China Goes Global : The Partial Power

‘The Gathering Storm’ written by John Mearsheimer provides a critical analysis on the state of China’s rising power compared to the U.S in the current context. The United States has been the most powerful state for a long time in history and has led the way in terms of military forces since World War two, according to the Australian Government. But the next sentence in Australia’s White Paper details changes in the distribution of power. This arises the argument of the rise of China playing havoc on the balance of global power. The article also explores whether the rise of China will be peacefully, the drive for regional hegemony and also the concurrent rise of Australia and China.

Throughout history, China has been the center of many developments allowing for it to establish itself as an advanced society, one that has lasted through a number of dynastic cycles, an attempt towards the creation of a Republic, and still existing, People’s Republic of China, under the rule of China’s Communist party. Throughout this turbulent history China has made much advancement in site of its setbacks and has allowed itself to grow immensely and increase its stature, making it one of the world’s great powers.

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.

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

Morrison, Bruce Vaughn, and William Kennedy; the evolution and rise of China’s strength through soft power were discussed. Beginning on Yiwei Wang’s piece, its focus point aims at the redefining of China from a hard power into a soft power by rebranding its international image to suit its goals. (Wang, 2005) In the piece, China’s difficulties in achieving a full rebranding began the piece, yet its transformation has seen its return in success by going “from soft power to soft rise” with its ambitions in achieving this power. Going into Thomas Lum, Wayne M. Morrison, and Bruce Vaughn’s piece, the means China had used to actually reach this point of soft power were discussed especially focussing on its focus in Southeast Asia by conducting non-military inducements including culture, diplomacy, foreign aid, trade, and investment throughout the region. Through these non-military acts throughout the region, negative imagery previously associated with China during the Mao era had begun to be forgotten, in order to think of China as their hero of sorts. (Lum, Morrison, Vaughn, 2008) Lastly, through Kennedy’s piece these goals are reiterated in both the means China has been using to boost its soft power as well as the benefits of economic and diplomatic gains through the success of their gains in soft power, as well as reiterating Nye’s point in the strengths achievable through successful soft power usage. (Kennedy, 2016)

Throughout most of history, East Asia and more specifically China has been the cradle of civilization. Only until a few hundred years ago did China and most of the developing world today regress into the states they have been for the past several hundred years. For the past 100 years the US has been the world’s most powerful country, economically, militarily, and culturally; however China is resurging and is now in a position that is equal and perhaps greater to the US’s power.

political scientist who has a BA from Columbia University, a MA from Montana State University, and a PH.d from Indiana State Bloomsburg and has participated in many research project all around the world including France, Turkey, and etc. With the knowledge he has about the world, he starts talking about the history of China. From what he views, he states China at the beginning of the 19th and or 20th century was relatively weak when compared to other more modern states like the U.S. and of other Western European state. However, when compared to today, China is view as a superpower with almost equal strength to the U.S.. A fear that he sees coming is the passing of

China’s history continues to shape its contemporary thinking, foreign policy and diplomacy with the West. In order to understand China’s politics and its civilization in general, it is important to look into its history and its traditional philosophy. This book examined many key events in Chinese foreign policy from the classical era to the present day, with an emphasis on the decades after the rise of Mao Zedong. The Chinese’s response and its approach to diplomacy and foreign policy were seen during

China came to realise that it was no longer at the centre of the world after being invaded multiple times by ‘barbarians’ from the outside who were stronger and possessed an intimidatingly sturdy culture and religion which threatened the Chinese culture and world order (Zhimin, 2005:38). China felt threatened and took to nationalism as a non-Chinese solution to the survival of China (Zhimin, 2005:38). However, “Chinese nationalism was a modern idea, seeping in from Europe. It was bolstered by the resentment of European imperialists, with their own ignorant and ruthless

In this day and age, society operates in constant threat of terrorism, war, and nuclear fallout; the rapid growth of international militaristic power contributes to the ever-present fear in the back of all of our minds. None of us can go through the day without hearing a newscaster or radio personality talking about the growing threat that Iran or Afghanistan or North Korea poses to the global community, but there is one State that we hear of. This threat works in a much vaster environment, and shrouds itself in cloaks of secrecy and deception – China. Although the Chinese tend to evade the mass media frenzy that constantly reports on foreign threats, their underrated affairs are nothing less than lethal. Perhaps the most disturbing

China is the fastest emerging political power in the world, a power that in a short amount of time turned from a third-rate industrial nation with lots of raw potential, to the second largest economy and one of the largest militaries in the world. But is China’s political and social structures unique? Certainly, the Chinese system possesses certain aspects similar to what already exists in other modern nation-states and their governments, however, it is how these pieces coelute together into a coherent political and economic machine that makes the model unique.

Assessing China as a whole could become a rigorous challenge, but for the purpose of this paper, certain areas will be analyzed. The First topic of interest is China’s significance to the United States (U.S.), most notably, China’s economic influence and partnership with the United States. When mentioning China’s significance, China’s vast standing army of 2.3 million, with millions more available for service must receive attention. The next portion of this look into China will involve a synopsis of threats to and from China and the threats justification with possible immediate and future implications.

In the 21st century, U.S.-China relations have been shaped by the perception and acknowledgment that “China is a player at the table”. As a result, many have turned to international relation theories to predict whether China’s rise will peaceful or conflicted. Most understand that international relations are a “combination of forces and factors that are regarded as being diametrically opposed to one another”(Friedberg 2005 p11). However, in the unique case of U.S.-China relations, there is not only disagreement between theories, but also disagreement within theories. In examining the future of U.S.-China relations through the lens of realism, liberalism and constructivism there is optimism and pessimism within each theory. While IR predictions about China and U.S. range from “clash of civilizations” to “peaceful co-existence”, the one shared agreement that is that America cannot prevent China’s rise. Given this reality, there is evidence supporting each prediction. However, the optimistic realism perspective is essential because it helps to balance America’s understanding to treat China as it is, and offers the foresight to recognize China for what it may become.

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

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