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.