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

term remedy to this problem. As the United
States and China continue to agonize over the
power transition in the years ahead, this “grassroots”
effort and investment will allow the two
militaries to learn about each other’s principles
and operational codes; it will pay valuable dividends
that the current ad hoc and on-and-off
mil-to-mil contacts can never produce.
• Although China is one of the oldest civilizations
in the world, it is still a developing nation
and has many unsettled “nation-building” issues,
such as its avowed mission to reunite with
Taiwan, settlement of the East and South China
Sea disputed territories and ocean interests,
and harmonizing its relations with the people
of Tibet and Xinjiang inside and outside of
China. This analysis has shown that the United
States does not see eye-to-eye with the Chinese
leaders on these so-called Chinese core interests;
however, it also suggests that the United
States should maintain its role as a keeper of order
and justice in the Western Pacific and try to
avoid becoming a directly-involved disputing
party to China’s claimed core interests. This is
especially the case with respect to China’s territorial
dispute with Japan in the East China Sea
and disputes with the Southeast Asia nations in
the South China Sea.
• In addition to the above, the United States and
China also have a thorny issue in the Korean
Peninsula. For decades, the United States has
mostly treated the North Korea problem as a
military issue and responded to many of North
Korea’s provocative acts with military countermeasures.
China, however, while ostensibly
trying to persuade North Korea to control its
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