June 10, 2014
A Plan to Counter Chinese Aggression
With China drilling for oil in contested waters off Vietnam and building artificial islands off the Philippines, U.S. policy clearly isn't curbing Beijing's ambitions to redraw Asia's geographic boundaries. Restraining Chinese revisionism is no easy task, and the Obama administration can be applauded for enhancing the U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia and deepening engagement with Asia's multilateral institutions. But these long-term shifts could be buttressed by additional policy measures that Washington can pursue as soon as this summer.
In August 2010, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concerns about Chinese behavior at a high-profile regional meeting in Hanoi and offered a trenchant defense of U.S. interests in the South China Sea. Key states in the region then followed with a well-orchestrated chorus echoing similar sentiments. In a now infamous outburst, the Chinese foreign minister retorted with the warning that, "China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that's just a fact." The reality was that China never looked so small.
Ms. Clinton's intervention became a standard U.S. talking point, but it was soon apparent that public opprobrium was insufficient to alter Beijing's assertive trajectory. Bit by bit, China has continued engaging in economic, military and diplomatic coercion to settle territorial and maritime disputes. Nearly every country ringing the South China Sea has been on the receiving end of a Chinese power play of maritime intimidation.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.
More from CNAS
-
Converging Chinese and Russian Disinformation Compounds Threat to Democracy
Commentary
In recent weeks the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda and disinformation blitz around COVID-19 has drawn increasing attention, and with good reason. In addition to pr...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & David Shullman
-
U.S.-China relations are in a free fall, says expert
Video
Former State Department official Anja Manuel joins Morning Joe to discuss why she says U.S.-China relations are in a free fall. Watch the full conversation on MSNBC....
By Anja Manuel
-
The United States Can’t Afford to Turn Away Chinese Talent
Commentary
Intellectual property theft is a real concern, and China has been the world’s foremost infringer. But a blanket exclusion of Chinese students from U.S. academic and scien...
By Elsa B. Kania & Lindsay Gorman
-
How to use the next stimulus to counter China
Commentary
“Build back better” was the mantra New Orleans adopted after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It should be our country’s motto as we work to recover from the economic and...
By Stephen J. Hadley & Anja Manuel
