The rise and fall of China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’: Implications for US-China geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific
Journal Title: Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations - Year 2022, Vol 2, Issue 8
Abstract
Strategic competition and rivalry between the United States and China has become a paradigm of international relations in the past decade. Central to this growing strategic distrust between Washington and Beijing is the tug of war between the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the role of China’s ‘peaceful rise/ peaceful development’ strategy and assertive nationalism characteristic of Chinese foreign policymaking in creating an atmosphere of tension and misunderstanding between Beijing and Washington have been largely overlooked. This paper, therefore, seeks to understand the relationship between the rise and fall of China’s ‘peaceful rise/peaceful development’ concept, the emerging prominence of assertive nationalism in China’s foreign policy making and a deteriorating US-China relations with deepening strategic mistrust between the two major powers through a comparative-historical analysis of China’s BRI and the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy. Rather than demonstrating China’s commitment to its ‘peaceful rise/ peaceful development’ to the world, this paper argues that Beijing’s offensive to defend China’s national interests in a confrontational manner is an indication that an increasingly confident Chinese leadership no longer feels the need for reassuring the world that China's ‘rise’ is peaceful and non-threatening in nature. This could embolden Beijing to defy (if not explicitly challenge) the ‘rules-based international order’ upheld/ defended by Washington, thereby spelling the end of China’s ‘peaceful rise/peaceful development’ strategy.
Authors and Affiliations
Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP711024
- DOI 10.12688/stomiedintrelat.17423.1
- Views 107
- Downloads 1
French Operation Barkhane in Africa – success or failure?
Operation Barkhane began in August 2014 and was a continuation of Operation Serval, targeting Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) structures. The main objective of the French armed presence was to support the local mi...
The rise and fall of China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’: Implications for US-China geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific
Strategic competition and rivalry between the United States and China has become a paradigm of international relations in the past decade. Central to this growing strategic distrust between Washington and Beijing is the...
The securitization of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Asia, and Oceania: Mixes of imbalanced securitizing narratives and measures
Governments across the world resorted to different forms of narratives and measures to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This study observed the responses of six administrations (China, Sweden, UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and New...
Lithuanian-Polish security cooperation in European Union (EU) Defence Programs
This article is part of a broad discussion concerning the deteriorating security environment in the European neighbourhood and the initiatives the European Union (EU) and its Member States (MS) took to intensify security...
Improving national strategic foresight with the use of forecasting tournaments and its implications for the study of international relations
Improving national strategic foresight can help the formation of more robust and informed policies, including foreign policy. Predicated upon the theory behind peer-prediction elicitation methods such as Reciprocal Scori...