China and its Neighbors: Trade Leverage, Interdependence and Conflict

Abstract

Economically, China, ASEAN and other countries in the region are highly integrated. From an economic perspective, this is reflected in the rapid increase in trade and investment flows. As China grows fast and trade relations with its neighbours increase rapidly, the phenomenon may lead to a situation where China uses its trade strength against its partners as a political tool. Similarly, some of its trade partners may possess certain soft power against China by using trade as a potential leverage. This can be defined in terms of import strength or export strength of a particular country and its dependence on China. This paper tries to analyse how the import and export dependence among East Asian countries work as a potential leverage that is utilized for political gains and national power projections. It also tests whether trade dependence can avert military conflicts in East Asia or not.

Keywords:

• trade dependence
• East Asian conflict
• economic leverage

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nabeel A Mancheri

Nabeel A Mancheri is a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow affiliated to Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo. Prior to joining Tokyo University, he was an Assistant Professor at India's National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He has also worked as a consultant to OECD Paris, ICRIER New Delhi and CUTS International and involved in research related to trade issues. He was a visiting researcher at Graduate School of International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hiroshima University in 2008–09 and was a visiting fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing in 2012. His recent publications include a monograph on Dominating the World: China and the Rare Earth Industry, a co-authored book on India-United States Cooperation on Global Security: Technical Aspects of Civilian Nuclear Materials Security published by National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC and a co-edited book on Rise of China; Indian perspectives (Lancer, 2012). He was selected as an IISS-SAIS Merrill Center Young Strategist for 2013 by International Institute for Strategic Studies, London and Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of IISS London.