How does neo-liberalism explain the likelihood of China's threat towards United States' global hegemony in the 21st century?

Abstract

This paper elaborates the likelihood of China to revise the current international regime led by US’ global hegemony. The main questions of this paper are: How does neoliberalism explain the chance of China's threat towards United States' Global Hegemony in the 21st century? Moreover, how the assertive approaches of China under Xi Jinping leadership could be explained under "China Peaceful Rise" thesis? A number of analysts, such as John J. Mearsheimer and G. John Ikenberry have already engaged in a debate on whether the rise of China's economy would change it into a revisionist state that engage in a hegemonic war against the United States. This paper contributes to this debate by providing an analysis of ‘China Threat Theory' vs. "China Peaceful Rise" thesis. In order to find out the likelihood of China to pursue global hegemony in the near future, an analysis is conducted by utilizing Neo-liberalism as a theoretical framework. This paper argues that despite the neo-realists’ assumption of China's potential threat over the current liberal international system, China's tremendous economic rise can be accommodated peacefully. The assertive foreign policies of China under Xi Jinping leadership do not necessarily imply China’s threat towards US global hegemony. The inference of this paper has a wider implication on the literature of "China Peaceful Rise", as the concept has evolved in addressing the dynamic challenges encountered by China along the way.