China's Role As Global Power:An Increased Need For Regional Bilateralism In An Interdependent Central-and Southeast Asia

The past few decades of the People's Republic of China has been marked by rapid economic growth and development.It has managed to sustain growth at nearly 10 per cent since 1978,and in the process has lifted 500 million people out of poverty.It has also become the world's second-largest economy in nominal GDP,largest army in terms of standing force and the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods.The assessment of the global power balancing from west to east has been seen by Western analysts as a global power shift,where Chinese analysts view an increase in the PRC's global power as a a regaining of global power after it was stripped of this global power by Western aggression in the 19th Century.However,both agree that after the United States,China is the second-most prominent power in global politics and a power that is to reshape the global power balance(Mahadevan,2012).China's Gross Domestic Product(GDP)has risen from $150 billion in 1978 to $8,227 in 2012(World bank,2014).The People's Republic of China's post-1978 foreign policy has followed Deng Xiaoping's "Hide your strength and bide your time" rhetoric.This is a clear move away from China's at first,indifference to international affairs,and later isolationism in the sense that even though China has flexed economic muscle,it remained conservative of criticism of political spheres outside of its borders.However,in more recent times,rapid economic development has led to an increased interest in both safeguarding stakes abroad and maintaining political stability at home.This has opened the way for China to engage more seriously in international affairs as opposed to paying little interest in affairs outside of China's borders.However,many analysts have speculated that this is soon to change.Increased energy needs and threats from China's western borders have drawn it out of its political isolationism and have created the need for a more active global strategy.Instead,Beijing is promoting a "Peaceful and harmonious" international system in which China actively participates in decision making and creating information,as opposed to following the diplomatic guidelines set up by more internationally involved actors.At the core of the "Harmonious world" rhetoric lies China's increased need to secure its border regions to the west,secure energy transportation lines,combat terrorism,curb narcotics trade,just to mention a few examples(Chen,2014).On the other hand,Chinese foreign policy has to cover more than domestic needs:the rest of the world needs to be reassured that China's economic expansion will not come at the cost of their territorial and economic sovereignty.Similarly,Beijing's foreign policy maneuvers need to reassure Washington that it seeks to improve relations rather than heighten military tensions.China's post-1978 economic boom and emergence as the world's second largest economy has seen to an increase in China's international,and more specifically,regional participation and relevance.This has sprung the need for China to better engage regional actors in order to promote regional security and stability by means of decisive foreign policy in order for China to take its place as a benevolent global and regional power.As globalization and regional interdependence increases,China is in a position to usher in a new form of bilateral cooperation in order to create regional stability and to increase its global and regional economic and military autonomy.The purpose of this thesis is to examine the need for the People's Republic of China to engage in regional bilateralism in order to not only safeguard its interests,but also in order for China to better pursue its regional integrity in the South China Sea and ensure energy security goals with its partner states in Central Asia and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.Due to growing regional complex interdependence and economic ties,this thesis will examine and explain the need for increased bilateral economic cooperation as policy tool for China to attain regional foreign policy goals especially in term of Central Asian Nations that are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and those of South east Asia,particularly The Philippines and Vietnam.The secondary data that has been collected will be analyzed by means of Keohane and Nye's theory of Complex interdependence and will examine various facets of cooperation ranging from energy security,tourism,media and joint security,whilst at the same time explaining the decreasing importance of military force as a credible foreign policy tool to increase political autonomy and achieving goals outside of China's traditional borders.The three facets of complex interdependence are as follows:An absence of hierarchy among issues,multiple channels of communication and an increasingly minor role of military force.Using these three facets,the litarary data is analized and various cases are brought forth as evidence to support these claims,ranging from tourism,energy security and investments,to relations between states in the region.