John Mearsheimer - The Rise and Containment of China

The Rise and Containment of China

Mearsheimer asserts that China's rise will be unpeaceful and that the U.S. will seek to contain China and prevent it from achieving regional hegemony. He believes that China will attempt to dominate the Asia-Pacific region just as the U.S. dominates the western hemisphere. The motivation for doing so would be to gain a position of overwhelming security and superiority against its neighbors which it sees as potential challengers to its status. Additionally, he maintains that the U.S. will attempt forming a balancing coalition that consists primarily of India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia to counter the growing strength and power projection capabilities of China. He points to increased alliances and warming U.S.-Vietnam and U.S.-India relations as evidence of this.

He also asserts that Australia should be concerned with China's accretion of power because it will lead to an intense security competition between the China and the US. Arguing that China is implementing the militarily aggressive philosophy of the U.S. naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan who argued for Sea control and decisive battle.