From The Financial Express:
In recent weeks, China announced a 12.6% hike in defence spending, America’s CIA director, Porter Goss, testified about a worsening military balance in the Taiwan Strait and President George W Bush pleaded with Europeans not to lift their embargo on arms sales to China. Yet, Chinese leaders speak of China’s “peaceful rise” or, more recently, its “peaceful development.”
Analysts such as John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago have flatly proclaimed that China cannot rise peacefully, and predict “the United States and China are likely to engage in an intense security competition with considerable potential for war.” Optimists point out that China has engaged in good neighbour policies since the ’90s, settled border disputes, played a greater role in international institutions, and recognised the benefits of using soft power. But sceptics reply that China is merely waiting for its economy to lay the basis for future hegemony.
