Suchergebnisse

The growing role of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in shaping Asia's geopolitics is transforming the policy calculations of other regional actors. The recent global financial crisis, combined with uncertainty over the long-term ramifications of "China's rise", is fueling an intensifying debate over Asia's long-term stability. As key "middle powers" in the region, both Australia and South Korea have an immense stake in Beijing's future policy directions. The article argues that: (1) China has become visibly more comfortable over the past decade with exercising the "soft power" commensurate with multilateral security diplomacy, while still struggling to balance new and increasingly pragmatic foreign policy doctrines with traditional national security interests; (2) Australia and South Korea, "middle powers" in the Asia-Pacific region, have generally responded positively to Chinese soft power approaches, although recent strains in their bilateral ties with China may moderate such positive responses; and (3) middle-power diplomacy by Australia and South Korea has influenced Chinese policy toward them with respect to trade and investment but may have had little influence on Chinese strategic behavior. The future success of Chinese soft power diplomacy will depend on Beijing striking a convincing balance between developing its material power (and especially its military capabilities) and simultaneously reassuring the region's middle powers and other Asia-Pacific actors that such development will ultimately work to their own economic and strategic benefit. After evaluating recent trends in China's foreign policy thinking and regional security diplomacy, the article briefly assess China's relations with Australia and the Republic of Korea as two "cases" for gauging the relative success and future credibility of Chinese security policy. It concludes by offering observations as to how Chinese security policy may or may not be adjusted over time to correlate with regional patterns of middle power diplomacy. (China J/GIGA)