Contours of Conflict in the 21st Century

CHINESE LANGUAGE PERSPECTIVES: TRADITIONALIST AND MODERNnot very likely to happen in the foreseeable future. In this perspective,China’s number one national security interest (i.e. survival) is unlikely tobe seriously threatened in the future from the outside. 17 The reason thatstabilization is also rarely mentioned may be that these experts do not seeconflict and its (coercive) tools as a means of stabilization.War and conflict, in their perspective, are themselves destabilizing.DefinitionFIGURE 11. CHINESE LANGUAGE PARAMETERS: DEFINITIONChinese experts award little consideration to the definition of conflict.Additionally, the discussion appears to cluster around the more traditionalconceptions of conflict: war and militarized inter-state disputes, andtensions between non-state actors.17 Yu Xintian, ‘Zhànzhēng yǔ hépíng de xīn tèdiǎn cóng wèilái zhànzhēng dà qūshì kàn zhòng guóhépíng juéqǐ duìwài zhànlüè’ [Features of War and Peace in the Future and China’s Peaceful RiseStrategy], Guójì zhǎnwàng [International Outlook], no. 10 (2004).44Contours of Conflict in the 21 st Century