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Anglosphere Ways of War and the Asian Century (part 2)
Posted By Graeme Dobell on July 31, 2013 @ 14:30
I explained yesterday how the Chinese have thoroughly digested the Anglosphere’s Rules of the Road, and have steered themselves to prosperity in the process. The Anglosphere Ways of War are equally well understood. Indeed, China is embracing one of the central laws of the Elders of Greenwich: the top dog has to put to sea. The British adopted the naval strategy pioneered by the Dutch and then sailed out to build a global empire. The US took over the sea strategy and still presides as the maritime mega-power. If the Obama pivot is to mean anything long term in Asia, it will be based on the US delivering as the off-shore naval balancer in the region, in the same way as the Britain did for Europe.
The interests of the key Asian powers appear to be aligned with those of the US and of the liberal capitalist order; American interests are never more secure than when multiple pillars support the system... The offshore balancing power that is interested in an open global trading system poses less threat and offers more opportunity to more partners than traditional land powers can usually match.
The prospect of strategic competition between a rising China and the United States has stirred a debate in recent years about whether it is possible for Australia to maintain good relations with both nations. An overwhelming majority of Australians believe this is possible (87%). Only 12% think it is ‘not possible for Australia to have a good relationship with China and a good relationship with the United States at the same time’. Most Australians (76%) see China as the most important economy to Australia at the moment, far more than the 16% who say the United States economy is the most important. Given this strong emphasis on the Chinese economy, we asked this year which relationship people saw as more important to Australia overall. Despite their views about the importance of China’s economy, more Australians place a higher value on our relationship with the United States (48%) than with China (37%). Without being prompted, 10% offered the response that both were equally important. Even of those three-quarters of Australians who believe that China’s economy is the most important to Australia, a significant minority (40%) still think that the relationship with the United States is more important to Australia than the relationship with China.
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URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/anglosphere-ways-of-war-and-the-asian-century-part-2/
[1] Image: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/wikmedia-commons-chinese-soldier.jpg
[2] explained yesterday: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/anglosphere-ways-of-war-and-the-asian-century-par-1/
[3] Anglosphere Ways of War: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-anglosphere-and-oz/
[4] Sam Roggeveen’s piece: http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2013/07/17/Chinas-evolving-naval-strategy.aspx
[5] survey of Australian public opinion on foreign policy: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/lowy-institute-poll-2013
[6] Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Chinese_soldier_with_the_People