China’s Rise and the Evolution of the East Asia Regional Order

　　Abstract: It could not be more evident that the East Asia Regional Security order has changed rapidly since the end of the Cold War，however there is much controversy over the nature of the new order emerging. The authors argue that the controversy over the nature of the Post-Cold War regional order indicates that a universally accepted framework has yet to emerge for the region，however that there are two emerging elements that will become more and more prominent as it evolves: the continuation of America’s alliances in the region，and the rise of China’s economic influence. The new order emerging in East Asia will involve the United States relying on its system of alliances to coordinate with an economically rising China to mutually construct rules to maintain regional stability and security. Unique to this arrangement will be that the United States will depend on the efforts of its regional allies to coordinate to resolve regional security issues between itself and its allies and China，either bilaterally or multilaterally；meanwhile China will use selfrestraint to ease regional security problems. The future of the East Asia regional order will be determined primarily by how the American alliance in the region responds to the rise of China.

　　Author: Sun Xuefeng is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University；

　　Huang Yuxing is a Master’s Student at the Department of Political Science at Boston College