Asia’s Quest for Balance: China’s Rise and Balancing in the Indo-Pacific

In recent years the narrative surrounding China’s “peaceful rise” has given way to a more ominous story of friction, ambition, and great-power rivalry. As Chinese foreign policy has grown more nationalist and assertive, its intensifying competition with the U.S. has assumed center stage. The impact on China's neighbors, by contrast, and their evolving responses, have received comparatively less attention.
The Realist theory of international relations suggests the rapid accumulation of power by one nation-state will prompt its neighbors and peers to adopt Balancing strategies. They will strive enhance their internal defense capabilities and forge new external security partnerships to hedge against this potential new threat. Have these predictions rung true? Are key Indo-Pacific capitals Balancing, and drawing closer to the U.S. as insurance against Chinese aggression? Or is China a new breed of rising power, challenging traditional theories of international relations in a newly-globalized, economically interdependent world?
In Asia’s Quest for Balance: China’s Rise and Balancing in the Indo-Pacific leading author-experts from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam explore these questions and more, decoding China’s complex and evolving relationships with its neighbors and exploring how their responses are altering the security landscape of the region.
Jeff M. Smith is a research fellow in Heritage's Asian Studies Center, focusing on South Asia. He formerly served as director of Asian Security Programs at the American Foreign Policy Council. Smith is the author of Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century (Lexington Books, 2014) and has contributed to multiple books on Asian Security issues.
Smith has testified as an expert witness before multiple congressional committees, served in an advisory role for several presidential campaigns, and regularly briefs officials in the executive and legislative branches o