CHINA’S RISE AS A MILITARY POWER: A VIEW FROM TOKYO

BY JONGSOO LEE

China’s ascendancy as a military and maritime power is a source of concern for Beijing’s Indo-Pacific neighbors. For a Japanese perspective on the matter, Jongsoo Lee interviews Narushige Michishita, vice president and professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo.

Jongsoo Lee: Does China have ambitions to become a global military superpower? Or, does China see itself as more of a regional military power?

Narushige Michishita: When we ask these questions, the problem arises as to who is “China.” If “China” is Xi Jinping and he has that ambition, China has that ambition. If Xi changes his mind, China will change. However, the danger is that “China” might not be just Xi. If “China” is a system with its own dynamics, which one person—however powerful she/he might be—or even a large number of people cannot change easily, that would be scary.

My guess and concern is that China is actually becoming a system—a “system” in which the Chinese elite’s personal success and security hinge on unquestioned devotion to the idea of “Great China.” In that “system,” if you express doubts about that “Great China,” that will be the end of your professional life. And when you say “no” to the idea of China becoming a global military superpower, you will be doing so at your great personal per

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT THE DIPLOMAT.

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Jongsoo Lee is a Pacific Council member, Senior Managing Director at Brock Securities, and Center Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. He is also Adjunct Fellow at Hawaii-based Pacific Forum. He can be followed on Twitter at @jameslee004.

This article was originally published by The Diplomat.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.