Strategic Logic of U.S. China Policy.

In my article, I explore the strategic reasons why the United States has been engaging China and evaluate the feasibility and wisdom of the policy. U.S. Government and advocates of engagement have argued that economic and institutional intergration of China and its democratization through engagement will cause its peaceful behaviors even after it becomes powerful. My argument is that the U.S. China policy after the Cold War has been primarily driven by realist power calculations. And the U.S. aims to maintain the status quo of U.S. dominance in Asia through the strategy combining reassurance and power maximization. The strategic logic is that the U.S. will play the leadership role of providing public goods of peace and stability in Asia through the continued engagement in Asia. The accommodation of China is a crucial part of that strategy with the reassurance of Japan to prevent security competition in Asia and thus to reduce the incentive for China to build up its military capabilities. And through engagement, China will be more deeply integrated into the existing order shaped and managed by the U.S. At the same time, the U.S. is trying to maximize its power, especially through the military technological advance, to increase its great military advantages vis-à-vis China while maintaining its military force and alliances in Asia. Thus, by maintaining its overwhelming military superiority and reducing the Chinese incentive for military buildup, the U.S. is trying to dissuade China from challenging the U.S. I argue that through that policy, the U.S. is trying to ensure its security by preventing the rise of a peer competitor in Asia and maintain the international system shaped according to the U.S. interests. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]