A new international system?
- By Zhao Jinglun
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 3, 2014
Bisley also referred to the Conference on Integration and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) as a platform on which to build a distinctly Asian security structure with a very large membership, an arrangement that excludes the United States and as a counter to the U.S. sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which excludes China.
When China announced the establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) a year ago, Wendell Minnick, Asia Bureau chief of Defense News argued that it had implications beyond the military challenge it poses to the United States and allies in the region, with insidious implications on continued U.S. diplomatic, economic and political power in the Asia-Pacific.
It was interpreted as China's attempt to overturn the existing order and replace it with its own interpretation of international rules and norms. Toshi Yoshihara, a professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, said it represents an attempt to impose a new normal in an important part of the maritime Asia, and thus a challenge of the first order. Whew!
And the ADIZ has actually been described as part of China's "anti-access/area denial" strategy, a term the U.S. military has dubbed as China's military strategy to disrupt U.S. power projection into the western Pacific.
It is understandable that some Western analysts and officials see these new arrangements as a challenge to the U.S.-dominated world order. But China is not out to overturn the existing international order. It does want to make that order fairer and more just, and reflect the changed balance of power.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:http://www.keyanhelp.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
