How has China risen as a power in the Asia-Pacific, what national interests drive it, and how effectively does it use its instruments of power?
China as a rising power in the Asia-Pacific, its national interests and the instruments of power it uses, and an evaluation of its growing regional influence
A VCE Politics Unit 3 answer on China as a rising power. Examines its national interests, its economic, military and diplomatic instruments of power, the Belt and Road Initiative and maritime assertiveness, and evaluates its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, with current examples.
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What this dot point is asking
VCAA wants you to study China in depth as the rising power reshaping the Asia-Pacific. You need to explain China's national interests, the instruments of power it uses to pursue them, and how effectively that power translates into regional influence. This is more focused than the general overview of the region: it is a single-actor study. Exam questions ask you to analyse China's national interests or evaluate its regional power, so you need specific instruments and current examples.
The answer
China's national interests
China's foreign policy is driven by a clear set of interests.
- Security and sovereignty. China seeks to secure its periphery, protect its trade routes, and assert what it regards as core sovereign claims, above all reunification with Taiwan and control of its maritime zones.
- Economic prosperity. Continued growth underpins everything else, so China pursues markets, resources, technology and stable supply chains.
- Status and influence. China seeks recognition as the leading power in the region and a peer of the United States globally, and the reform of an international order it sees as designed by the West.
Instruments of power
China is distinctive for using economic and diplomatic instruments heavily, alongside a rapidly growing military.
- Economic power. China is the largest trading partner of most states in the region. The Belt and Road Initiative funds ports, rail, roads and energy across Asia and beyond, building dependence and leverage. China can also use trade as a weapon, restricting imports to punish states that displease it.
- Military power. China has modernised its armed forces rapidly, expanded its navy, and built and militarised artificial islands in the South China Sea. This converts economic weight into hard power and underpins its claims.
- Diplomatic and soft power. China promotes a model of state-led development and non-interference that appeals to many governments, and it works actively within and around regional and global institutions to shape norms in its favour.
Evaluating China's regional influence
China's rise is real and its influence is growing, but it is contested.
- Strengths. Economic centrality gives China leverage few can ignore, its military build-up has shifted the regional balance, and its development model has genuine appeal. It can shape outcomes simply because so many states depend on it.
- Limits. Its assertiveness has provoked balancing by the United States and partners through the Quad and AUKUS, deepened suspicion among neighbours, and triggered pushback in the South China Sea, where a 2016 tribunal rejected its claims. Coercive trade measures have damaged trust. Its influence is therefore strong but increasingly resisted.
A defensible judgement is that China has become the central actor in the Asia-Pacific and is reshaping the region, but its pursuit of power generates the very counter-balancing that limits it.
Examples in context
Example 1. Economic statecraft through the Belt and Road Initiative. China has financed ports, railways and energy projects across the region and beyond, securing markets and resources while building political leverage over recipient governments. This shows economic power converted into strategic influence, the heart of China's rise.
Example 2. Maritime assertiveness in the South China Sea. China has built and militarised artificial islands and pressed its claims against neighbours, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling against it. This shows military and coercive instruments asserting sovereignty, and the resistance and balancing they provoke from the Philippines, Vietnam and the United States.
Try this
Q1. Identify two national interests that drive China in the Asia-Pacific. [4 marks]
- Cue. Security and sovereignty (Taiwan, maritime claims), economic prosperity, regional status and influence.
Q2. Explain how China uses economic power as an instrument in the region, using one example. [6 marks]
- Cue. Trade centrality and the Belt and Road Initiative build dependence and leverage; coercive trade measures punish states.
Q3. Evaluate the effectiveness of China's pursuit of power in the Asia-Pacific. [10 marks]
- Cue. Weigh economic centrality, military build-up and model appeal against balancing by the United States, the Quad and AUKUS and pushback over its claims, and judge.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VCAA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2021 VCAA2 marksDescribe one use of hard power by your selected Asia-Pacific state. [one Asia-Pacific state must be used: Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan or the United States of America]Show worked answer →
Two marks: define hard power briefly and describe one specific use of it by your chosen state. With China selected, this is a direct test of China's instruments of power.
Hard power is coercion or payment through military or economic means. A clear use of hard power by China is its military build-up and assertiveness in the South China Sea: constructing and militarising artificial islands and deploying naval and coast-guard forces to press its territorial claims against neighbours.
An economic use is equally valid, for example trade coercion (restricting imports from a state to punish a policy it dislikes). Markers want hard power identified and one real, specific Chinese action that fits the definition.
2022 VCAA8 marksEvaluate the success of this Asia-Pacific state in achieving the national interest of international standing. [Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan or the United States of America]Show worked answer →
Eight marks for an "evaluate", so reach a clear judgement on how successfully China has built its international standing, weighing gains against costs. This tests the dot point's evaluation of China's growing regional influence.
International standing is a state's status, reputation and influence among other actors. Successes: China's economic rise, the Belt and Road Initiative, and leadership in bodies such as the AIIB and BRICS have raised its global influence and made it a pole of the international system. Its diplomatic reach across the developing world has grown markedly.
Limits: assertiveness in the South China Sea, trade coercion and human rights criticism have damaged its reputation among many states and prompted balancing by the US, Japan and Australia (the Quad, AUKUS). So standing has risen with some actors and fallen with others.
The marks sit in the judgement: a defensible verdict is that China has substantially raised its standing as a great power while simultaneously generating distrust that caps its soft-power influence. Support every claim with a contemporary example.