The Nonthreatening Rise of China Essay

China and Japan are too enormous and influential nations located in Eastern Asia. These two nations are almost always confused because of their similar culture and people, and they also happen to be right next to each other. Japan and China have never been allies and the two countries always seem to be in conflict. These two superpowers are very important to the world, and without them everything would be imbalanced in the global market. The rising superpower, China, is a nation that will continue to grow and improve their economy, while the fragile superpower, Japan, could fall apart at any moment and ruin the balance between all of the other countries.

‘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.

Since the reform and opening up, the economy of China grows significantly, as an emerging economy, China's economy has made tremendous contributions to the global economy, and Renminbi has become one of the most important currency in the world. According to the survey conducted by China National Bureau of Statistics found that from 1979 to 2012, China has attained an annual average growth rate of 9.8% for its national economy, while the annual average growth of the world economy is only 2.8 % during the same period. In past 30 years, China's GDP surpassed Japan’s, China became the world 's second largest economy, in addition, the huge total volume of trade makes China become the world 's largest trading nation. The contribution of China’s

For the last several decades China and Japan have both risen as superpowers and dominated the Pacific. Japan during the 1980s had the “economic miracle”, however it had a recession in the 1990s that set Japan back. As China becomes a rising superpower due to growing populations and cheap labor and, while Japan remains a “fragile superpower” because of the lack of resources and ageing population both nations will continue to grow, or will China become another fallen communist nation and will the tiger of the Pacific come to a roaring halt? Ever since the Four Humiliations in 1839 China was in desperate need to modernize and change many aspects of its government if it wanted to keep up with the ever-changing world.

As every day passes China grows stronger in every aspect and eventually they will be knocking on America’s doorstep in each of those categories. Economically, China is closing rapidly, but even the sleeping giant as Napoleon Bonaparte called it, has its limits. To be blunt, China is resource hungry and who knows what their country will do next. With the level of nationalism that their people have, China could go in multiple directions. For example, let us look at both China attempting to exert control over the South China Sea and also with the Senkaku Islands. Both of these areas are becoming more and more hostile, which ultimately could lead to deadly military engagements. With that being said, Blij also proposes an argument that I have been pondering for a while and that is a potential cold war between the U.S.A. and China. On the outside it seems as if there is a potential collision course to that conclusion. However, Blij does offer an interesting solution to this possibility and it is one that I believe should be the strongest takeaway. Blij suggests that trade, scientific, cultural and educational links and exchanges can be the solution to this issue. After all, China is responsible for many of the essential aspects to our life. Therefore, the least we as Americans can do is learn the various geographical aspects that encircle

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.

China and India are two of the world’s fastest developing economies and most populous nations on the earth. The question is whether “Chindia” is a friend or a threat to the United States. Together these nations have attributed to prosperity, but are it beneficial or harming to others?

While both countries have troubling history with foreigners, China appears to be less welcoming to outside influences than India. The Chinese often call their history a “century of humiliation” (23) and, unlike the Indians, show ideals to cover up the past hoping to prosper in the future. Unfortunately, China’s need to cover up their past, could potentially cause reluctance to collaborate or compromise with any other countries. The fear is that if tensions do rise, the U.S. would most likely ally with India due to common economic beliefs which could cost all countries excessive military expenses that should be spent in other places such as education and infrastructure. Moreover, in chapter two and three, Manuel writes about China and India’s kick off to their economic reign. China is still under rule of the communist party while India is attempting to run a British inspired democracy. The issue with China is that they seem so petrified by their history, that they are doing everything seemingly necessary to avoid a relapse, some of China’s leaders “argued that permitting free expression could result in chaos like the Cultural Revolution” (49). India, on the other hand, is still trying to perfect their democracy but often struggle to have enough time to look into long term issues. Many people fear that China’s economy is doomed because growth has decreased severely over the past few years and is projected in the same direction for years to come. Ultimately, chapter three ends with hopeful projections for the fate of the U.S., China, and India. However, concerns are that the U.S. and the British will lose the advantages in global governance they once had as China and India emerge as powerful

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.

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.

For example, china could come to stay friendly with the west and the two can help benefit each other and become allies or the they could hate each other and become enemies. It kind of makes me want to compare and contrast the rise of China in the future. The bad side is that if China and the west doesn’t agree with one another, it could end up in a fight, China talking with an enemy state, or losing connections with China as a whole. It may sound crazy, but it could turn out to be true and that’s the last thing the west would want to deal with. The good side is that if China does go well with the west, then hopefully it will prove to be a good thing. Such as, improvement on trading, agriculture, and technology. Instead of seeing it as a threat, it could prove to be a beneficial factor in the world. I think most of the scare comes from how China’s government has been increasing, also including the known and unknown advances they have. In addition, some say as the U.S. is starts to fall or lessen in power, china could try to do something with the world organizations to threatened the

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

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

The ongoing economic rise in China effects the US in many ways, including things that some people wouldn’t even consider. It can be seen that the Chinese are beginning to need more jobs, but can that be because some of theirs are being given to us? And, that’s not the only thing they’re giving us. China has the proven to be worst pollution in the world, and it has gotten to the point where the polluted air has travelled overseas to the US, and has begun to take a toll on us. But, they’re not only giving to us. Because of it becoming harder to find jobs, the students push themselves to the limit to become perfect, which could create competition with graduates here in America.