How Chinese Economic Coercion Impacts U.S. Security Relations with Australia and South Korea
Abstract
Increasing economic power has driven Chinas global rise, providing China with immense influence and capabilities. China has used this power in pursuit of its strategic objectives especially in the Indo-Pacific. How has Chinese economic statecraft and coercion impacted South Korea's and Australia's security relations with the United States? This thesis conducts comparative case studies of South Korea and Australia and their economic relations with China and security relations with the United States. This research made use of multiple databases to examine 20 years' worth of records detailing bilateral relations and trade for instances of Chinese economic coercion to identify the core cases, and makes shorter assessments of other key cases. This thesis finds that China primarily uses informal economic coercive methods for a range of issues including territorial maritime disputes, human rights, and security interests. The tactics have become more active and sophisticated over time in being able to precisely and flexibly target industries. However, China's use of economic coercion has so far achieved mixed results as there seem to be no long-term concrete changes to the U.S. alliances and, in some cases, evidence that it has backfired. This thesis recommends that the United States increase its cooperation and establish new institutions with its allies, other countries and the private sector to limit and counter the effectiveness of Chinese economic coercive tactics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1126866
Entities
People
- Derrick Q. Do
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School