The Essence of Hedging: Malaysia and Singapore’s Response to a Rising China
The Essence of Hedging: Malaysia and Singapore’s Response to a Rising China
复制标题
对冲的本质：马来西亚和新加坡对崛起的中国的反应
DOI：
10.1355/cs30-2a
复制
发表时间：
2008
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Kuik Cheng
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kuik Cheng
最近的国际关系奖学金和政策出版物在描述小国对崛起大国的战略时，使用“对冲”一词来替代“平衡”和“随大流”。就东南亚国家如何应对一个重新崛起的中国而言，越来越多的分析人士断言，从严格意义上讲，没有哪个较小的国家追求平衡或从众，实际上，这些国家采取了一种“中间”立场，用“对冲”来形容最合适。本文试图通过执行三个主要任务来评估这一断言。首先，本文试图确定套期保值作为一种有别于纯粹的平衡和随大流的策略的关键定义属性和功能。其次，本文旨在通过关注后冷战时期马来西亚和新加坡对中国的反应，在东南亚与中国关系的背景下运用这一术语。第三，也是最后一点，该研究解释了为什么这两个国家选择以他们的方式进行对冲。这篇文章的中心论点是，这两个小国政策的实质并不是由它们对中国相对实力增长本身的担忧决定的；相反，它是政权合法性的一种功能，通过这种功能，统治精英寻求利用崛起力量的动态来实现其在国内为自己的政治权威辩护的最终目标。
Recent International Relations scholarships and policy publications have used the term “hedging” as an alternative to “balancing” and “bandwagoning” in describing small states’ strategies towards a rising power. In the case of Southeast Asian countries’ responses to a reemerging China, more and more analysts have asserted that none of the smaller states are pursuing balancing or bandwagoning in the strict sense of the terms, and that the states are in fact adopting a “middle” position that is best described as “hedging”. This paper seeks to assess this assertion by performing three principal tasks. First, it attempts to identify the key defining attributes and functions of hedging as a strategy that is distinguishable from pure forms of balancing and bandwagoning. Second, it aims to operationalize the term within the context of Southeast Asia-China relations, by focusing on the cases of Malaysia and Singapore’s response to China in the post-Cold War era. Third and finally, the study explains why these two states have chosen to hedge in the way they do. The central argument of the essay is that the substance of the two smaller states’ policies are not determined by their concerns over the growth of China’s relative power per se; rather, it is a function of regime legitimation through which the ruling elite seek to capitalize on the dynamics of the rising power for the ultimate goal of justifying their own political authority at home.