Issue Specific Explanations of China-ASEAN Relationship: Applying the Realist and Constructivist Assumptions

Abstract

China's growing economic power combined with emerging Asian community is not only gradually enabling Asia to be one of the most important economic regions in the world, but also changing the international structure that was largely dominated by the United States since the end of World War II. China's participation in ASEAN is the most important institutional organization in Southeast Asian cooperation and a critical arena for China to engage Southeast Asian countries. This has aroused the attention of many scholars. Is China's regional foreign policy behavior becoming more cooperative and inclusive through the socialization influence of ASEAN participation? Or is China using ASEAN to extend its influence and dominate the Asian region? This debate mainly takes place between realist and constructivist. In fact, there is a sharp division among these scholars regarding China's foreign policy intent in Southeast Asian region. The China-ASEAN relationship is context driven, and few scholars have taken a systematic view on whether constructivism or realism best explains Chinese foreign policy toward ASEAN. This paper examines the military, economic, and institutional relationship between China and ASEAN in the past two decades. I focus attention on traditional and non-traditional security issues. I argue that China-ASEAN relationship is an evolutionary process where by both realist and constructivist explanations apply. However, neither explanation can independently explain China-ASEAN relationship. My conclusion is that both realism and constructivism are useful in explaining China-ASEAN relationship in different contexts. Thus constructivism best explains the economic and non-traditional security issues while realism remains a key factor in explaining traditional security issues.