`China’ Analyzes Sino-Centric East Asia
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
There is no doubt that China is emerging as a central power in East Asia, influencing almost all fields of the economy and the military to recently even contemporary arts.
China is modernizing its military, which has joined numerous regional and international institutions, and plays an increasingly visible role in international politics. Foreign corporations are flocking to invest in China and also Chinese exports have begun to boom in the world.
In response to this growth, East Asia countries have moved to strengthen their military, economic, and diplomatic relations with China.
But why have these countries accommodated rather than balanced China's rise?
``China Rising'' written by David C. Kang published by Columbia University Press delves into the issue through analyzing major actors in its neighboring countries and its strategy.
The book begins with the puzzled proposition that Europe's past might be Asia's future found in the Aaron Friedberg's famous 1993 article.
The author researched that historical pattern of East Asian international relations centering around the big power and then found that all of the regions outside Europe appear to diverge from the European pattern of the classical ``balance of power.''
Unlike the history over the past half millennium in Europe, war and instability have marked the rise and fall of major states, East Asia has witnessed more peace and stability than at any time since the Opium Wars of 1839-1841.
Over the past three decades, China has rapidly risen as a major regional power, averaging over nine percent economic growth per year since the introduction of its market reforms in 1978.
The author believes the East Asian countries' preferences and beliefs are responsible for maintaining stability in the region, growing closer to China, with little evidence that the region is rupturing.
The book argues that rising powers present opportunities as well as threats, and the economic benefits and military threat China poses for its regional neighbors are both potentially huge.
However, East Asian nations see substantially more advantages than threats posed by China's rise, making the region more stable.
Furthermore, although East Asian states do not unequivocally welcome China in all areas, they are willing to join the tide of what China wants and what its role in East Asia will become.
The author argues that the East Asian players believe that the strong mainland stabilizes the region, while the weak China tempts other states to try to control the region as was found in the past. Kang also points out that historically it has been Chinese weakness that led to chaos in East Asia. When China was strong and stable, order was preserved.
His argument contradicts the idea of many scholars who argue that a rising China will be a destabilizing force in the region.
Instead, Kang explains that China's soft power in cultural, military and diplomatic fields, except for its policy on Taiwan, invites other countries' understanding about China.
Kang sees the neighboring actors such as South Korea and Japan unlikely to balance China for the time being as their economies are so intertwined with each other.
The book mentions that ``South Korea's foreign policy orientation reflects more than merely the triumph of economic interdependence over power politics.''
Also the book argues that even although Japan is the only nation to compete with China among other East Asian countries in the future, it depends on the Japan-the United States alliance rather than the willingness of Japan itself.
The book argues that ``U.S. policies designed to slow China's economic growth or isolate Beijing diplomatically in the region… would undercut the U.S. diplomatic position with everyone else in the region, including U.S. allies.''
Therefore, the picture of East Asia in the 21 century is that China, by virtue of geography, power, and identity is becoming the core state. In response, Asian nations are likely to bandwagon it, rather than balance China, even if the United States reduces its presence in the region.
David C. Kang is a professor in the department of government and an adjunct professor at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. He is the author of Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines and, with Victor Cha, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies. He is a regular media commentator, and has published opinion pieces in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Kang is also a frequent consultant to both multinational corporations and U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, National Intelligence Council, and State Department.