fulbright Taiwan online journal

fulbright Taiwan online journal

Tag: politics

A Case of China’s Economic Power

A case study provides the opportunity to delve deeper into the perceived advantage that China wields over the United States in monetary power. By analyzing a real world case of Chinese monetary power, this research aims to answer the questions: when is economic coercive action in the Chinese-United States relationship likely to succeed, and why aren’t there more instances in which China tries to make use of its theoretical leverage. Over the course of the case studies, deeper analysis presents a more complex and complicated picture of the broader and more definitive areas of leverage presented in the analysis of economic realities. This suggests that theoretical advantage, while supported by economic figures, can often be hard to capitalize on in reality. In the case of China’s monetary power, this research makes use of “the most likely case” of economic coercive action (Eckstein, 1975). As such, this research aims to take a case of Chinese utilization of economic power that has a high likelihood of success and explore how successful it was in reality as well as what were the circumstances of its failure or success. This falls short of an all-out attempt to disprove the theoretical advantage, as is often

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Beijing’s Formidable Strategy in the South China Sea

      The U.S. rebalance to Asia has yet to alter the desired outcome for U.S. allies and partners in the South China Sea (SCS): Checking Beijing’s advances in territorial claims. Instead, despite a few successful maneuvers, most of the strategies adopted by the Philippines and Vietnam have backfired. China has seized every opportunity to advance its claims in response to its neighbors’ perceived provocations and operational incompetence. Let us consider some examples of how SCS competitors act, react, and interact in the strategic pursuit of their own self-interests.

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Reflections on Identity and Regional Security

Kirsten Asdal graduated from the US Naval Academy in May 2013 with a B.S. in Chinese. She will complete a master’s degree in Contemporary Chinese Studies at Oxford University in 2015, then report to her first ship, the USS MICHAEL MURPHY (DDG112), to serve as a division officer.  My first four months living in Taiwan were very fruitful, and I am grateful for the new perspectives I developed through my experiences and studies. I have been taking a masters class on cross-strait relations, as well as auditing a Ph.D. class on Asia-Pacific security. Meanwhile, at Chengchi University’s MacArthur Center for Security Studies, I have been researching the new Chinese Coast Guard and related implications for regional security. I attended the annual conference of the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia-Pacific in Beijing, and I have been working on a subsequent research paper with a team of Young Leaders from the Pacific Forum on the usefulness of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting.      Aside from my research, I have also been taking language courses. When I first began my Chinese class in early September, I could neither read nor write using traditional characters. Now, I can write responses using all traditional

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Research & Reflections

fulbright taiwan online journal