Name: Abhinav Joshi

U.ID: 3035203857
A New Model of Major Power Relations between China and the United States in your
view, how should the new model of major power relations between China and the
United States look like? Why?
China and the US have had a long standing animosity since the end of world War.
With hostility between the two rising during the North and South Korea war at an alltime high. The Two countries have slowly improved their relations especially after
the establishment of formal diplomatic relations in both countries in 1973(Rose,
Robert S). Currently both the countrys enjoy mutual economic, political and
security interest with china full in support of preventing terrorism and agreeing to
the proliferation of nuclear weapons, even looking down on North Koreas
development of the nuclear project. They also have strong economic ties with China
remaining the largest foreign creditor of the U.S.A having about 1.8 trillion dollars of
the U.S national debt (Kruger, Daniel).
A country can show it power through various means. A hegemony is the dominance
of power shown by countries on a global scale. A country exhibits these forms of
power through various means such as its Economy, Military strength, Soft power
and how well its culture and political ideology is defined (3). Currently US is
considered the sole hegemony and the leader in a Unipolar world. With its economy
being the worlds largest and immense trade influence over the World its economy
is tied to almost every country. Its military strength is unparalleled in the world with
state of the art war machines and a military budget which is around 6 times the
annual 106 billion-dollar military budget of China (GlobalSecurity.org,2006).
Moreover, as far as soft power is considered its cultural and political identity
although sometimes politically incorrect has a huge influence over the world with its
immense arrays of world class Universities, NGOs, a Free Civil Society and Human
Rights Dominant International Organizations. Also the US is considered the world
police monitoring the world to maintain world peace and solve conflicts.
However, we need to realism how china is on the rise in the world and how it is
slowly but surely weakling Americas credibility and power? And can china overtake
as the new hegemony or will the United States remain as the sole world power.

To answer this, we need to look at how China is rising in power with its economic
presence in east Asia, its economy 2nd largest in the world and slowly growing (IMF,
2016.). Many experts predict that china may soon pass the US in economy. With the
launch of AIIB as a counterpart to the world bank china is trying to shift power from
the west by aiming to support the building of infrastructure in the AsiaPacific region. ( Xinhuanet, 2014.). There is also the emphasis put by china to
carefully liberalize the trade and remove government or private monopoly. Even the
US government recognize that cooperation with china has better outcome than

direct competition. China has as mentioned a growing economy and with it an

increasing strength of Asian economic centers such as Hong Kong which replace
New York as the largest IPO market (Enoch Yiu). All these create an atmosphere of
completion conducive to constant development of China in East Asia.
China also has the worlds largest army (infantry size) and a strong military
presence in east of Asia(IISS,2014). There have been several disputes of land and
sea borders in the South china sea with china laying claim to most of the potentially
oil rich Spartly Islands region. Currently china controls eight of these islands and all
of the Paracel Islands (The Economist,2014). Chinas military strength has
questioned many experts on the security of East Asia and with its continual denial of
access for the US navy fleet in east Asia seas has given China an upper hand
With chinas economy and trade booming many researchers have proposed that
china will soon take over the USA in Economy creating a major shift in global
dominance. It is flooding money into countries all over the globe especially with its
mid-east industrial projects in Egypt and Saudi, who knows if these investments
come with strings attached. With chinas huge manufacturing industry, some think
it may soon gain more and more power and like the US after the cold war may be
the only leading superpower.
However, the possibility of this outcome is bleak. China may be a global player but
is not a global power in that it has not exercised enough influence in any one
particular region by shaping Chinas desired outcome (Seth M. Kaplowitz). To
become a true global power a country must not only possess dominance in the hard
skills of industry and military, but also in the soft skills of culture and normative
values as well. Chinas expansion in economy and military appears to be broad, but
I dont believe it to be deep. The Chinese system is not one which appeals to many
in terms of duplication. Along with the fact that China has numerous weaknesses in
soft power, including its domestic policy and civil rights. Moreover, Chinas current
foreign policies aim at china creating a multi polar world where power is spread
throughout. The AIIB created by china as an alternate to IMF and the world bank is
not big enough to sustain globally. Its military although with its immense budgets is
not technological or strong enough to challenge the US. The influence of the US on
the world is too great to be undermined by china and China is unlikely to challenge
the US as it currently has great economic ties with the west which might be severed
or damaged.

It is more likely for china to rise in the east where its influence is strong and gain a
major power foothold over the region. Its military strength is enough to maintain
China a dominant nation in Asia. As the west is unlikely for china to gain a position
on a power struggle of Asia between China and the US is imminent. An example of
this situation is the cold war era where majority of Asia was under the influence of
the Soviet Union whereas Europe and North America was under America.

However, before we conclude on a power struggle between China and the US we

should also look at some important players in the game i.e. the BRICS and the EU.
These countries enjoy strong economic and trade ties with each other and may rise
in to create a world where the global power is spread among different regions of the
world. This creates a possibility of the creation of a multi polar system involving the
BRICS i.e. Brazil Russia India China and South Africa and the EU(Dorothy-Grace).
Moreover, China itself has proposed that a Multipolar world is better for economy
trade and security and is more liberalized.

The United States cannot remain a unipolar power, its economy is on a slow decline
and the threat of global terrorism which cannot be suppressed by the US alone,
requires a global joint effort. The same goes for China, there is a bleak chance for
china to rise in power enough to foreshadow the rest of the world. Moreover, China
itself doesnt want the mantel of responsibility of absolute power to rest on a single
country with the US slowly losing power and the fact that China itself cannot
become the sole hegemony. The possibility of a Multipolar world is becoming more
and more true. And we are likely to see the world not dominated by one or 2 major
superpowers, but one where power is spread throughout.

References

Kruger, Daniel (May 15, 2013) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0515/china-retains-position-as-the-largest-foreign-creditor-of-u-s-.html

Rose, Robert S. Et al. Re-examining the Cold War: U.S.-China Diplomacy,

1954-1973 (2002)

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hegemony

GlobalSecurity.org. 2006. "World Wide Military Expenditures". Retrieved 10

May 2010.

IMF. April 2016."World Economic Outlook Database".

Xinhuanet. 24 October 2014."21 Asian countries sign MOU on establishing

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank".

Enoch Yiu, South China morning post ,03 December,2015,

http://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/1886452/hong-kong-racespast-new-york-return-top-ipo-market,

International Institute for Strategic Studies (3 February 2014). The Military

Balance 2014.

The Economist. 10 May 2014,"Not the usual drill". Singapore: Retrieved 14

May 2014.

Seth M. Kaplowitz ,JULY 2015,Why China is not a global superpower yet,

http://fortune.com/2015/07/30/china-stock-market-superpower/

Dorothy-Grace Guerrero, March 2013, The Rise of China and BRICs: A

multipolar world in the making?, http://focusweb.org/content/rise-china-andbrics-multipolar-world-making
Cui Liru, April 14, 2014, Toward A Multipolar Pattern: Challenges in A
Transitional Stage, http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/toward-amultipolar-pattern-challenges-in-a-transitional-stage