ABSTRACT

With the rise of China, there has been increasing speculation on its implications for the world. Offensive realists argue that the world is heading for an unavoidable conflict between China and the United States. History, they argue, tells us that the rising state and the established hegemon are unable to reconcile their conflicting interests. No matter how unwilling and reluctant they may be to engage in conflict with each other, no matter how they may try to avoid this conflict, they will find themselves in a confrontation anyway. This, they say, is the tragedy of great power politics.1 Optimists, however, point at the changes such as interdependence between China and the outside world, China’s enmeshment in international institutions and positive changes in China toward freedom and democracy and argue that these changes have made such conflict unnecessary and avoidable.2 Thus, contrary to offensive realists’ predictions, they argue that China’s rise may not bring confrontation and may come peacefully if managed well.