Both the United States and China see contradictions in the other country’s foreign policy. Chinese leaders see contradictions between U.S. reassurances that the U.S. rebalancing policy is not aimed at containing China’s rise and U.S. actions in the region. In the same way, the United States views China’s policy to create a more welcoming peripheral environment as undermined by its recent assertiveness in the South China Sea.

In this podcast, hosted by Carnegie–Tsinghua’s Paul Haenle, Xie Tao, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, explained that the placement the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Cooperation’s deep-sea drilling oil rig in a disputed South China Sea area could be viewed as “one step forward, two steps back” in terms of improving China’s relations with its neighbors. However, Xie posited that such a move might also be a useful tool for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s aim to accelerate military professionalization. Xie explained that Xi might need foreign policy crises to give him a stronger mandate to discipline the powerful Chinese military. Once Xi has consolidated his power in several years time, perhaps China would deescalate its aggressive behavior, Xie suggested. If this proves to be true, he concluded, the Chinese military would finally be in position by that time to fight a war and win.

Xie Tao

Xie Tao is a professor of political science at Beijing Foreign Studies University. He holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University and is the author of U.S.-China Relations: China Policy on Capitol Hill and co-author of Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China. 

Paul Haenle

Paul Haenle is the director of the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center. Prior to joining Carnegie, he served from June 2007 to June 2009 as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former president George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.