ISBN: 978-0-231-20465-1
John Mueller
Ohio State University & Cato Institute (US)
Some analysts define ‘hegemon’ as an entity that
has the ability to establish a set of norms that others willingly embrace. This
may suggest opinion leadership and success at persuasion more than hegemony – something
like Germany in Europe. However, Huang Chin-Hao of the Yale-NUS College in
Singapore argues in this ably-argued (if somewhat under-edited) book that it is
a role China aspires to play in its area. As such, it implies that China, in
its desire to achieve legitimacy and validation, will pay attention to the
views of other countries in the area, at least when they speak collectively,
and, more broadly, that international politics is much more than simply a lust
for material power. He examines in depth the contentious issue of the South
China Sea for the 2012–2018 period and concludes that, although they are much
smaller that China, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations have sometimes productively been able to alter China’s machinations in
the area when those countries have been united. By contrast, he forcefully
argues that freedom of navigation efforts by the United States military have
been counterproductive, inspiring tit for tat responses. Particularly in the
years since 2018, however, China has raised alarm with its bullying ‘wolf
warrior’ diplomacy, its handling of Covid, and its crackdown on Hong Kong. In
result, its unfavorability ratings in polls around the world have soared from some
20 or 30 percent early in the century to 70 or 80 percent now. But Huang’s
perspective suggests that in response some mellowing of China’s policy is to be
expected.