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United States Leadership in East Asia and China’s State-by-state Approach to Regional Security

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Abstract

China’s rapid growth in comprehensive capabilities has been accompanied by an increasingly serious rise dilemma. The rise dilemma refers to the dilemma a rising great power faces, as it seeks to maintain the growth in comprehensive capabilities and international influence, while simultaneously managing the increasing external security pressures generated by its growth. Provided that the United States continues to lead its East Asian allies through providing security protection and shared norms, China must adopt a state-by-state approach in integrating the tripartite relationship between China, the United States and China’s neighbors into a coherent policy framework. In the context of a state-by-state approach, China needs to employ strategic hedging to maintain stability in China–US strategic relations. At the same time, two dimensions need consideration in determining a specific security policy towards a given neighbor, i.e., whether a state is help-dependent (depending on the US security protection) or self-help (safeguarding its security independently), and the extent to which that a state harbors concerns over China’s rise.

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Notes

  1. “Xi Jinping: Let the Sense of Community of Common Destiny Take Deep Root in Neighboring Countries”, October 25, 2013, http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t1093870.htm.

  2. Li Chenyang and Yang Xiangzhang have briefly discussed a state by state policy on the developing countries in China’s neighborhood. But they fail to elaborate the theoretical logic and practical mechanisms of such an approach. See Li and Yang (2017), 19.

  3. “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2016”, April 2017, p. 2, https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/Trends-world-military-expenditure-2016.pdf.

  4. “ASEAN-China Free Trade Area”, http://www.asean.org/storage/images/2015/October/outreach-document/Edited%20ACFTA.pdf.

  5. “Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative”, March 30, 2015, http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm.

  6. Justin McCurry and Tania Branigan, “Obama Says US Will Defend Japan in Island Dispute with China”, April 24, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/24/obama-in-japan-backs-status-quo-in-island-dispute-with-china; “Gist of Joint Statement after Japan-U.S. ‘Two-Plus-Two’ Security Talks”, August 18, 2017, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/08/18/national/politics-diplomacy/gist-joint-statement-japan-u-s-two-plus-two-security-talks/#.WZfq9dJ96M8.

  7. Guo Yuandan, “America’s Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Enters the South China Seas for the First Time under the Trump Administration”, February 19, 2017, http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2017-02-19/doc-ifyarrcc7964245.shtml.

  8. Hiroyuki Akita, “Time’s up for Soft China Policy: US Defense Chief Sees More Active Role in South China Sea”, February 8, 2017, https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Time-s-up-for-soft-China-policy.

  9. Tong Qian, “Committee of the Lower House of the Japanese Diet Passes Self-Defense Law”, July 15, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/07/150715_japan_constitution_committee.

  10. “Lee Kwan Yew: The Thinking of an Elder on China, the U.S., and the World”, http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2013-08-23/1024736932.html.

  11. For a different analysis, see Wæver (2017).

  12. On the escape from self-help within the West, see Lebow (1994, 269, 275).

  13. “Remarks by Secretary Mattis at Shangri-La Dialogue”, June 3, 2017, https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1201780/remarks-by-secretary-mattis-at-shangri-la-dialogue/.

  14. See also John Mearsheimer, “Can China Rise Peacefully”, October 25, 2014, http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/can-china-rise-peacefully-10204?page=12.

  15. For the typologies of a rising power’s regional security strategy, see Liu (2016a), 157–161.

  16. “Japan to Join US-Aussie Military Drills in July”, May 26, 2015, https://www.rt.com/news/262049-japan-us-australia-military/.

  17. Vivek Raghuvanshi, “US, India and Japan Launch Joint Naval Exercises to Keep China in Check”, July 11, 2017, https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/07/11/us-india-and-japan-launch-joint-naval-exercises-to-keep-china-in-check/. See also Hughes 2016, 148.

  18. Wang Yonghuan, “Thailand Put Plan to Purchase Chinese Submarines on Hold, Expert Asserts American Involvement”, July 16, 2015, http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1352989; Akita, Hiroyuki, “Thai Plan to Buy China Subs Has US on Edge”, August 15, 2017, https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Thai-plan-to-buy-China-subs-has-US-on-edge.

  19. For the latest discussion of strategic hedging, see Liu (2016a, 9–16).

  20. “The First Sino-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue is Held in Washington, DC”, June 22, 2017, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/zyxw/t1472281.shtml.

  21. For the tit-for-tat strategy and its application in Chinese foreign policy, see Tang (2000), 27–28.

  22. “U.S. Welcomes Steps by Both Sides of Taiwan Strait to Improve Ties”, November 3, 2015, http://www.gwytb.gov.cn/en/CrossstraitInteractionsandExchanges/201604/t20160408_11429614.htm.

  23. “Routine Press Conference Convened by Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lu Kang, July 25, 2017”, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/t1479940.shtml.

  24. “Obama: Lifting Ban on Weapons Sales to Vietnam unrelated to China”, May 23, 2016, http://news.cri.cn/20160523/c401838a-eeb4-9dee-8cc4-445c2432b31a.html.

  25. For “Shanghai spirit”, see also “The Astana Declaration of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation”, June 9, 2017, http://eng.sectsco.org/documents/.

  26. “Foreign Media on Xi’s Speech in Davos”, January 18, 2017, http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-01/18/content_27990320.htm.

  27. For the latest structural realist theory of U.S. unipolarity, see Monteiro (2014).

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 14BGJ027).

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  1. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Xuefeng Sun

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Sun, X. United States Leadership in East Asia and China’s State-by-state Approach to Regional Security. Chin. Polit. Sci. Rev. 3, 100–114 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-017-0075-x

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