Dr Krista Wiegand1, Dr. Sojeong Lee1
1University of Tennessee, United States
Biography:
Dr. Krista Wiegand (PhD, Duke University) is Director of the Centre for National Security & Foreign Affairs and Professor at the Baker School of Public Policy & Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Wiegand specializes in international conflict, territorial and maritime disputes, alliances, dispute resolution, Indo-Pacific security, and U.S. national security. She has published four books and more than 40 journal articles and book chapters. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Philippines in 2017 and has received grants from the U.S. Department of Defence, U.S. Department of State, National Science Foundation, Stanton Foundation, and Korea Foundation.
Abstract:
China’s expansionist behaviours in the Indo-Pacific and across the world has led to a state of rivalry between the U.S. and China, leading to U.S. concerns about the foreign policy positions of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. In this theory chapter of a book project, we seek to understand the dynamics that drive variation in strategies and behaviours among U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific vis-à-vis the U.S.-China power competition. We theorize that the level of vulnerability of U.S. allies and partners to China interacts with the existence of territorial and/or maritime disputes between U.S. allies and partners and China to influence their foreign policy strategy in the U.S.-China rivalry. We argue that U.S. allies and partners engaged in territorial and/or maritime disputes with China are more likely to actively help the U.S. balance against China. Because bilateral relations between the U.S. ally or partner and China are already tense, the U.S. ally or partner can afford to side with the U.S. without being as vulnerable to Chinese retaliation. On the other hand, U.S. allies and partners not involved in territorial and/or maritime disputes with China are expected to be more cautious in siding with the U.S. against China, because doing so can provoke China to retaliate in ways more costly than if they already had ongoing disputes. We provide a review our case study results with a comparison of the positions of Japan and Australia toward the U.S.-China rivalry.