Journal of International Relations & Foreign Policy

The U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia Peculiar Relationship: Why Yellow Light with China is Inevitable and Essential
Yaewon Cho

Abstract
As of today, where does the complex and consequential relationship between the United States and China stand? Relations between the two nations are enormously complex and broad now, from security, trade, and broader economic issues, to the environment and human rights. In fact, various periods of history are marked by equilibrium or disequilibrium2: Gilpin also demonstrated in his book War and Change in World Politics that international political change is the result of efforts of political actors to change the international system in order to advance their own interests.3 Whether or not China - claiming itself as a peacefully rising state - intended to change the ideological landscape of the international politics, its "rise" has certainly become a hot potato for the last few decades. After more than 30 years of its fastpaced economic growth, China is now the second-largest economy in the world after the United States. With its developing global strategic clout, China is now extending its reach not only economically but also militarily, especially in the South China Sea, in addition to its enormous leap in military technology. Whether to contain China as a threat or accommodate it as a rising superpower is an inevitable question that the U.S. policy makers should answer. Hence, this paper argues in support of the balance-of-power theory by suggesting that the U.S. policy makers should make a sensible diplomatic strategy of balancing its position towards China: maintaining a strategically critical policy of yellow light with Beijing. At the end of the day, working together is hard and frustrating, but not working together is worse.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jirfp.v2n3-4a2