Intrastate Dynamics in the Context of Hegemonic Decline: A Case Study of China’s Arms Transfer Regime

Authors

  • Zhifan Luo Department of Sociology University at Albany - SUNY

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2017.600

Keywords:

China, hegemonic decline, intrastate dynamics, arms transfer, global agenda

Abstract

The decline of a hegemon can create openings for lesser powers to expand their influence in the world-system. Is this what China is currently attempting to do? This paper contributes to this on-going debate by examining China’s arms transfer activities from a historical perspective. Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms transfer database and the World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers database, I argue that the Chinese arms transfer regime has evolved through three phases. In Phase One, China used gifts of arms to compete with the Soviet Union and to expand influence among Third World countries. In Phase Two, China used arms exports mainly to assist national developmental projects. Only evidence in Phase Three supports the emergence of a global strategy that attempts to extend China’s economic, political, and possibly military outreach. This paper suggests that though China has not yet become a contender for world hegemony as Arrighi argues (2007), China has formulated a globally-focused agenda which, in the medium-term, could extend its influence in regions where U.S. domination is relatively weak.

Author Biography

Zhifan Luo, Department of Sociology University at Albany - SUNY

Ph.D. candidate

Department of Sociology

University at Albany - SUNY

References

Alden, C., Large, D., and De Oliveira, R. S. 2008. China returns to Africa: A rising power and a continent embrace. New York: Columbia University Press.

Alessi, C., and Xu, B. 2015. “China in Africa.” CFR Backgrounders, Retrieved on April 27, 2015 (http://www.cfr.org/china/china-africa/p9557).

Arrighi, G. 1994[2010]. The long twentieth century: Money, power, and the origins of our times. Verso.

(------.) 2007. Adam Smith in Beijing (Vol. 389). London: Verso.

Bachman, D. 2013. “China's Defence Industrial Base in 1985.” The China Quarterly, 214, 432-455.

Barma, N., and Ratner, E. 2006. “China‘s illiberal challenge.” Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, 2(Fall), 56-68.

Babones, S. 2015. “What is world-systems analysis? Distinguishing theory from perspective.” Thesis Eleven, Vo. 127(1), 3-20.

Block, F. 1977. The origins of international economic disorder: a study of United States international monetary policy from World War II to the present (No. 214). Univ of California Press.

Bradbury, J. 1961. “Sino-Soviet Competition in North Korea.” The China Quarterly, 6, 15-28.

Bremmer, I. 2009. “State capitalism and the crisis.” McKinsey Quarterly, 1-6.

Brenner, R. 2003. The Boom and the Bubble: the US in the World Economy. Verso.

Brookes, P. 2007. Into Africa: China’s grab for influence and oil. Heritage Lectures, 1006, 1-5.

Brookes, P., and Shin, J. H. 2006. “China’s influence in Africa: Implications for the United States.” Backgrounder, 1916, 1-9.

Campbell, J. 2013. “Is American Policy toward Sub-Saharan Africa Increasingly Militarized?” American Foreign Policy Interests, 35(6), 346-351.

Chase-Dunn, C., and Podobnik, B. 1995. “The next world war: world-system cycles and trends.” Journal of World-System Research, 1(6).

Che, D. 2012. “Lessons from China’s military aids to Vietnam (1961-1975)” (in Chinese). Window of Southeast Asia, (3), 37-39.

Chen, Z. 2005. “Nationalism, internationalism and Chinese foreign policy.” Journal of Contemporary China, 14(42), 35-53.

Cheng, H. 2011. “The first arms sale of China” (in Chinese). Grand Garden of Science, (9).

Cheung, T. M. 2009. “Dragon on the Horizon: China's Defense Industrial Renaissance.” The Journal of Strategic Studies, 32(1), 29-66.

Chŏng, C. W. 1978. Pʻyŏngyang Between Peking and Moscow: North Korea's Involvement in the Sino-Soviet Dispute, 1958-1975. University of Alabama Press.

