The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

In the post-Cold War era, the United States has become
even more convinced that an international order
based on democracy, free commerce, and the rule of
law is the only destiny for the world. 28 Promotion of
this international order has been the central tenet of
U.S. national strategy accordingly. 29 The United States
is willing to shed national treasure and blood to promote
democracy abroad, as in the case of Iraq. China
unfortunately stands as the single largest roadblock
in this U.S. mission (the Muslim world collectively is
another). Thus on every occasion of international importance,
the United States challenges China to take
on political reform and reminds China that without
completing the long-dodged political modernization,
China will not be able to reach its full potential, nor
will it be able to act as a responsible stakeholder to
promote common good in international affairs. 30
China, however, holds a different view. Chinese
leaders argue that democracy is not the panacea for
international problems. 31 They insist that developing
nations, China in particular, have authoritarian
governments for good reasons—Huntington’s classic
argument for authoritarian stability in developing societies
still stands as a valid one. 32 U.S. heavy-handed
pressure for forceful and hasty political change only
creates political instability in developing nations; in
the post-Cold War world, it is the U.S. hegemonic approach
that is responsible for most of the international
conflicts and questionable armed interventions. The
United States, as the Chinese argue, has been an “irresponsible
stakeholder” in world affairs. 33
Opposing hegemony has been an enduring theme
in Chinese foreign policy since the early days of the
People’s Republic of China (PRC) (the United States
has been the primary target of this policy; China also
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