Rise of China: Myth and reality

It is said, the 21st century will belong to Asia. The Asia-Pacific countries, especially China, will play a leading role. According to the latest IMF report, China is now the world's number one economy on the basis of total GDP (US$17.6 trillion). Its GDP (gross domestic product) has been continuing to grow for the last few decades. It is the number one exporter and its products have captured the world market. It is investing and building mega infrastructures in Asia, Africa and Latin American countries.
According to the power transition theory, power shifts from one state to another with the passage of time. In the present global context, China is ready to challenge US hegemony in the international order. It is rising both in economic and military perspectives. In the East Asia, China has already established one kind of hegemony and is ready to push the US out of this region. As a rising power, it has already shown its strong commitment that it will not compromise its national interests.
China is demanding huge parts of both East and South China Sea as a policy to increase its capacity in this region. It is increasing its military budget and trying to build up blue water navy. Recently, it has declared to build up new Silk Road to increase connectivity among the Asian countries with Beijing. It has established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) apparently to counter the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
China always says that it believes in its peaceful rise. This means, its rise will not create any kind of threat to the world community. Then the question automatically comes to mind if China doesn't want to be threat to the world, why is it increasing its military budget and influence throughout the world? Many analysts say, it is its national strategy to promote China as a superpower in the name of peaceful rise.
History says that there is always ambiguity in China's behaviour. During declaration of ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone) over the East China Sea, China declared that it would take action if any state violates the Zone. But after a few days of declaration, both the US and Japan violated the ADIZ  in the East China Sea but Beijing didn't take any action.
China was the dominant power in the East Asian context from the 13th to the 19th century. It established one kind of hierarchical order in this region and its neighbouring states were loyal to China because it never interfered in any one's internal affairs. China was beneficial for the peripheral states to continue good relations as it had a huge market and it kept open its market to its peripheral states. Beijing never established any colony in any part of the world like the western powers.
In international relations, we can't predict anything but China's projection of peace doesn't promote threat to the world. Then the question automatically comes why the US projects China as a threat to the world community. Washington is always concerned about Beijing's behaviour. It projects China negatively through various reports and statistics. It wants to show Beijing's human rights violations. It is true that China violates human rights but the US exaggerates it and conveys it to the rest of the world.
There are also violations of human rights in the US but there is also criticism about it in the world. Before China's declaration of ADIZ in the East China Sea, many countries declared it in different parts of the world but it became a problem when China applied it to the East China Sea. The US needs a clear-cut threat perception to justify its foreign policy and huge military budget to the world community as well as its own people. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is no threat to the US. So it is promoting China as an international security threat.
The US foreign policy is mainly based on two pillars-- ensuring its hegemony throughout the world for an indefinite period and countering the power which can challenge the American supremacy in the world. Washington knows that in future, China can be a potential threat to challenge its hegemony in the world. That's why it is branding rise of China as international security threat. It is true that in near future, China will not emerge as a traditional security threat to the world but will not compromise some basic issues like Taiwan and maritime boundary which are directly related to its national interests.
The writer is a post-graduate student at the Department of International Relations,
University of Dhaka.
 [email protected]