3.1 The Rise of China: From a Historical Perspective

3.1.1 China and Northeast Asia in a historical context

Throughout history, China has maintained a dominant presence in Northeast Asia. Its size, massive population, unmatched resources, and profound cultural influence have largely defined the political, economic, and social dynamics of Northeast Asia. China went through a turbulent time since the mid-nineteenth century, enduring foreign invasions, a civil war, economic deprivation, and the destructive Cultural Revolution. However, since the late 1970s, China has undertaken economic reforms and achieved remarkable economic development, providing significant economic opportunities for all of the other constituent countries in Northeast Asia. China's successful economic development has also strengthened its global and regional political influence to the extent that its policies now have a profound impact on political, economic, and military dynamics in Northeast Asia. This chapter examines whether the rise of China in recent decades will lead to a new political paradigm for the region and how its political governance influences sustainable peace in Northeast Asia. The first part of the chapter discusses its historical context.

China's history reveals several important characteristics: continued expansion of its territorial, political, and cultural parameters; extraordinary capacity to endure foreign rule (when invaded and conquered); influence over foreign rulers and the ability to assimilate foreign conquerors; sustained domination through a combination of warfare and appeasement; and a strong drive to unify the Chinese states (when divided). Other great powers have shown some of these characteristics; for example, the United States underwent a civil war after disallowing the South to secede in 1861. However, in the case of China, these factors have worked to reinforce and sustain its control in the region. China's history demonstrates its immense expansion: an early Chinese state, the Zhou (周) Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC), occupied a smaller part of present-day China as shown in Figure 3.1.

The Zhou Dynasty maintained a feudal system that allowed regional rulers’ substantial political autonomy and was split into several autonomous states. One of such autonomous states, the Qin Dynasty (秦, 9th century BC–206 BC), conquered the other Chinese states, creating the first Chinese Empire in 221 BC.

While the Qin's unification of China marks the beginning of China's history as East Asia's dominant power, it took another several centuries before China prevailed over Northeast Asia.