China Essay
Evaluate the extent to which a specific Asia-pacific state has been successful in achieving its national interests.
China is firmly positioned as a superpower in both the Asia-Pacific region, and the global political arena. Some issues, however, have prevented China from fulfilling its national interests including territorial integrity, economic prosperity, a harmonious society, and a peaceful rise to power.
Territorial Integrity:
The PRC’s desire for territorial integrity means that China must remain ‘whole’ at all costs. As a state with a population of over 1.3 billion, China will undoubtedly encounter social problems particularly when 100 million of its population are not ‘ethnic Chinese’. The state’s ‘One China’
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Moreover, China’s support of authoritarian regimes around the world in terms of trade and oil exchange may result in the spread of totalitarianism around the world as an ‘effective’ trade. This sets a bad precedent for future international trade. China is still firmly placed to overtake the world’s largest economy, the US, by the end of decade. This would be a shift in the hegemonic influence over economic affairs not just in the region, but in a global context. When the Chinese economy sneezes, the rest of world’s economies get pneumonia. A loss in the percentage of growth in the Chinese economy reverberates through the rest of the Asia-Pacific region’s economies.
Harmonious Society
One of China’s main goals is to achieve and maintain a harmonious socialist society by 2020. This is an ambition not easily obtained. Public outrage and lessening opinions of the government are growing in China reflected by the increasing number of public disturbances and riots. The police and military are quick to respond highlighting China’s poor human rights record. Pollution too is a major problem in China with 16 out of the world’s 20 most polluted cities being China. Over 700,000 deaths are attributed annually to pollution. Although China is moving towards better environmental sustainability, two thirds of its energy comes from coal sources currently and every dollar of GDP uses three times more energy than the global average.
China does not hesitate to work with corrupt or authoritarian governments if it’s in the country’s economic interest. Thus, China’s investment is bad for the world’s long-term political climate.
Today’s China is the most populous country in the world and is so one of the most important political and economical forces in the world.
One in which the majority hold a whopping 93 percent of the population. It is this difference in which intrinsically sets it apart from the United States. While China has had its share of internal integration issues over the years, most recently the riots that swept through the Xinjiang in the west of China, it has come nowhere close to the national struggle that the United States has had over its ethnic integration. China national psyche has been shaped by its subjugation in the 19th century by colonial powers, and the nationalist fervor that the Chinese Communist Party continues to rely on today for legitimacy has as much to do with connecting to that legacy as it does the creation of a wealthy society tied to runaway economic growth. But as the NPC comes together for its annual session this week, many problems lay before it: from the state secrecy law to question on how to maintain growth after the last of the massive RMB4 trillion stimulus package funds run
North Americans' beliefs can be translated into a moral and ethical obligation to protect and promote human rights on a broader scale. As members of the UN organization, Canada and the US have agreed to promote human rights, basic freedoms and justice for all on the international level. By demonstrating such slack trade attitudes toward China, North American governments not only fail to help achieve this goal but also foster the growth of indifference and unwillingness to change poor social and political awareness. One argument for de-linking human rights from trade issues is that greater economic interaction will help improve conditions in China. Increased trade does improve living conditions in a material sense, but does not necessarily improve the political and social environment if there is no pressure for change. The "constructive engagement" approaches of unrestricted trade adopted by Canadian and US governments lack the incentive for China to improve its
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
As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.
The United States held 24.6% of world income in 1980 and 19.1% in 2011. (Sachs 2012) Many also believe that China is set to become the world’s largest economy in the near future. However, the ‘danger’ for US power is not that China will become the strongest economy on the global scale. As Drenzer argues, China ‘won’t prosper economically, as it won’t embrace capitalism’. In the long run, the danger to the US is that US power will decline ‘on all fronts’, not just economically. (Drenzer, Rachman & Kangan)
The rise in China from a poor, stagnant country to a major economic power within a time span of twenty-eight years is often described by analysts as one of the greatest success stories in these present times. With China receiving an increase in the amount of trade business from many countries around the world, they may soon be a major competitor to surpass the U.S. China became the second largest economy, last year, overtaking Japan which had held that position since 1968 (Gallup). China could become the world’s largest economy in decades.
Hung’s stated goals are as follows. First, he aims to outline the historical origins of the capitalist boom in China as well as the conditions which predicated said boom. He also names four conceptions against history to explore the global effects of China’s capitalist boom and the limit of that boom. Firstly, he seeks to challenge the notion that China is challenging the United States neoliberal order. Secondly, he examines the belief that the increasing incomes of poor Chinese citizens helps to reverse worldwide income polarization. Thirdly, he analyzes the claim that China’s rise is challenging Western dominion over the world, and is radically altering the world order. Lastly, he plans to evaluate the assertion that China has been emerging as the most powerful driver of growth since the global financial crisis. He plans to devote a single chapter to the refutation of each of these views and explanations of why they overstate the importance of China, in addition to several introductory chapters describing China’s rise. He aims to prove with this work that China is no different than the other major capitalist powers, that its boom is dependent on the global neoliberal order, that its boom contributes to rampant inequality, and, in sum, that China is just a foundation of the capitalist status quo.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was over, making the U.S. the only superpower left in the world. This has made the international system much more tranquil, and relaxed. The only country potentially powerful besides the U.S., is China. Many Americans fear China, not only because they are communist, but also because of their huge population. Their population is 1.3 billion people, which accounts 1/5th of the world’s population. As one of the only potential superpowers in the world, it would be in the best interest of all Americans if the U.S. and China became allies, instead of enemies. Peace and development, economic prosperity and social progress, are goals that both of
No one can deny from recent news that there has been a strong surge of Chinese nationalism, and that this nationalism has turned heads in the international community. The nationalism that the CCP has affected is taking on a life of its own. In its strategy of pragmatic nationalism, the CCP tried to blur the lines between love of country with love of the state and governing body. What has resulted is a whole new breed of nationalism that is very much independent of the Chinese Communist Party and in fact has caused the CCP great concern. This new form of nationalism is much more vibrant, passionate, virulent and uncontrollable than the government had intended with its post 1989 strategy of obtaining legitimacy through nationalism. This
Evaluate the relative importance of the factors that shape the national interest in one Asia-Pacific state you have studied this year.
The events that have taken place over the past couple of centuries, and more so the past decade, have monumentally impacted the relationship between the United States and China for better and for worse. Today, China and the U.S. have evolved into two of the most elite superpowers in the world, and they classify as some of the most prominent leaders in economics, military, technology, and universal innovation. Currently, the United States is just weeks away from electing their next president, cyber-attacks are being investigated exponentially, and the South China Sea Debate continues to be disputed. The outcomes of all these events will undoubtedly affect the relationship between China and the United States for the next 10 years.
Firstly, how do nation leaders say and act with respect to the exact norms. For example, of regional diplomacy, of security institutes and of global commercial institutes? Secondly, how do state leaders express and act in regards to the sharing of power internationally or regionally? Thirdly, how do they say and act concerning the hierarchy of prestige. For Gilpin revisionist states attempt to basically modify these three components. Anything less and it becomes challenging to call the state either revisionist or non-status quo. Increased contribution in global institutes may not essentially be a robust indicator of status quo behaviour. Some might
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