsis of his core elements of IR theory, but his main argument which all three theorists seem to agree on is the American resemblance of China’s geo-political strategy. While Ikenberry and Glaser, focus on international diplomacy that must be taken to prevent major war and the dismal likelihood of a great power war between these to powers.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended

Realism assumes that under a balance of power, the overriding aim of all states is to maximize power and become the only hegemony in the system. States only help themselves in the anarchic international system. Therefore, China’s rise is regarded as a disconcerting threat to the U.S.’s primacy of power in the present international stage. The power shift in East Asia is creating security dilemmas; the U.S. thus demands more security to its Asian allies including Philippines, Japan and South Korea. The rapidly-rising Chinese power would inevitably challenge the current international balance of power and appear aggressively in the eyes of weaker power such as the Philippines. Therefore it seeks help to its ally, the U.S., to counterbalance the power of China. China intends to gain more resources and to transform current international order to its favor according to its national interests. The 2010 Chinese White Paper on National Defence states that: “Contradictions continue to surface between developed and developing countries and between traditional

Theories are used in many fields of science, but in no field are they more prevalent than Political Science. These theories are often used and researched upon to try and attempt to discern how states interact with one another. Offensive Realism, a new branch of realist political theory, is brought forth in John Mearsheimer’s book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. This theory focuses on the key aspects of realism, while adding a twist as to why war is an option. In his book, Mearsheimer explains the history of great powers, and predicts that China, the world’s current rising great power, will not gain hegemony in Asia peacefully. With the rise of China, he asserts the US will form coalitions with multiple states throughout Asia, to contain their growing power. This rise in power, and subsequent reactions by the US, are based on his theory Offensive Realism, which is used to predict China’s future actions. The rise of powers, and the reactions of other powers, is historically analyzed, beginning in the late 18th century, all the way to modern times. These analyzes each attempt to support his overall claim that China will rise through non-peaceful means, and shows significant support with historical examples. While the theory often meets an exception when the usual non-European power, Japan, is mentioned, Mearsheimer’s theory introduces a solid new aspect to the realm of Political Science, and presents enough evidence and information to be considered integral to

Snyder claims that realism failed to predict the Cold War. Given this, Mearsheimer states “China cannot rise peacefully.” Since realists describe the world as a self-help system, according to Posen, every country “must look to its own interests relative to those of others” and because “security is the preeminent issue in an anarchic world, the distribution of capabilities to attack and defend should matter.” Thus, because China’s strive for regional hegemony inevitably threatens the power dynamic of the global system, the U.S. will, according to Mearsheimer, take an offensive realist approach that will eventually lead to war. In addition, as seen in post-Cold War, economic stability greatly determines the distribution of power. Friedberg notes, that the projected “speed and magnitude of China’s growth in recent decades appears to be unprecedented” and as early as 2015, “China’s economy could overtake that of the United States.” Although the U.S. faces an unprecedented challenge to economic power, according to Ikenberry, China has signaled cooperation by “redoubling its participation in existing institutions, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit or working with the other great powers in the region to build new ones.” Nevertheless, following the actions of the U.S. post WWII, China strategically makes “itself more predictable and approachable” to reduce “the incentives for other