East Asia Responds to the Rise of China: Patterns and Variations

capabilities and influence and related synergies?has become a global phenomenon economically, diplomatically, culturally and increasingly militarily. While a wide variety of variables and uncertainties still remain to condition or constrain the elongated process of China's ascent, this study, designed to identify patterns and variations of state-level responses in East Asia to the rise of China, opts for a cautious but, overall, optimistic take on the prospect of China attaining the status of a global power.1 A widely subscribed view as to the impact of China's rise forewarns of the inevitability of Sino-American competition or confrontation in East Asia. Based on the premise that China's principal chessboard is as yet located in East Asia, where America's hub-and-spoke system of alliances is in active operation, this somewhat apocalyptic position entails a realist logic that the ascent of China, regardless of its intentions and preferences, is bound to reduce the room for strategic maneuvering by America as the hegemonic power, thereby precipitating a clash of Titans.2 Alternative views abound. Many argue that China's rise may lead to a peaceful power transition, although uncertainties loom large in the long