Strategic Ambiguity:
Analysing Vietnamese and Philippine Responses to Chinese Territorial Claims
Copyright (c) 2022 Bán Zoltán
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This study, using the case study of Vietnam and the Philippines, undertakes the goal to describe how states, considered smaller in the international system, attempt to defend against great power influence. The goal is to analyse the policy choices used by the two states through the lens of diplomatic, economic and security policy actions. The theoretical framework assisting in this process is called hedging, which is a strategy being considered between balancing and bandwagoning. By employing qualitative methodology, the paper concludes that smaller states decide to use hedging as a counteraction to the power transfer experienced in the international system.
Keywords:
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