The Rise Of China 's Rise

The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World, by Ho-fung Hung. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

In his article, “The Future of the Liberal World Order”, John Inkenberry discusses what he sees as a global shift in power, from the Western and Northern powers such as the United States and Great Britain to the more Eastern and Southern developing states like China, India and Brazil. This potential shift in power has sparked a fear in many people. This fear, as the global power switches from West to East and North to South, stems from the thinking that these new nations that are coming to power will abolish the liberal world order that we all know. I however believe that instead of challenging the United States for power and changing the world order to more reflect their ideologies, these emerging nations will instead seek a greater position of leadership in the already existing world order. Firstly, I will provide an argument of Inkenberry’s main arguments and why realists’ have started to worry. Second, I will show how China is rising to threaten the United States superpower position in today’s world order, and finally I will illustrate ways which show that China is not challenging the Liberal World Order and why.

Since the reform and opening up, the economy of China grows significantly, as an emerging economy, China's economy has made tremendous contributions to the global economy, and Renminbi has become one of the most important currency in the world. According to the survey conducted by China National Bureau of Statistics found that from 1979 to 2012, China has attained an annual average growth rate of 9.8% for its national economy, while the annual average growth of the world economy is only 2.8 % during the same period. In past 30 years, China's GDP surpassed Japan’s, China became the world 's second largest economy, in addition, the huge total volume of trade makes China become the world 's largest trading nation. The contribution of China’s

George Orwell’s Animal Farm portrays the rebellion of the pigs, and how they slowly gain characteristics of humans. Napoleon was the leader of the Animal Farm, and Squealer was his main supporter. Throughout the book, Napoleon makes decisions, and Squealer covers up the truth with lies. Eventually, Napoleon subjugates the rest of the animals, and gains characteristics of humans, which is what he originally rebelled against.

Without a doubt, China has been one of the leading countries in terms of economic developments in recent decades; however, the downside of the rapid economic achievements has risen to surface, calling Chinese Government to action.

The rise in China from a poor, stagnant country to a major economic power within a time span of twenty-eight years is often described by analysts as one of the greatest success stories in these present times. With China receiving an increase in the amount of trade business from many countries around the world, they may soon be a major competitor to surpass the U.S. China became the second largest economy, last year, overtaking Japan which had held that position since 1968 (Gallup). China could become the world’s largest economy in decades.

“China Rising” is a non-arguable fact and the one of the most important subject in the twenty-first century. The rise of China is a relative threat to the neighbor regions or other great powers. Further, some scholars also comment that China either will replace or has already superseded the United State as the world’s only superpower. China’s growth is too rapid and massive that other nations have limited or no opportunity to compete with it. By using international relations theories to analyze US-China relations, there are three main stream theories commonly using to explain this case: Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism. In addition, in the article “The Future of US-China Relations” composed by Aaron L. Friedberg, professor of politics and international affairs, he comments that people predict US-China relations with two different views – optimistic or pessimistic. However, which international relation theory applies this political phenomenon the best is still debatable. This paper will argue that the conflicts between the two nations are normal while China is growing, because the conflicts are derived from different perspectives. Pessimistic realism and optimistic liberalism are two main points that will be addressing when approach to this critical issue. Finally, the main argument in this paper is to show why pessimistic realism will eventually prove to be accurate and true to explain the future of US-China relationships.

For the past century, Chinese society has felt a compulsive desire to develop at breakneck speeds. In pursuing development, China’s primary goal has been to display its sophistication to the world, rather than to directly aid the welfare of its citizens. Following this hierarchy of objectives, China has continued to relentlessly modernize despite enormous negative consequences; the development powered through famine during the Great Leap Forward, violence during the Cultural Revolution, and economic dislocation during liberalization, accepting negative consequences as bearable burdens on the path to global renown. Ignoring these issues, China has proven itself more responsive to international views of modernity than to immediate national

The United States held 24.6% of world income in 1980 and 19.1% in 2011. (Sachs 2012) Many also believe that China is set to become the world’s largest economy in the near future. However, the ‘danger’ for US power is not that China will become the strongest economy on the global scale. As Drenzer argues, China ‘won’t prosper economically, as it won’t embrace capitalism’. In the long run, the danger to the US is that US power will decline ‘on all fronts’, not just economically. (Drenzer, Rachman & Kangan)

And with this strong role China has been assuming, so has it been getting stronger by building military equipment competitive with those of the U.S. and drawing narrower a military gap it once possessed when compared to America’s armed forces. Furthermore, China has “displaced the United States as the world’s leading manufacturing nation” in 2010 (US Foreign Policy, pg. 414). Not a surprise since a majority of products purchased in the U.S. carry a label stating, “Made in China.” And predictions hold China as the world’s largest economy by year 2041 (US Foreign Policy, pg. 415). Thus, the fact that China has become an emergence matters. Since the dismantled of the Soviet Union, the U.S. was not challenged, when it came to power by any other competitor, however now, the U.S. dominance in international politics has to deal with a China that has the capabilities to lead the world’s economy.

