| Pub. Date | : Jul, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Product Name | : The IUP Journal of International Relations |
| Product Type | : Article |
| Product Code | : IJIR11907 |
| Author Name | : Keshab Chandra Ratha |
| Availability | : YES |
| Subject/Domain | : Management |
| Download Format | : PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : 19 |
China has a long history of fomenting a swell of anxiety among its neighbors through the action of unilateralism. As an assertive nation, it tries not only to control territory and the behavior of other states but also to exercise more influence over the organization and management of the world economy. An assertive China is contributing massively in developing military power, especially aerospace power, laying claims on international waters, island territories and air space over South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS). China’s foreign policy believes in keenly calculated self-interest, at the cost of the international institutions, standards and obligations. The resulting lack of clarity about ‘what China is’, creates an impression in the minds of outsiders to conceptualize the country’s actions as signs of increasing assertiveness. The major thrust of the paper is to explore the main driving forces that lie behind the history of an assertive China. Besides, it makes an objective assessment of China’s pattern of behavior in recent decades by identifying and examining its potential assertiveness in various fields.
No unanimity of opinions is discernible with respect to defining “assertive” in the literature of international relations. Some scholars use assertive to refer to a constructive activism in international affairs. Others use it to describe imperialistic, nationalistic, or anti-normative behavior. There is no international relations theory that employs a typology of state behavior that includes “assertive” as a category. Johnston defines the behavior ascribed to China as ‘a form of assertive diplomacy that explicitly threatens to impose costs on another actor that are clearly higher than before.