Conway-Smith, E. 2012. “China supplying Africa with guns.” Global Post, Retrieved on Dec 3, 2012 (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/121128/china-africa-guns-weapons-arns-smuggling).

Coskun, O., and T. Karadeniz. 2015. Turkey goes back to other missile system bidders as China drags feet: officials. Reuters, February 26.

Downs, E. S. 2007. The fact and fiction of Sino-African energy relations.

(------.) 2010. “Who’s afraid of China’s oil companies.” Energy Security, 74-78.

Duan, H., and Huang, K. 2013. “Transition of China’s ideas of arms sales” (in Chinese). Military Industry Culture, (10), 58-61.

Eichengreen, B. 2011. Exorbitant Privilege: The rise and fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System. Oxford University Press.

Eisenman, J. 2012. “China–Africa trade patterns: causes and consequences.” Journal of Contemporary China, 21(77), 793-810.

Frankenstein, J. 1999. “China's defense industries: a new course?” Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, 5(1).

Friedman, G., and Lebard, M. 1991. The coming war with Japan. St Martins Press.

Ferguson, T. 1984. “From normalcy to New Deal.” International Organization, 38:41-94.

Go, J. 2011. Patterns of empire: the British and American empires, 1688 to the present. Cambridge University Press.

Goldfrank, W. L. 1995. “Beyond Cycles of Hegemony: Economic, Social and Military Factors.” Journal of World-System Research, 66-76.

Gowan, P. 2003. “U.S. hegemony today.” MONTHLY REVIEW-NEW YORK-, 55(3), 30-50.

(------.) 2004. “Triumphing toward international disaster: the impasse in American grand strategy.” Critical Asian Studies, 36(1), 3-36.

Gurtov, M. 2015. “Rules and Rocks: The US-China Standoff Over the South China Sea Islands.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Retrieved on June 15, 2015 (http://www.japanfocus.org/-Mel-Gurtov/4330/article.html).

Halper, S. A. 2010. The Beijing consensus: how China's authoritarian model will dominate the twenty-first century. Basic Books.

Hao, Z., Song, T., and Luo, S. (2013). “China’s military aids to South Korea” (in Chinese). Ordnance Knowledge, 8, 019.

Holtom, P., Bromley, M., and Wezeman, P. 2008. “International arms transfers.” SIPIR.

Hung, H. F. 2008. “Rise of China and the global overaccumulation crisis.” Review of International Political Economy, 15(2), 149-179.

(------.) 2014. “Cold War and China in the (un)making of the global dollar standard.” The United States in Decline. Emerald Books.

Jansson, J., Burke, C., & Hon, T. 2009. “Patterns of Chinese investment, aid and trade in Tanzania.” University of

Stellenbosch, Centre for Chinese Studies, Johannesburg.

Karmel, S. M. 1997. “The Chinese military's hunt for profits.” Foreign Policy, 102-113.

Kirshner, J. 2008. “Dollar primacy and American power: What's at stake?” Review of International Political Economy, 15(3), 418-438.

Knudsen, M. 2014. “Capital accumulation and the rise of finance.” The United States in Decline. Emerald Books.

Krause, K. 1992. Arms and the state: patterns of military production and trade (No. 22). Cambridge University Press.

Lachmann, R. 2014. “Introduction: the United States in decline?” The United States in Decline. Emerald Books.

(------.) 2014. “From consensus to paralysis in the United States, 1960–2010.” Political Power and Social Theory, 26, 195-233.

Lachmann, R., and Mitchell, L. 2014. “The Changing Face of War in Textbooks Depictions of World War II and Vietnam, 1970–2009.” Sociology of Education, 0038040714537526.

Lardy, N. R. 1987. “The Chinese economy under stress, 1958–1965.” The Cambridge History of China, 14, 1949-1965.

Lieberthal, K., and Lampton, D. M. (Eds.). 1992. Bureaucracy, politics, and decision making in post-Mao China (pp. 1-30). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lin, Joseph. 2015. “China’s Weapons of Mass Consumption.” Foreign Policy, Retrieved March 20, 2015 (http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/20/chinas-weapons-of-mass-consumption/).

