China and the US war on terror

Abstract

America’s war on terror and its concomitant unilateralist tendencies ininternational politics have presented new foreign policy challenges for China. Onone hand, the war has given China a chance to highlight its role as a responsiblegreat power through a common undertaking to combat terrorism. It also serves as anexcuse for China to crack down more forcefully on separatists in Xinjiang. On theother hand, from China’s perspective, the United States uses the war on terror as apretext to strengthen its global hegemony in the postCold War era. Moreover, theongoing hunt for terrorists has enabled the United States to enhance its presence inthe key geopolitical region of Central Asia. It is argued that ultimately, for China,negative implications of the U.S. war on terror outweigh the positive ones.China also sees the United States using the war on terror to establish its militaryand economic presence in Central Asia, a region of geostrategic significance. Chinaneeds vast energy resources to fuel its growing economy and has invested heavily inprocuring oil supplies from the region. In the quest for comprehensive nationalstrength, China allocates high importance to economic security, which stresses havingaccess to key mineral resources. In this sense, the U.S. presence in oil-rich CentralAsia is seen in a negative light because China now faces a strong economic competitorthere.The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis , Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer 2006, pp. 95116.