Abstract:

The main consensus of both democrats and republicans in the foreign policy of the United States is the need to contain China’s assertive rise to regional and global hegemony. The United States sees China as the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and the military, economic and technological power to do so. Therefore, especially with the presidency of Obama, the USA has determined an offensive realist theoretical lens for the purpose of limiting China. In particular, China’s recent military build-up in the South China Sea has proven that the great powers are in a constant struggle for regional and ultimately global hegemony, as Aggressive realists have long argued. In the study, China-US relations from the 21st century to the present have been evaluated from the perspective of Offensive Realism. This study is based on the assumption that the primary goal of the US foreign policy is to curb China. In this sense, the possibility of the security competition between the USA and China turning into a hot war, the parameters by which the possibility of a hot conflict between the USA and China can be explained, and the possibility of a limited war between the USA and China leading to a nuclear war are discussed from the perspective of Offensive Realism.

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