Lin, L. 2013. “The conflictual and complementarity of China’s and the United States’ policies towards Africa” (in Chinese). Contemporary International Relations, 6, 008.

Lou, C., and Zhang, M. 2010. “The significance of South Asia and China’s South Asian strategy” (in Chinese). Contemporary Foreign Relations, 2, 42-47.

Lu, M. 2006. “Mao Zedong’s connections to Africa—In memory of the fiftieth anniversary of Sino-Africa diplomatic relations (in Chinese). Over the Party History, (9), 5-9.

Mann, M. 2005. Incoherent empire. Verso.

(------.) 2013. The Sources of Social Power. Vol. 4: Globalizations, 1945-2011. Cambridge University Press.

Manyin, M. E., Daggett, S., Dolven, B., Lawrence, S. V., Martin, M. F., O'Rourke, R., and Vaughn, B. 2012. “Pivot to the Pacific? The Obama Administration's Rebalancing Toward Asia.” LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON DC CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE.

Medeiros, E. S., Cliff, R., Crane, K., and Mulvenon, J. C. 2005. A new direction for China's defense industry (Vol. 334). Rand Corporation.

Meng, K. 2015. “Chinese rocket launchers will be presented in Peru parade to facilitate arms exports to Latin America” (in Chinese). Global Times, Retrieved July 22, 2015 (http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2015-07/7064390.html).

Mulvenon, J. C. 2001. Soldiers of fortune: the rise and fall of the Chinese military-business complex, 1978-1998. ME Sharpe.

Mulvenon, J., and Tyroler-Cooper, R. S. 2009. “China's Defense Industry on the Path of Reform.” DEFENSE GROUP INC WASHINGTON DC CENTER FOR INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS.

N.A. 2015. “Turkey considering China missiles deal despite NATO concern.” Reuters. Retrieved February 19, 2015 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/19/turkey-china-defence-idUSL5N0VT2KV20150219).

N.A. 2015. “Turkey-China missile deal shows divergences between Ankara and NATO.” Global Times. Retrieved March 1, 2015 (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/909514.shtml).

National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2012. China Trade and External Economics Yearbook (in Chinese). China Statistics Press, Beijing.

NY Times editorial board. 2015. “Pushback in the South China Sea.” New York Times, Retrieved May 29, 2015 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/opinion/pushback-in-the-south-china-sea.html?_r=0).

Pitlo III, L. 2015. “China’s 'One Belt, One Road' to where?” The Diplomat, Retrieved February 17, 2015 (http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/chinas-one-belt-one-road-to-where/).

Prestowitz, C. 2010. The betrayal of American prosperity: Free market delusions, America's decline, and how we must compete in the post-dollar era. Simon and Schuster.

Rahal, F. 2014. “A study on the development of Sino-Africa trade relations” (in Chinese). Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Foreign Trade, University of Laoning Province, LN.

RAND. 2012. “U.S. overseas military presence: what are the strategic choice?” RAND Corporation.

Rotter, J. A., 1987. The path to Vietnam: Origins of the American commitment to Southeast Asia. Cornell University Press.

Rosen, D. H., and Hanemann, T. 2009. China's changing outbound foreign direct investment profile: drivers and policy implications (No. PB09-14). Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Ross, R. S. 1988. The Indochina Tangle: China's Vietnam Policy, 1975-1979. Columbia University Press.

Roxborough, I., and Levy, Z. 2014. “The flailing hegemon: managing U.S. military decline.” The United States in Decline. Emerald Books.

Schulz, B. 1999. “Germany, the USA and Future Intercore Conflict.” The Future of Global Conflict, 49, 226.

Scobell, A. 2000. “Going out of business: divesting the commercial interests of Asia's socialist soldiers.”

Smith, S. C., and Pan, Y. 2014. “US–China economic relations.” The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China, 119.

State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. 1995. White Paper on Arms Control and Disarmament (in Chinese).

