Is the China Threat Real?
It is a civilizational principle that states rise and fall. The current geopolitical picture of the world shows several patterns that China could become the next global hegemon. Such a development of events could lead to a conflict of interests between the US and Chinese governments. However, the author of this work believes that China is not a real threat to the USA’s security, stability, and prosperity. The purpose of this paper is to explain why China is not a real threat to the US and the world community.
China is not a Real Threat
China may threaten the US in two ways. They are economics and the military. Over the past few decades, China has become a country with a developed economic system and a high-tech military (Husenicová, 2012). Therefore, according to China Threat theorists, “the war over hegemony is an expectable conclusion of the current situation” (Husenicová, 2012, p. 555). However, it is the current US dollar-oriented global economic system that enabled China to develop. It means that China will not enter into full-scale economic confrontation with the United States. In simple words, it is not in their best interest. China is a real threat to other east Asian regional players such as Japan and Taiwan.
Like the US, EU, and Russia, China has been developing its own military for a long time. Today, the Chinese army is highly qualified specialists with high-tech weapons (Owen, 2020). China and the US are two states possessing nuclear weapons, so a military conflict is impossible or will be prevented by other countries. It is worth noting that China resembles the Russian Empire before the World War I. At that time, Russia also claimed the title of the world hegemon, but internal social conflicts led to the collapse of the country (Basu & Miroshnik, 2020). Nowadays, there are similar social processes in China, for example, the oppression of the Uyghurs. If there is a real confrontation between the US and Chinese military forces, the Uyghurs could become the revolutionary core within the Chinese community, which will weaken China.
References
Basu, D., & Miroshnik, V. (2020). Imperialism and capitalism, volume I. Palgrave Macmillan.
Husenicová, L. (2012). The China threat theory revisited: Chinese changing society and future development. In M. Majer, R. Ondrejcsák, & V. Tarasovič (Eds.), Panorama of global security environment (pp. 553-565). STRATPOL.
Owen, D. (2020). GOVT 251 – China threat [Video]. Millersville University