Abstract

In East and South-East Asia, the People’s Republic of China’s evident rise has posed a threat to the prevailing regional order which is dominated by the USA. The USA therefore faces the conundrum of how to respond to it: should it oppose China’s rise and attempt to counter it with a containment-type strategy, or should it accommodate it, which will result in the diminution of the USA’s influence in a pivotal region? Like the USA, the states in the region also face the same conundrum of how to respond to China’s rise. For them, however, the question is whether they should side with the USA to contain China, a risky strategy that could lead to armed conflict, or should they bow to the inevitable and embrace a new regional hegemon?