Fostering Stability or Creating a Monster? The Rise of China and U.S. Policy toward East Asia

Author:

Christensen Thomas J.1

Affiliation:

1. Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. In July 2006 he took public service leave to assume a position in the U.S. Department of State. This article reflects his personal views and was completed before he joined the government. The article does not represent the official position of the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of State, or the George W. Bush administration.

Abstract

This article explores two starkly contrasting analytic approaches to assessing the performance of U.S. security strategy in East Asia since 1991: a positivesum approach, emphasizing the danger of security dilemmas and spirals of tension, and a zero-sum approach, emphasizing power competition and the long-term dangers posed by China's rise. In the policy world, the differences between these apparently irreconcilable perspectives are not so clear. Certain policies—for example, maintaining a strong U.S.-Japan alliance—flow from either logic. Moreover, each approach sometimes counsels counterintuitive policy prescriptions that are generally associated with the other. Relatively assertive U.S. security postures apparently have furthered positive-sum regional goals by catalyzing China to adopt reassuring policies toward its neighbors as a hedge against potential U.S. encirclement. From a zero-sum perspective, the United States often competes more effectively for regional influence by cooperating with China than it would by seeking to contain China's economic growth and diplomatic influence.

Publisher

MIT Press - Journals

Subject

Law,Political Science and International Relations,Sociology and Political Science

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