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China’s Security Strategy towards East Asia
Abstract
China has frequently been depicted by some observers as an assertive rising power. However, assertiveness is neither a theoretically rigorous nor empirically useful term. The ‘assertive China’ thesis also makes a somewhat partial argument for China’s external behaviour by primarily focusing its responses on territorial disputes. A closer examination of China’s regional security strategy reveals that it is shifting from comprehensive reassurance to conditional reassurance, combined with active coercion towards specific target states. Overall, China’s strategic transition has occurred amid profound international and regional environmental changes. In particular, the rise of China has shifted the regional balance of power in China’s favour, the United States has strengthened its strategic involvement in the region, and neighbouring countries have developed substantial concerns about China’s role there. Owing to these external and internal variations, China has been more inclined in recent years to use its coercive power to persuade neighbouring countries or to ensure that they indeed treat it with respect, yet it still pursues a strategy of general reassurance to defend its rise.
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“The revised security strategy of the European Union (issued in the summer of the 2016), and the first national security strategy of the Trump administration (issued in December 2017) demonstrate that western powers feel threatened by the rise of non-western powers.”
From Turkish Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Liu, F.
- Affiliations
- Nankai University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Feng
- ORCID
- Liu, Feng
- Venue
- The Chinese Journal of International Politics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-03-15
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 151-179
- ISSN
- 1750-8916 (ISSN-L)
- 1750-8924
- OpenAlex
- W2407940037
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 16.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Chinese Journal of International Politics (publishedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Maritime Security and History
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › COVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, Migration
- Keywords
- East Asia, regional security, territorial disputes, coercive power, reassurance, balance of power, emerging powers, China's rise
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