Deterrence theory and Chinese behavior / Abram N. Shulsky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shulsky, Abram N.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Deterrence (Strategy).

United States--Military policy.

United States.

China--Military policy.

China.

United States--Military relations--China.

China--Military relations--United States.

China--History, Military--1949-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 85 pages)

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, 2000.

Summary:

China's recent reforms have led to unprecedented economic growth; if this continues, China will be able to turn its great potential power into actual power. The result could be, in the very long term, the rise of China as a rival to the United States as the world's predominant power; in the nearer term, China could become a significant rival in the East Asian region. In this context, the issue for U.S. policy is how to handle a rising power, a problem that predominant powers have faced many times throughout history. It is the contention of this report that the future Sino-U.S. context will illustrate many of the problems of deterrence theory that have been discussed in recent decades; deterrence theory will be, in general, more difficult to apply than it was in the U.S.-Soviet Cold War context. The key may be to seek nonmilitary means of deterrence, i.e., diplomatic ways to manipulate the tension to China's disadvantage.