To ally or not to ally? Debating China’s non-alliance strategy in the twenty-first century

The non-alliance policy has provided measurable benefits to China, even though China’s changing security environment has caused a debate within Chinese academia about the policy’s relevance. Under the non-alliance policy, China has maintained a relatively benign regional environment, allowing the government to focus on the central task of economic development and power accumulation. The implications of an assertive China have caused heated debate among academics both for and against the non-alliance policy. The chapter analyzes the mainstream arguments made by Chinese scholars as they debate China’s foreign policy, and answer the some questions. It provides an evaluation of the relationship between this debate and China’s policy shifts in practice. China’s non-alliance policy has been its primary foreign policy principle for nearly a decade. Aside from pro- and anti-alliance scholars are moderates who seek a solution to China’s security dilemma that rests between a formal alliance and the non-alliance policy.