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On the basis of the English school concepts of balances of power, great powers and middle powers, the paper argues that the US and China advocate competing concepts of regional order in the Asia-Pacific. The US prefers an order based on the instruments of war, whereas China gravitates towards instruments of diplomacy. Sino-US policies produce an unstable pattern of balancing marked by fluctuating alliance and partnership commitments, a low level of predictability, and considerable freedom of action. This intermediate type of order leaves middle powers such as ASEAN, Russia and South Korea with extraordinary responsibilities for preserving the balance. It is engendered by China’s efforts to postpone agreement on permanent mechanisms of regional order, pending the realization of its development potential allowing it to influence regional order on a par with the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of Kissinger?s concept of balancing, the paper investigates whether ASEAN has contributed to the consolidation of coexistence in Southeast Asia. According to Kissinger, a stable order requires that balancing is embedded in a consensus as to what constitutes permissible aims and methods of foreign policy. Kissinger?s analysis of early 19th century European diplomacy emphasizes that comparatively weaker powers often play a crucial role in engendering stable orders because it is their only chance of obtaining determining influence on security arrangements in their neighbourhood. ASEAN can be viewed as an entity that has attempted to create a Southeast Asian order of coexistence to pre-empt attempts from external powers at imposing unilateral designs for regional order and that has tried to maintain a stable balance between the US and Chinese presence in the post-Cold War era. The paper argues that ASEAN?s apparent success in creating a stable balancing situation is conditioned upon the existence of a regional environment where great power interests has so far remained sufficiently separate that the US and China have been able to pursue competing versions of regional order without much disagreement. The endurance of ASEANs order of coexistence has therefore yet to be put to the test. If Sino-US security concerns come into conflict, for example over sea-lanes such as the Malacca Strait where their strategic interests intersect, this is likely to have a dampening effect on the efforts of indigenous powers at maintaining coexistence. The paper concludes that the US is a revolutionary power that does not base its Southeast Asia policy on the ASEAN principles of state conduct. US policy therefore constitutes the principal impediment to the preservation of a regional order of coexistence. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last several years, China's diplomatic efforts have been energetic and active within its region, within multilateral organizations and regimes, as well as toward distant countries in Africa and Latin America. Its relationship with the United States has also been a careful focus of diplomacy. How have its engagements abroad affected the formulation and implementation of China's foreign policy goals? This paper will explicate the role of outside forces on the making of China's foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a gender sensitive approach to Social Identity Theory in Anglo-American, Chinese and Russian negotiating contexts suggests that gendered social identities significantly correspond to "ideal type" diplomatic negotiators across cultural contexts. In the US, the identities of the "ideal man" and the "ideal negotiator" converge as an individualistic, self controlled, rational, male actor who seeks to "expand the pie" through problem-solving negotiation in order to maximize the benefits available. In China, the "junzi" (ideal man) and "ideal negotiator" are male actors who are tightly in control of their relationships, and consequently able to use the relationship games of guanxi and paradigms of wen / "joint quest" or wu / "mobile warfare" to promote the achievement of their "principled" goals. In Russia, both masculine ideal types and typical negotiators are strong members of fraternal communities, who utilize position-appropriate tactics to achieve group goals at the expense of subordinated and feminized opponents. In all three, gendered structures on individual, state and global levels reinforce each other in perpetuating diplomatic demographics, goals, and institutions which privilege dichotomous, and primarily masculine- over feminine-typical social identity roles. This critical interrogation of the intercultural diplomatic negotiation literature suggests that investigating other key social identities may also provide models which can be selectively drawn on in order to both understand the sources of potential conflict or cooperation, and provide a tool to improve negotiation processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can elements of China's new diplomatic strategy be discerned in current cases such as the Six-Party Talks on Korean Peninsula affairs, relations with Japan, the Taiwan issue, energy security, and relations with the United States? Analysis of Chinese diplomatic practice in these cases will serve to illustrate changes in Chinese diplomacy and foreign relations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]