China’s dam-building in the Greater Mekong is not only a challenge for the host country, but creates wider international concerns about environmental and social practices.
The focus of peace effort for the past decade in the region has been on a specific Code of Conduct, a set of norms that recognizes the rule of UNCLOS in the settlement of maritime territorial disputes. The more the disputes become a matter of legal norms, the less benefits could be achieved by means of dangerous military demonstrations.
China’s recently-established ADIZ has been met with a variety of responses from countries both near and far, all of which have strategic implications for the security and stability of the region.
The already strained relationship between Japan and China has recently faced more challenges and they may benefit from US involvement in the process of regional power transition.
Karl’s perspective is fresh, but is too often stifled by theoretically-laden phrases that will not be familiar to a popular audience and only begin to make sense in context over several pages.
India has taken the US, Japan and China seriously in its foreign policy considerations, but its pivot to Asia must be understood through its own self-conception as an Asian great power.
One of this book’s major strengths is the focus on Central Asian perceptions of China, including perceptions of strategic interaction, economic relations, and culture.
Those who make the arduous trek through this at times dense book will be well-rewarded with a perspective that is careful not to paint with broad brushstrokes when discussing protests in China.
Looking to Tiananmen Square, one can see a menagerie of ideas competing for the soul of China. Each of these ideas finds a constituency within the ruling Communist Party and many are ideologically irreconcilable with the other.
Comprehensive, persuasive, and empathetic, Nathan and Scobell offer a fresh look at what could easily be a stale litany of threats to China’s rise and a thorough treatment of China’s security policies.
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