Atanassova-Cornelis, Elena --- "The US–Japan Alliance and the Rise of China: Implications for the East Asian Security Order and the EU’s Regional Role" [2012] ELECD 924; in Wouters, Jan; de Wilde, Tanguy; Defraigne, Pierre; Defraigne, Jean-Christophe (eds), "China, the European Union and Global Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: China, the European Union and Global Governance

Editor(s): Wouters, Jan; de Wilde, Tanguy; Defraigne, Pierre; Defraigne, Jean-Christophe

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781004265

Section: Chapter 17

Section Title: The US–Japan Alliance and the Rise of China: Implications for the East Asian Security Order and the EU’s Regional Role

Author(s): Atanassova-Cornelis, Elena

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

17. The US­Japan alliance and the rise
of China: implications for the East
Asian security order and the EU's
regional role
Elena Atanassova-Cornelis

INTRODUCTION
This chapter takes a closer look at the geo-strategic environment and
evolving regional order in East Asia with the aim of contributing to a
better understanding of the current restructuring in the global governance
system, especially in the area of security. Indeed, as China rises and
consolidates its status as a major power in Asia, it challenges the US
hegemonic position in the region. This, in turn, has implications for
America's global primacy, the international strategic order and the role of
the European Union (EU) in global governance.
The US regional dominance in East Asia rests on the so-called `hub and
spoke' security system, which comprises a set of post-war bilateral military
alliances between Washington and regional states, notably including
Japan. The US­Japan alliance has been a major pillar of the American-led
order, checking the rising power of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
and deterring conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula.
Regional uncertainties concerning China's strategic intentions have led to
a strengthening of US­Japan security ties in the 2000s, which Beijing has
interpreted as being directed at China and as a tool of Washington's
strategy of maintaining its primacy in East Asia. While the resulting
security dilemmas and mutual hedging strategies have come to define the
regional order, the ...