Abstract
Is China today a “rising great power,” destined to behave like rising European powers of the past, such as Wilhelmine Germany or Napoleonic France? Are China and the East Asia region something unique, and should they be taken on their own terms? Or are there other theoretical approaches that might help us explain and contextualize contemporary East Asia? China’s recent economic and diplomatic dynamism has prompted tremendous speculation about regional and global implications. In academic and policymaking circles, this debate coheres around the question of whether or not East Asia will devolve into a great game of balance of power politics similar to that experienced in Europe. However, although China may be unlikely to follow the path that did European great power aspirants, that clearly does not mean that East Asia as a region is sui generis, and taking East Asia on its own terms rather than as a reflection of Europe does not mean arguing for a unique and unchanging East Asia.
Historical precedents may not be tremendously helpful … A century of chaos and change, and the increased influence of the rest of the world and in particular the United States, would lead one to conclude that a Chinese-led regional system would not look like its historical predecessor.
(Kang 2003:67, 70)
China’s ultimate intentions in the distant future are still unclear … if China actually becomes the most powerful state in East Asia, it could increasingly pressure and intimidate other states … The actions that states take in the present will have an effect on what intentions and identities develop.
(Kang 2007:201–202)
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Notes
- 1.
Goh (<CitationRef CitationID="CR18” >2007</Citation Ref>/2008); <CitationRef CitationID="CR31” >Kang (2007)</Citation Ref>; Ross (<CitationRef CitationID="CR60” >2006</Citation Ref>); Womack (<CitationRef CitationID="CR74” >2006</Citation Ref>).
- 2.
I should note that I am using the modern social science term “hegemon,” not the Chinese term bawang (霸王), which refers to a powerful person at a time when there is not a legitimate dynasty in place, such as Xiang Yu before the Han Dynasty was established. Thanks to Liam Kelley for this point.
- 3.
Wohlforth (<CitationRef CitationID="CR73” >2009</Citation Ref>).
- 4.
Lebow (<CitationRef CitationID="CR44” >2008</Citation Ref>, 4).
- 5.
Waltz (<CitationRef CitationID="CR69” >1979</Citation Ref>).
- 6.
Lake (<CitationRef CitationID="CR42” >2007</Citation Ref>, 54).
- 7.
Wendt and Friedheim (<CitationRef CitationID="CR72” >1995</Citation Ref>, 697).
- 8.
The question of leadership is prevalent in the international relations literature. See, for example, Nye (<CitationRef CitationID="CR53” >2006</Citation Ref>) and Sutter (<CitationRef CitationID="CR68” >2006</Citation Ref>).
- 9.
Donnelly (<CitationRef CitationID="CR10” >2006</Citation Ref>, 154, fig. 2).
- 10.
Mastanduno (<CitationRef CitationID="CR49” >2005</Citation Ref>, 179).
- 11.
Clark (<CitationRef CitationID="CR5” >2009a</Citation Ref>, 466). For realist versions of hegemony, see Layne (<CitationRef CitationID="CR43” >1993</Citation Ref>, 11–12) and Haugaard (<CitationRef CitationID="CR21” >2006</Citation Ref>, 62).
- 12.
Ikenberry and Kupchan (<CitationRef CitationID="CR27” >1990</Citation Ref>, 283).
- 13.
Joseph (<CitationRef CitationID="CR29” >2002</Citation Ref>, 1).
- 14.
Hurd (<CitationRef CitationID="CR24” >2007a</Citation Ref>, 78–79); Lake (<CitationRef CitationID="CR41” >2006</Citation Ref>, 28).
- 15.
Mastanduno (<CitationRef CitationID="CR48” >2003</Citation Ref>, 145).
- 16.
Clark (<CitationRef CitationID="CR6” >2009b</Citation Ref>); Cronin (<CitationRef CitationID="CR8” >2001</Citation Ref>).
- 17.
Lake (<CitationRef CitationID="CR40” >2003</Citation Ref>, 304).
- 18.
Hurrell (<CitationRef CitationID="CR26” >2009</Citation Ref>, 2).
- 19.
Donnelly (<CitationRef CitationID="CR10” >2006</Citation Ref>, 142).
- 20.
Hurd (<CitationRef CitationID="CR23” >1999</Citation Ref>, 389, 392).
- 21.
Samuels (<CitationRef CitationID="CR61” >2003</Citation Ref>).
- 22.
Hurd ((<CitationRef CitationID="CR25” >2007b</Citation Ref>), 194).
- 23.
Lake (<CitationRef CitationID="CR42” >2007</Citation Ref>, 53).
- 24.
