The Rise of China and Its Effect on Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea: U.S. Policy Choices Page: 33 of 40
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" bring China's external trade more into balance, ensure that China
adheres to its World Trade Organization commitments, reduce the
foreign exchange resources available to China's central government,
and slow the "bandwagon effect" by which Japanese, South Korean,
and Taiwanese businesses are establishing factories in China with
the intention of selling a part of the output in the U.S. market;
" facilitate the globalization of China in order to strengthen forces of
change, create centers of power outside of Beijing, and increase
representation in Beijing by business and international interests; and
" take into greater account the impact that the rise of China is having
on the policies of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Status Quo. Current U.S. policies toward the economic rise of China are
based both on "idealism" and "realism." The Pentagon's military planning, of
necessity, tends to be power- and threat-based and realistic. It considers and prepares
for several scenarios, including the "worst case" in order to provide for the security
interests of the United States. Current policies stress contingent military planning,
export controls, strong alliance relations with Japan and South Korea, and rising
levels of engagement.
Other U.S. policies toward China tend to be idealistic. They are aimed at
promoting U.S. ideals of democracy, a liberal market economy, and human rights in
China. Many of these policies are based on the globalization-peace hypothesis67 that
posits a progression in the political and economic development of nations that starts
from a low-level agrarian economy that becomes globalized and enters a phase of
sustained economic development which then leads to the rise of a middle class
(mostly urban) and to greater internal demands for democracy and representative
government. The hypothesis posits that democratic governments do not fight each
other. Therefore, in this view, efforts to establish democracy ultimately lead to more
peaceful relations with other nations. This is one rationale for current U.S. policies
of liberalizing trade, facilitating China's membership in the World Trade
Organization and other international institutions, encouraging communications at all
levels, and engaging Beijing on a multitude of fronts.
Containing China. Those who focus on the China threat often advocate a
policy of deterrence and containment - some have called it "constrainment."68 This
is analogous to the containment doctrine pursued by the West during the Cold War.While containment usually is couched in terms of military strategy, it also can extend
to economic and political issues.
Certainly, China's economic rise has provided the resources for it to build a
modernizing and more powerful Chinese military. While the end of the Cold War
and rapproachment with Russia has reduced greatly the probability of a big-power
conflict in Asia, the rise of China as a regional nuclear power, in the minds of some,
merely shifts the threat to China. The PRC also looks toward the Pacific Ocean and
67 This is an extension of the democratic-peace hypothesis.
68 Segal, Gerald. East Asia and the "Constrainment" of China, International Security, Vol.
20, no. 4 (Spring 1996).
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Nanto, Dick K. & Chanlett-Avery, Emma. The Rise of China and Its Effect on Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea: U.S. Policy Choices, report, April 12, 2005; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs6212/m1/33/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.