American Rebalance and Chinese Belt & Road Initiative in Asia Pacific: Implications for U.S.-China Relations

Abstract

The study focuses on the structure of American “rebalance” in its relationship with China in the context of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). China and the United States are today competing global powers, and this dissertation examines into how China’s BRI and the United States’ “rebalance” have affected and are affecting relations between these two states, and relations with the states of the Asia Pacific. The Belt and Road Initiative is having wide ranging effects on the political, military, security, and economic landscapes in the Asia Pacific, and it is contributing to a reshaping of power relations between the U.S. and China. While the U.S. continues to maintain decades-old alliances with a variety of Asia Pacific countries, China is fast emerging as an active player in the region – especially in consequence of the unprecedented nature of the political-economy associated with its Belt and Road Initiative. The infrastructure projects that BRI is undertaking have shifted – and are continuing to shift – elements in the political-economies of the states which are part of BRI. This work places the U.S-Chinese relations in historical context, in an effort to better understand the past, present, and future power relations between Washington and Beijing. The focus of the study is on an empirical investigation into state behavior and balance of power politics. A central element in this dissertation’s argument is that the BRI has impacted, and will continue to impact U.S.-China relations, and argues that relations between these two states may undergo a transformation in balance of power politics that will eventually affect the world order. The dissertation evaluates the effect of major elements in the spectrum of U.S.-China bilateral relations in the 21st century, and it addresses possibilities in the competitive-cooperative pattern of relations between these two states