Friedberg (<CitationRef CitationID="CR14” >1993</Citation Ref>, 7). See also Buszynski (<CitationRef CitationID="CR2” >2009</Citation Ref>); Howle (<CitationRef CitationID="CR22” >2001</Citation Ref>); Mearsheimer (<CitationRef CitationID="CR51” >2001</Citation Ref>); <CitationRef CitationID="CR52” >Mearsheimer (2006)</Citation Ref>; Odgaard (<CitationRef CitationID="CR55” >2007</Citation Ref>); Papayoanou and Kastner (<CitationRef CitationID="CR56” >1999</Citation Ref>); Rosecrance (<CitationRef CitationID="CR59” >2006</Citation Ref>, 32); Wang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR70” >1998</Citation Ref>); “China’s Rise and the Road to War,” Wall Street Journal Asia, 5 August 2010.
- 25.
Goldstein (<CitationRef CitationID="CR19” >2003</Citation Ref>, 58); Kristof (<CitationRef CitationID="CR38” >1993</Citation Ref>, 72).
- 26.
O’Brien (<CitationRef CitationID="CR54” >2002</Citation Ref>, 27).
- 27.
Cumings (<CitationRef CitationID="CR9” >2005</Citation Ref>).
- 28.
Levy and Thompson (<CitationRef CitationID="CR46” >2010</Citation Ref>, 9).
- 29.
Much of the following section draws from Kang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR33” >2010</Citation Ref>).
- 30.
Even the nomads valued Chinese stability, and as John Mears notes, “[n]omadic confederacies … seemed best served by the preservation of a stable Chinese regime.” Mears (<CitationRef CitationID="CR50” >2001</Citation Ref>, 8). See also Perdue (<CitationRef CitationID="CR58” >2005</Citation Ref>, 521).
- 31.
Fiskesjo (<CitationRef CitationID="CR13” >1999</Citation Ref>); Keyes (<CitationRef CitationID="CR36” >2002</Citation Ref>).
- 32.
Smits (<CitationRef CitationID="CR63” >1999</Citation Ref>, 36).
- 33.
Kang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR34” >1997</Citation Ref>, 6–9); Son (<CitationRef CitationID="CR66” >1994</Citation Ref>).
- 34.
Thanks to Bruce Cumings for this point.
- 35.
Kelly (<CitationRef CitationID="CR35” >2012</Citation Ref>); Zhang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR75” >2014</Citation Ref>).
- 36.
Doyle (<CitationRef CitationID="CR11” >2005</Citation Ref>).
- 37.
The major exception was the Manchus. Descended from Jurchens, the Manchus were never Mongols, and for long stretches of time their economic agenda was comparable to Chosŏn, Ming, and other more settled societies. Indeed, the Manchu conquest of the Ming was more opportunism than design; and while ruling China and absorbing some of the traditional Han institutions, the Manchus retained unique Manchu elements as well. Although Manchu worldviews and identity never completely Sinicized, the Manchus used many of the institutional forms and discursive style of traditional Chinese dynasties in dealing with neighboring states. See Elliot (<CitationRef CitationID="CR12” >2001</Citation Ref>).
- 38.
Collins and Rennack (<CitationRef CitationID="CR7” >1990</Citation Ref>, 10, 16).
- 39.
Goldstein (<CitationRef CitationID="CR20” >2011</Citation Ref>, 5–6).
- 40.
Pei (<CitationRef CitationID="CR57” >1994</Citation Ref>).
- 41.
Gill and Huang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR15” >2006</Citation Ref>); “The End of the Beijing Consensus: Can China’s Model of Authoritarian Growth Survive?” Foreign Affairs, 2 February 2010.
- 42.
Christensen (<CitationRef CitationID="CR4” >2011</Citation Ref>); Glaser (<CitationRef CitationID="CR17” >2011</Citation Ref>); Wang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR71” >2011</Citation Ref>).
- 43.
BBC World Service Poll, 7 March 2011.
- 44.
Kivimaki (<CitationRef CitationID="CR37” >2011</Citation Ref>, 58).
- 45.
Ibid.
- 46.
Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (<CitationRef CitationID="CR67” >2012</Citation Ref>).
- 47.
See, for example, Kang (<CitationRef CitationID="CR32” >2009</Citation Ref>); Lee (<CitationRef CitationID="CR45” >2011</Citation Ref>); Snyder (<CitationRef CitationID="CR64” >2009</Citation Ref>).
- 48.
Brooks and Wohlforth (<CitationRef CitationID="CR1” >2005</Citation Ref>).
- 49.
Andrei Lankov, quoted in “Island’s Naval Base Stirs Opposition in South Korea,” The New York Times, 18 August 2011.
- 50.
Solingen (<CitationRef CitationID="CR65” >2007</Citation Ref>).
- 51.
“S. Korea, China, Japan Begin Free Trade Talks,” Associated Press, 26 March 2013.
- 52.
Kurlantzick (<CitationRef CitationID="CR39” >2007</Citation Ref>).
- 53.
Glaser and Medeiros (<CitationRef CitationID="CR16” >2007</Citation Ref>).
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Kang, D.C. (2015). China, Hegemony, and Leadership in East Asia. In: Aggarwal, V., Newland, S. (eds) Responding to China’s Rise. The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10034-0_2
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