The Borderlands and Security of China：China’s Grand Strategy and the Geopolitics of Xinjiang

• Main Authors: Yu-Chuan Huang, 黃玉洤
• Other Authors: Samuel C.Y. Ku
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/bnj99w

博士 === 國立中山大學 === 中國與亞太區域研究所 === 100 === Abstract With the transformation of the world geopolitics since the collapse of USSR, the international relations theories about borders, cross-border ethnics, and energy politics are increasingly getting important. Meanwhile, there are some doubts about the debate between the land power and sea power based on the theories of the classic geopolitics. Take China for example. It is a nation equipped with land power and sea power, and is moving forward as a great power. Accordingly, my research focuses on the nature of Chinese geopolitics and its thinking on national security from the perspective of the dynamic process of Chinese border and borderland. I hope it can be of help to interpret China’s Grand Strategy. Through the general explorations of geopolitics and national strategy, I intend to prove the arguments: whether China will be a nation with land power and sea power or a nation with only one alternative. Besides, how can China resolve the geopolitical dilemma in the diplomatic practice? In my research, the understanding of historical culture and geography factors should be prior to the thinking on the Chinese geopolitical theory. In the Chinese history, “China” and “Borderland” have been integrated with each other during the war times, which have made China expand into the vast territory and border of all time, and have made the national security more stable than at any time since the Opium Wars of 1839-1841. In the 21st century, when China declared its “peaceful rise” and developed its marine strategies, the so-called “geopolitical dilemma in sea-power and land-power,” based on the classic theories, would not virtually cause any problem to China. The key is that China’s Grand Strategy always balances with and adjusts to the dynamic world politics. China wins over the advantage of land-border security by announcing the mutual respect and interests to the surrounding states, and practices its “soft power” through the international institutes. In addition to the military modernization promoted by economic effects, China begins to strive for an ocean strategy. Furthermore, in my opinion, the problem of Xinjing is the biggest threat to the national security inside China. As the cross-border ethnics and “pivot of Asia,” Xinjing is inclined to be influenced by the outside world. In order to promote the border protection and attack the antiterrorism, China founded the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Xinjing is the biggest province of China and the access to the Central Asia and Europe from China. That’s why Xinjing is called “Eurasian Crossroads.” As a consequence, Xinjing is deeply affected by the outside world no matter what issues are involved, such as politics, economics, military security, energy, border, and antiterrorism. That’s why China’s national security and Xinjing are closely tied up. My conclusion is that the threat to China’s national security lies not in outside the border but in inside the country. In Chinese history, the diplomatic practices are the reflections on the domestic demands, especially under the principles of the “sovereignty” and the “unification of territory,” which form the basis for the formation of “China” and “Borderland” in Chinese history, and are also the foundation stone for CCP to maintain its control over the state.