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The Rise of China and America’s Asian Allies
Public seminar
Tuesday 29 April 2014
5:45pm – 7:00pm
Professor Stephen M. Walt
Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University
Finkel Theatre, John Curtin School of Medical Research (Bldng #131), ANU
In this seminar, Professor Walt will explain why China’s rise will lead to increased security competition in Asia and
explore the implications of this trend for United States alliance
relations in this region.
Sino-American competition is inevitable because the world’s
two strongest powers invariably cast a wary eye on each other.
Moreover, it is in China’s long-term interest to reduce the U.S.
security presence in Asia. The U.S. will resist such efforts, however,
because it does not want China to become a “regional hegemon”
or establish a dominant “sphere of influence” in its immediate
neighborhood. Assuming Chinese power continues to grow,
therefore, security competition between Washington and Beijing will
be nearly impossible to avoid. Indeed, evidence of a growing rivalry
is already apparent.
The United States is already moving to shore up its alliance
relations throughout Asia, but managing these relations will be
a much more demanding task than managing NATO was during the Cold War. The distances are vast, which
magnifies problems of collective action, and America’s Asian partners are increasingly torn between their
economic ties with Beijing and their security relations with Washington. There are also lingering resentments
between key U.S. allies such as South Korea and Japan, which makes it harder for Washington to lead a powerful
balancing coalition. This situation will place a premium on diplomatic skill and in-depth regional expertise, and the
United States and its Asian partners will have to work hard to avoid a number of significant pitfalls over the next
few decades.
Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard. He previously taught
at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, been a Resident Associate of the Carnegie Endowment
for Peace and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and a Contributing Editor at Foreign Policy magazine. Professor Walt is the author of The Origins of
Alliances (1987), Revolution and War (1996), Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy
(2005), and co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007).
Professor Walt is in Australia as a guest of the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney. For further
information about the National Security College visit nsc.anu.edu.au
Presented by
Registration required
National Security College
Register here by 28 April 2014
E [email protected]
ANU College of
Asia and the Pacific
T 02 6125 8958
This lecture is free and open to the public
nsc.anu.edu.au
CRICOS# 00120C
The National Security College is a joint initiative of the Commonwealth Government and The Australian National University