ABSTRACT
Of all the major powers in East Asia, the United States is the most powerful country and its security strategy is seen to have the greatest impact on China. As such, the security perceptions of Chinese scholars and analysts on the US deserve special attention. Chapters two and three are devoted to the analysis of Chinese security perceptions of America, with this chapter focusing specifi cally on the presidencies of George Bush Snr and Bill Clinton. The chapter begins by looking at how China perceives Bush’s strategic thinking with particular reference to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar international system. It then moves on to analyze Chinese views of Clinton’s global strategy and how Chinese scholars see the strategic signifi cance of Europe and the Asia-Pacifi c, respectively, in American security policy. The security issues in East Asia that concern Chinese elites the most are US-Japan security alliance and US-Taiwan relations. The views of Chinese elites on these two issues in relation to the challenge of a rising China are thus examined in detail. Finally, Chinese security discourse of the US is analyzed from various perspectives of International Relations theories, including realism, liberalism, constructivism and postmodernism.
