Smith Investigates Regional Response to China’s Rise

Related Categories: Democracy and Governance; Energy Security; Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues; International Economics and Trade; China; East Asia; India; South Asia; Southeast Asia
Related Expert: Jeff Smith

In October 2015 AFPC Director of Asian Security Programs Jeff M. Smith was awarded a grant to conduct a one-year study on regional responses to China’s rise. Work is well underway on the 11-chapter edited volume, “Balancing China’s Rise: Regional Perspectives and Options for the U.S.” The book will measure how more assertive and nationalistic Chinese policies are impacting regional capitals, creating new opportunities and concerns for the U.S., and pushing regional powers closer together in an “Emerging Asian Power Web.”

Countries featured in the study will include: India, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Singapore. Leading experts from each of the countries involved are to submit chapters.

To conduct research for the project, in September 2016 Smith traveled to the headquarters of U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command (PACOM) in Honolulu, as well as to Tokyo, Japan, and Delhi, India. In each location he met with experts and officials to discuss the balancing phenomenon including those from Pacific Command and the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu; the Japan Institute for International Affairs and the National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace-India, Brookings Institute-India, and: the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi.