The US-China Face-Off in the Asia-Pacific Region: What Answer Can the Offense-Defense Theory Provide
Abstract
The study comprises an analysis of the security dilemma situation in the Asia-Pacific region that has evolved because of Chinas perceived aggressive behavior and the USs rebalance policy. The study uses a template based on a Cold-War era, structural-realist offense-defense theory to seek answers. The template claims that if the intent of the two belligerents can be identified clearly, then the offense-defense balance can provide useful answers to the questions related to the security dilemma issues. The author assesses the impact of three factorstechnology, geography, and allied supportrelated to the offense-defense balance, and concludes that at present, the defense has the advantage and therefore the likelihood of major conflict due to security dilemma factors is low. Nonetheless, further analysis reveals that the impact of the three factors on the offense-defense balance is not uniform. Geography provides the most stable influence while technology, due to its rapidly evolving nature, and allied support, due to its complex nature, need constant attention of the United States in order to maintain the extant relatively stable balance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1015754
Entities
People
- Alok Sharma
Organizations
- Air University