You can manage bookmarks using lists, please log in to your user account for this.
Media type:
E-Article
Title:
How not to deal with a rising China: a perspective from south Asia
Contributor:
Mattoo, Amitabh
imprint:
Oxford University Press (OUP), 2022
Published in:
International Affairs, 98 (2022) 5, Seite 1653-1675
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1093/ia/iiac165
ISSN:
0020-5850;
1468-2346
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>Debates on China's rise often limit the focus on the continuity and sustenance of the United States' hegemony and the liberal global order. This debate often ignores the primacy of the regional actors, who are generally reduced to ‘pawns’ in great power politics, acting without agency, interests, or values of their own. Instead, this article suggests that as China rises—like any other great power of the past—it will first aim to secure regional primacy through an array of policy instruments. To test this it examines three case-studies: 1) China–Pakistan relations in nuclear proliferation; 2) China–India relations with respect to border conflict; and 3) Sri Lanka–China relations for development infrastructure. It finds that China's rise has not been benign and instead Beijing has adopted aggressive policies in its neighbourhood. This article finds that the strategic binary of balancing (interest-based containment) and engagement (constructive cooperation) does not reflect immediate realities and long-term sustainability for regional actors. Instead, it suggests the latter would be better advised looking for closer cooperation with like-minded allies in the region (and beyond) as a way forward.</jats:p>