Obama's Strategy Towards China "Containment Strategy"

Abstract

China's rise in the Asia-Pacific region is considered a significant threat to U.S. national security and the U.S. allies in this region. China's military capabilities have become a real threat to U.S. national interests worldwide. Within a decade, China may replace the United States as a military power in the Asia-Pacific region which has strategic importance to the United States. The U.S. strategic analysis assumed that China took advantage of the 2008 financial crisis. Another assumption was that the United States had focused heavily on the Middle East in its war against terror, giving China more flexibility to interfere in the Asia-Pacific region and disrupt the balance of power. The Obama administration's strategy has been classified under different concepts such as pivot strategy, rebalance strategy, new engagement strategy, and Containment strategy. This paper explores Obama's strategy as a containment strategy towards China. To achieve this strategy, Obama's administration paid equal attention to soft and hard power as tools to contain China's raising. Thus, this administration tried to accomplish this strategy by relying on political-diplomacy, economic, security-military, and alliances. The main key factor that helped Washington in its efforts to contain China was the regional willingness to embrace America as a counterbalancing power to China's geopolitical ambitions.