Title: China's Global Activism: Strategy, Drivers, and Tools
Abstract: China's Global Activism: Strategy, Drivers, and Tools Editor: Phillip C. Saunders Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, 2006 Prepared by a team of some half a dozen National Defense research contractors, and scrutinized by a comparable team of U.S. experts drawn from institutions such as the the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National War College, the National Bureau of Asian Research, and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, this 2006 study provides what we must presume is a responsible assessment of the Republic of China's growing outreach to the world at large. It is organized into reviewing China's two prime strategies: the strategic track, which is the effort to advance China's military and diplomatic global influence; and the economic track, the effort to strengthen its financial and industrial muscle. Essentially the study concludes that China remains a dictatorship that has opened itself to the world only in so far as necessary to obtain foreign investment and, even more essentially, foreign know-how. Even though intent on strengthening itself strategically, and avoiding what it regards as a potential threat by the U.S. to contain it, China must ensure that it will have the material resources that it will need not only to maintain the new, higher standard of living for its huge population but also to sustain its leadership position as one of the major industrial and military powers of the world. China's leaders realize that economic success is basic to their own survival as a ruling regime as well as to China's position as the world's most populous country and as a major player in global politics. Politically, their main goal is perceived to be to position China so that it can resist any attempt by the U.S. to subvert Chinese dominance in Asia. This has led them to build what are at least temporary diplomatic bridges to Russia, to south and southeast Asian countries, and also to Europe, Australia and South America. In a skilful strategic drive to ensure future access to increasingly rare sources of energy and vital raw materials, China has provided aid to despotic Third World governments. It is interesting to note, also, that these frequently comprised such unessential things as sports stadiums that would please the rulers, but which did nothing to improve the economy or fight poverty. While the U.S. insists on advancing democracy and distributing food aid around the world, China is content to build palaces and sports stadiums, and supply arms, to despotic countries such as Burma, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Angola, in order to advance its economic and strategic interests. …
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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