Chinas Forbearance Has Limits

Download or read book China's Use of Armed Coercion written by James A. Siebens and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-17 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes when, how, why, and to what effect China has used its armed forces in recent decades to coerce other actors in the international system. Over the past 20 years, China’s international status as a “great power” has become undeniable. China’s “peaceful rise” has included substantial investments in military modernization and an increasingly assertive regional posture. While China has not waged war since 1979, it has frequently resorted to what the U.S. State Department has referred to as “gangster tactics” – threats, intimidation, and armed confrontation – to advance its strategic aims. This volume illuminates the ways in which China has employed its military and paramilitary tools to coerce other states, and examines the motivations and specific foreign policy objectives that China has pursued using force short of war. The study presents new analysis of an original dataset on coercive actions undertaken by China’s armed forces, taking into account the political objectives pursued and the environmental contexts in which these operations occurred. It also presents a series of expert case studies addressing the most consequential examples of China using force to coerce in recent decades. The volume contributes to a more historically informed, empirically based understanding of great power competition. This book will be of much interest to students of Chinese security and foreign policy, strategic studies, Asian politics and International Relations.