Does China really want to establish itself in a position of unquestioned preponderance in the region and seeks to displace the United States as the dominant player in East Asia - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... China was weak and vulnerable during the Century of Humiliation. This adds urgency to its pursuit of power and its desire for regional preeminence. China has been riven by rebellions causing assassination of millions of people throughout the 19th century. The imperial government’s compliance with the foreign demands and resistance to the the growing presence of foreigners frequently fanned these uprisings. The Century of Humiliation has left deep scars in the memory of China as a nation. A prime reason behind China’s eagerness to become powerful is to deter such conditions from happening in the future. Drive for annexation of Taiwan to the mainland For China, the situation regarding the sea is of more significance as compared to that regarding the land. The West also challenged Japan like China, but the rulers of Japan were more adept at reestablishing their military and political system as compared to China’s. Japan’s military defeated China’s military in the mid-1890s and took control of different portions of Manchuria and Taiwan. Japan’s encroachment into the Chinese territory increased further in the first half of the 20th century. So in order to establish itself as a country of unquestioned preponderance in East Asia, it is imperative that China makes a strategy to annex Taiwan with it, drive America out of the way, and also, be stronger than Japan. “[T]here remain several vesitges of [the Century of Humiliation] that, in the minds of many Chinese, must be rectified before China’s recovery will be considered complete. The most important of these – and the only one that is non-negotiable – is the return of Taiwan to the mainland” (Kaufman 1). This is likely to result in...
China has shown rapid growth of economy since the second half of the 20th century. The US presently sees China as a threat because of a lot of reasons. One of the key issues in the defense planning of the US is to sort out the way to respond to the military modernization effort made by China. According to the Department of Defense (DOD), “China’s rise as a major international actor is likely to stand out as a defining feature of the strategic landscape of the early 21st Century [and China’s military] is now venturing into the global maritime domain, a sphere long dominated by the U.S. Navy… I have moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned [about the military programs of China” (Mullen cited in O’Rouke). Another major reason because of which China is evolving as a potential threat to the US is its growing economic power. China is a major exporter of goods and products all over the world. Even the US imports a large share of both raw and manufactured goods from China.
Most of the motivation China has for growth comes from its commitment to be self-sufficient and strong enough to deter such a time in the future from occurrence. Since the late 20th century, government of China has introduced some radical changes that have helped the economy of China flourish. China is strengthening its military and access to the Arabian Sea. In spite of all these measures, China does not want to enter into a war with the US. While this is an established fact that China really wants to establish itself in a position of unquestioned preponderance in the region, yet it cannot be said with utmost surety that China seeks to displace the US as the dominant player in East Asia. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More