China: ‘Rising Threat’ or ‘Rising Peace’

Abstract

‘China threat’ as a western foreign policy orientation and ‘Peaceful rise’ which later became ‘Peaceful development’ concept of Hu Jintao administration is debated since last two decades. Visualising rising China, her policies and its implications on the liberal world order have become debatable on the agenda of global intellectual community. The paper addresses the same theme and questions; whether China’s rise would be peaceful or not? Further, this research looks at the possible scenarios of comprehending rising China’s impact on international politics. The paper tries to explain the possible scenarios from different theoretical perspectives and the implications of each scenario. The paper concludes that the rising China’s impacts are long-lasting whether peaceful or threatening power depends on the members of the international community, especially the existing great power; the US, how latter accommodates the interests of a rising state and manages misperception, and maintain the balance of status in the global politics. Though minor conflicts can occur in several regions of overlapping interests, any major conflict would be avoided at the behest of both the major stakeholders.