The United States, China and Southeast Asian Security: A Changing of the Guard? (review)

The author of this text reminds us that one of the most important debates in American foreign relations is the policy toward China. Wayne Bert, who served as a policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Defense and is now an independent scholar, not only specifically addresses the issues confronting the United States and China in Southeast Asia but also pauses to discuss the unipolar system and the nature of American power and the quandary of human rights in Asia. Dr. Bert, who follows the argumentation of A.F.K. Organski, has clearly read the literature on the topic and frequently gives the central arguments on all sides of the debate before offering his assessment of the situation. If this debate is to give way to a more productive state of affairs, then an understanding of the politics of a reemerging China, a globally dominant United States, and a geographically strategic Southeast Asia is a good place to start.

The rapid modernization of China has increased its global influence at an impressive pace. Dr. Bert writes: "That the Chinese will use their economic productivity to attempt to restore some version of their historically exalted view of their place in the world seems a certainty" (p. 8). However, this reemerging China faces the question of how to face the international system and the greatest world power, the United States, and how best to live with its neighbors in Southeast Asia. Chinese, American, and Southeast Asian national interests will be profoundly affected by these relationships. According to Bert, "It is one of the ironies of the Sino-U.S. competition in Southeast Asia that these two great powers have several things in common. The most important is that both the United States and China come from a tradition of imperial power giving them (they believe) the skills and credentials legitimizing their right or duty to lead and keep order in Southeast Asia" (p. 8).

An American debate rages on whether a reemerging China is a revisionist state seeking to change the world order or a status quo state that respects and plays by the existing international rules. Those arguing that China is a revisionist state often suggest that the United States must pursue a containment policy to suppress China's power or even that war between the United States and China is inevitable. Most, however, believe that through engagement China will continue to play by the rules of the world system, a system dominated by the United States. Bert argues that war is not inevitable, but that power transitions are inevitable, suggesting ways that the United States can prepare for China's probable challenge. "The likelihood of avoiding war with China as it continues to industrialize is aided by the fact that it is recognized early on as a country with a large population that will inevitably become a powerful nation and possibly the globally dominant nation" (p. 17).

The politics of a reemerging China and a globally dominant United States cannot be honestly addressed without considering the existing international system or the post-Cold War era. There is too often the misperception that the post-Cold War era is merely a holding pattern until the true new shape of the international system emerges. In reality, however, several important shifts are occurring during the post-Cold War era. One major shift, of course, is the Russian move toward the American and European Union order. Another shift is the growing globalization, with its empowerment of transnational non-state actors, and the increase in failed or dysfunctional states. The list continues with China's transformation from an inward-looking Third World power to a vibrant economic and political force; the European Union's persisting progression, especially with the implementation of the Euro; Japan's shift from an economic powerhouse to slower growth and a more introverted nationalism; and the apparent...