A China Threat: Why is Chinese international economic rise seen as a threat by the United States?

Por que a inserção econômica internacional chinesa é vista como uma ameaça pelos Estados Unidos?

Abstract

Does China pose a real threat to the hegemonic position of the United States? The China Threat theory tend to answer that yes, the argument revolves around the Chinese economic rise, the consequent investment in military spending and the growing Chinese influence in international relations. This article presents an attempt to summarize China’s international economic rise, its consequences in international relations and how this rise process is linked to the development of China’s Threat theory by non-Chinese academics. Counterarguments are also presented to demonstrate the US bias, which can be summarized on 3 main fronts. 1) The relevance of the theme covered by the media: after the economic rise of China, in the 1990s, the media coverage of a possible military, economic and political-ideological threat became part of the main newspapers in the United States. 2) Apprehension that China wants revenge for the role played by the US in the Century of Humiliation: between 1839-1949 China suffered from the western invasion of its territory, losing sovereignty, its ability to protect its population and being exploited by the imperialist powers of the period – among them, the United States. 3) China represents everything that the US fought in the 20^th century: communism, non-democracy and economic development outside the standards preached by the Bretton Woods institutions; China has developed its own model, and despite the bets pointing to failure, China has managed to grow and achieve national development goals, gaining notoriety in international relations.