Strange, S. 1980. “Germany and the world monetary system.” West Germany: A European and Global Power, Lexington and Toronto: Lexington Books, 45-62.

Stokes, J. 2015. “China's road rules: Beijing looks west toward Eurasian integration.” Foreign Affairs, Retrieved April 19, 2015

(https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2015-04-19/chinas-road-rules).

Su, T. 1995. “Three logics of ‘major power rivalry’ in the world system – a footnote to a Pentagon study.” Journal of World-System Research, 1(10).

Tan, L. 2014. “Protecting Africa from the Chinese: US Media Print Coverage of Sino-African Relations, 2002-2012.” Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 2(2).

Taylor, I. 2006. “China's oil diplomacy in Africa.” International affairs, 82(5), 937-959.

Tharoor, I. 2015. “What China’s and Pakistan’s special friendship means?” Washington Post, Retrieved April 21, 2015

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/21/what-china-and-pakistans-special-friendship-means/).

Tiezzi, Shannon. 2014. “China May Lose Turkish Missile Defense Contract.” The Diplomat, Retrieved September 09, 2014 (http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/china-may-lose-turkish-missile-defense-contract/).

Treasury, U. S. 2005. “Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies.” US Treasury Department, Washington, DC.

Tull, D. 2008. “The political consequences of China’s return to Africa.” China Returns to Africa–A Rising Power and a Continent Embrace. London: Hurst & Company, 111-128.

United Nations General Assembly. 1971. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758.

Van der Pijl, K. 2014. The making of an Atlantic ruling class. Verso Books.

Wallerstein, I. 1974. “The rise and future demise of the world capitalist system: concepts for comparative analysis.” Comparative studies in society and history, 16(04), 387-415.

(------.) 1979. The capitalist world-economy (Vol. 2). Cambridge University Press.

(------.) 2002. “New revolts against the system.” New Left Review, 18(2002), 29-39.

(------.) 2003. The decline of American power: The US in a chaotic world. New Press, The.

Wang, T. 1999. The History of Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China, 1970-1978 (in Chinese). World Knowledge Press, Beijing.

Yale, W. 2015. “China’s Maritime Silk Road Gamble.” The Diplomat, Retrieved April 22, 2015 (http://thediplomat.com/2015/04/chinas-maritime-silk-road-gamble/).

Yang, H. 2009. “A review of China’s foreign aids” (in Chinese). Study Monthly, (21), 40-42.

Yang, H., and Chen, K. 2010. “Foreign aids of China: success, lessons, and towards future development” (in Chinese). World Outlook, 1, 008.

Yang, K., and Li, D. 2002. “An analysis of changes in Mao Zedong’s view of the Soviet Union” (in Chinese). Beijing and Moscow: From Coalition to Conflict. Guangxi Normal University Press, GX.

Yu, D. 2003. “Arms sales: No choice but to be an arms-dealer” (in Chinese). Southern Weekend, May 6.

Zagoria, D. S. 1960. “Strains in the Sino-Soviet alliance.” Problems of Communism, 9(3), 1-11.

Zhang, L. 2002. “A discussion of China’s strategies to use natural resources in the South China Sea” (in Chinese). Journal of Zhanjiang Ocean University, 22(2), 13-17.

Zhang, Y. 2006. “A study of China’s foreign-aid policies” (in Chinese). Ph.D. dissertation, Department of International Politics, Party School of the Central Committee of CPC, Beijing.

Zhao, L. 2009. “A typological and geographical analysis of China’s participation in UN peace-keeping missions” (in Chinese). Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies, 2, 55-72.

Zheng, Y., & Yi, J. 2007. “China's rapid accumulation of foreign exchange reserves and its policy implications.” China & World Economy, 15(1), 14-25.

Downloads

Published

2017-02-28

How to Cite

Luo, Z. (2017). Intrastate Dynamics in the Context of Hegemonic Decline: A Case Study of China’s Arms Transfer Regime. Journal of World-Systems Research, 23(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2017.600

Issue

Section

Research Articles