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Dealing with a rising China : options for middle powers

University of British Columbia

The centre of gravity in world affairs has shifted once again towards Asia, more specifically to China. As the world’s growth engine, Beijing is now increasingly taking on leadership roles regarding global governance issues. While the international relations literature has focused on the dangers associated with the rise of a great power challenging the ruling hegemon, this focus on power transitions has left a major knowledge gap regarding how China deals with middle powers and how middle powers can engage with Beijing. I argue in my thesis that by using their middle power status, multilateralism and niche diplomacy, middle powers in the Pacific region, including Canada, collectively have the ability to influence global governance decisions made by China. In the context of China’s return as a global power in the 21st century and its increasing ability to shape its external environment, this research project investigates the foreign policy implications of this shifting geopolitical order in the Asia-Pacific for middle powers like Canada.

Text

2016-08-31

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54579

Asia Pacific Policy Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/