博士 / 國立政治大學 / 東亞研究所 / 106 / This paper is dedicated to the study of the PLA’s development of seapower “with Chinese characteristics” and its influence on security in the Asia-Pacific region in the foreseeable future. The research goals include: identifying the tangible ideas of the subjective concept of seapower “with Chinese characteristics”; exploring whether the practices of China’s seapower conform to such a concept; and examining the impact of the PLA’s development of seapower upon regional security.
The large volume of works exploring China’s advance in seapower can theoretically be divided into two categories: historical determinism and path dependency. The former argues: China’s development of seapower will make it a challenger to the existing US hegemony; while the latter argues: based on its traditional culture, China’s seapower will stick to the path of peaceful development, and commit to peaceful engagement with the international community for the creation of a harmonious world.
The research findings can be summarized as follows: the PLA’s documents on seapower consistently stress peaceful development and commitment to world peace and common development, all typical arguments of path dependency theory. However, in response to America’s “hedging strategy,” “rebalancing strategy,” and “Indo-Pacific strategy” which are all devised to enhance containment for sustaining hegemony by assuring sea control from the Western Pacific to the Indian Ocean since the 2000s, China articulates “maritime power,” “Chinese Dream,” and “Belt and Road” to guide the PLA’s naval buildup to challenge US domination of Asia-Pacific, suggesting an obliged choice of determinism.
Seapower competition and cooperation between China and America is seemingly evoking the “papal meridian” in the late 15th century. Regional peace and stability may ultimately rest upon whether China has the determination and capabilities to challenge the status quo defined by America. Consequently, the development of seapower “with Chinese characteristics” is on the one hand inherently inclined toward pacifist path dependence theory. However, on the other hand, external containment compels the PLA to advance its core sea control capabilities toward historical determinism. The paradoxical combination of pacifism at large and aggressive realism at the core may well depict the helpless truth of the PLA’s seapower “with Chinese characteristics.”
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TW/106NCCU5189013 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | 周美伍 |
| Contributors | 邱坤玄 |
| Source Sets | National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan |
| Language | zh-TW |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Format | 187 |
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