China’s Response Towards QUAD in the Indo-Pacific: A Paradoxical Strategy?

AbstractIn response to China’s phenomenal rise in the Indo-Pacific, the United States and its allies have institutionalized the QUAD. This article seeks to critique the novel construct of ‘Harmonious Realism’ and argues that the Chinese strategy for an Indo-Pacific regional order is paradoxical in nature. This paradox entails dichotomy between China’s rhetoric and practices in its institutional, strategic and economic aspects which can be empirically corroborated by the way China relates to ASEAN, its effort to seek an alternate model of security, and ensure economic interconnectivity through the BRI—all of which is counter-intuitive to China’s rhetoric of peaceful co-existence.keywords: Asia-PacificQuadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD)Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)ChinaIndo-pacific Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1. “15 Years On, A Look Back at the Boxing Day Tsunami” at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indianocean-tsunami-file-idUSKBN1YN02E (Accessed 19 June 2022).2. Patrick Gerard Buchan and Benjamin Rimland, ‘Defining the Diamond: The Past, Present and Future of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, 16 March 2020 (Accessed 19 June 2022).3. 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Her previous researches are based on the political dynamics of Asia-Pacific and Africa.Muhammad Shoaib PervezMuhammad Shoaib Pervez, Phd Leiden University, Holland (2010), Fulbright Post-Doctoral fellow Columbia University, New York (2015) is the Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at University of Management and Technology Lahore, Pakistan. His first book ‘Security Community in South Asia: India-Pakistan’, 2013, New York: Routledge, has won the ‘Outstanding Research Award’ from Government of Pakistan. His second book also published by Routledge titled ‘Radicalization in Pakistan: A Critical Perspective’ has been reviewed very positively in the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism (Vol 14: 3, 2021). He has also published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals like International Politics, South East Asian Research Journal, and International Affairs.