China's policy towards US adversaries

If the Chinese government is trying to reassure the US that China's rise is not threatening, why does China diplomatically support adversaries of the US such as Iran, Sudan, Libya, and Syria? This thesis shows that soft balancing against the US in concert with Russia best explains China's foreign policy towards these states. Economic interest and a number of other alternative theories, in contrast, do not explain the observed variation in China's policy. Critics of soft balancing have overstated their case; concrete instances of soft-balancing behavior are present in the international system.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Swartz, Peter Goodings

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• M. Taylor Fravel.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84847

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/84847