Snyder claims that realism failed to predict the Cold War. Given this, Mearsheimer states “China cannot rise peacefully.” Since realists describe the world as a self-help system, according to Posen, every country “must look to its own interests relative to those of others” and because “security is the preeminent issue in an anarchic world, the distribution of capabilities to attack and defend should matter.” Thus, because China’s strive for regional hegemony inevitably threatens the power dynamic of the global system, the U.S. will, according to Mearsheimer, take an offensive realist approach that will eventually lead to war. In addition, as seen in post-Cold War, economic stability greatly determines the distribution of power. Friedberg notes, that the projected “speed and magnitude of China’s growth in recent decades appears to be unprecedented” and as early as 2015, “China’s economy could overtake that of the United States.” Although the U.S. faces an unprecedented challenge to economic power, according to Ikenberry, China has signaled cooperation by “redoubling its participation in existing institutions, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit or working with the other great powers in the region to build new ones.” Nevertheless, following the actions of the U.S. post WWII, China strategically makes “itself more predictable and approachable” to reduce “the incentives for other

Theories are used in many fields of science, but in no field are they more prevalent than Political Science. These theories are often used and researched upon to try and attempt to discern how states interact with one another. Offensive Realism, a new branch of realist political theory, is brought forth in John Mearsheimer’s book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. This theory focuses on the key aspects of realism, while adding a twist as to why war is an option. In his book, Mearsheimer explains the history of great powers, and predicts that China, the world’s current rising great power, will not gain hegemony in Asia peacefully. With the rise of China, he asserts the US will form coalitions with multiple states throughout Asia, to contain their growing power. This rise in power, and subsequent reactions by the US, are based on his theory Offensive Realism, which is used to predict China’s future actions. The rise of powers, and the reactions of other powers, is historically analyzed, beginning in the late 18th century, all the way to modern times. These analyzes each attempt to support his overall claim that China will rise through non-peaceful means, and shows significant support with historical examples. While the theory often meets an exception when the usual non-European power, Japan, is mentioned, Mearsheimer’s theory introduces a solid new aspect to the realm of Political Science, and presents enough evidence and information to be considered integral to

Realism is one of the most dominant international relations theories in the academic world. But within Realism, Realists are split on a number of issues. A perfect example of which being the rise of China. Over the past 30 years China has increased not only in population and power, but has also achieved one of the strongest economies in the world. The rise of China is seen as problematic by many realists. Since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has enjoyed a position of hegemony in the unipolar power structure of the world. Many fear that the rise of China could upset the current balance of power. One such individual is a prominent realist scholar, John Mearsheimer. He believes that war with China is inevitable and “calls for the US to do whatever it can to slow China’s rise.” Another political theorist Jonathan Kirshner wrote this paper to counter many of Mearsheimer’s claims, stating that Mearsheimer’s offensive realism “is wrong, and dangerous”. Kirshner suggests that instead of using offensive realism we should look instead to the theories roots in classical realism to analyse the rise of China.

Realism assumes that under a balance of power, the overriding aim of all states is to maximize power and become the only hegemony in the system. States only help themselves in the anarchic international system. Therefore, China’s rise is regarded as a disconcerting threat to the U.S.’s primacy of power in the present international stage. The power shift in East Asia is creating security dilemmas; the U.S. thus demands more security to its Asian allies including Philippines, Japan and South Korea. The rapidly-rising Chinese power would inevitably challenge the current international balance of power and appear aggressively in the eyes of weaker power such as the Philippines. Therefore it seeks help to its ally, the U.S., to counterbalance the power of China. China intends to gain more resources and to transform current international order to its favor according to its national interests. The 2010 Chinese White Paper on National Defence states that: “Contradictions continue to surface between developed and developing countries and between traditional

The purpose of this essay is to show how the economy of China has, and is changing, becoming the second largest economy in the world today. Although China is currently under the leadership of Xi Jinping, this essay will concentrate primarily on the actions undertaken by then President Mao Zedong, followed by then President Deng Xiaoping, (sans mention of Hua Guofeng). Given the relative infancy of Xi’s assumption of power, economic policies still remain largely rhetorical in form. Likewise, the majority of literature concerning economic policies under Xi are largely speculative, often citing strategies and ambitions as opposed to thereby, lacking a solid basis for rational induction In addition to China’s lack of transparency, In addition, it will be shown that the methodology behind the Chinese economy demonstrates the implementation of varying levels of the characteristics associated with the schools of Realism, Marxism and Liberalism. Thus, China’s approach to global trade in the 21st Century is pluralistic, testamentary to the failed economic