"Is China at present (or will China become) a responsible stakeholder in the international community?"

Resident Fellow Dan Blumenthal

What does it mean to be a responsible stakeholder?

As Deputy Secretary of State, Robert Zoellick developed a detailed definition of what it means to be a responsible stakeholder. In short, responsible stakeholders work to protect and strengthen the international system as it is currently constituted; they do not merely derive benefits from it.

Zoellick described key elements of the international system and responsible stakeholders' roles in it: responsible stakeholders work to expand open and free trade, sustain a functioning international energy market, promote and spread human rights and democracy, stem proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), are open and transparent regarding military affairs, and attempt to resolve conflicts through peaceful means.

Today, the system is under particular strain and threat, by jihadi terrorists seeking havens and weapons of mass destruction, an aggressive Iran pursuing WMD and regional hegemony, a North Korea sustaining itself by illicit trade in weapons, narcotics, and counterfeiting as it pursues nuclear weapons, and genocide in Sudan. . . .

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Dan Blumenthal is a resident fellow at AEI.