A Constructivist Analysis Of US Offshore Balancing Policy Towards East Asia

Based on Wendt’s constructivist theory about the three logics of anarchy, thatis,Hobbesian culture, Lockean culture and Kantian culture,this paper further pointsoutthat international relations are dynamic and are always moving from one culture toanother, particularly from Lockean culture to Hobbesian culture, or from Lockeanculture to Kantian culture. And the idea of offshore balancing can be regarded as atypical reflection of this in reality. This paper aims tomake a case study of the USoffshore balancing policy towards East Asia.The core of offshore balancing strategy is a great power using its dominance toinfluence the relations of some other states. And the US offshore balancing policytowards East Asia is in essence a way by which the US tries to exert its influence onChina and Japan. This paper tries to make clear the offshore balancing policy’sinfluence on the relations among the three states（China, the US and Japan）,especially its influence on the Sino-Japanese relations, through analyzing all the newsreports of the People’s Daily on Sino-US and Sino-Japanese relations during the past24years. Also this paper attempts to build a mathematical model to explain how thechanges of the relations among the three states influence each state and regionalstability.This paper draws a conclusion that the US offshore balancing policy brings moreuncertainty to the region and also brings more risks than interests to the three states.Moreover, based on the analysis of offshore balancing, this paper points out therespective limitation of Realism and Neoliberalism: although power brings a stateadvantage, its influence is rather limited; states desire cooperation, but a great powermay dislike cooperation between/among others and thus interfere with it with itsdominance.