Page 161 - 《国际安全研究》2020年第4期

Vo1. 38, No. 4, July/August 2020
Nanjing University (Nanjing, 210023).

83 Trend Anxiety and Conflict Readiness: Defensive Offensiveness in
Regional Dominance Competition
JIANG Peng

[Abstract] The competition for dominance within a regional security complex
often leads to wars among great powers. Viewed from a rational perspective,
countries that tend to take the initiative in starting wars for dominance are equipped
with either “trend advantage” or “strength advantage”. However, this argument fails
to explain why some countries with neither of these two advantages are still inclined
to launch wars for dominance against “more powerful and trend-dominant”
countries. The findings of this study suggest that “trend anxiety” can not only
explain the tendency of defensive offensiveness by the established power towards
the rising power as often mentioned by traditional theories but also provide adequate
explanation for the scenario in which the rising power, after its upward trajectory
has been successfully reversed by the established power, may fall back on defensive
offensiveness. Bypassing the traditional path of power structure analysis, this paper
has introduced the concept of “trend anxiety” from strategic psychology and
proceeded to construct a broad theory of defensive offensiveness. This approach will
help offer more explanatory and predictive power as to which party, the established
country or the rising country, will display more offensive intents in the competition
for regional dominance. Meanwhile, the traditional theories contend that a
hegemonic power tends to support regional sub-powers in order to achieve the goal
of restraining the regional power who enjoys a competitive advantage. From the
dynamic perspective concerning the evolution of strategic potential energy, the
hegemonic country does not always tend to support regional sub-powers in the
competition for regional dominance, but are more inclined to lend support to
regional powers with “trend inferiority” or “high strategic match”, even if these
powers possess certain advantages.
[Keywords] trend anxiety, strategic psychology, power shift, great power strategy,
Sino-US relations
[Author] JIANG Peng, Associate Professor, School of International Relations, Sun
Yat-Sen University; Research Fellow, Institute of International Studies, Shandong
University (Zhuhai, 519000).

109 The Age of Biosecurity: New Biotechnology Revolution and
National Biosecurity Governance
WANG Xiaoli
[Abstract] Scientific and technological progress has significantly improved human
abilities to control natural biological hazards. While inducing new forms of
biological hazards, it has also contributed to the untraceability of biosecurity objects,
the diversity of biosecurity subjects and the complexity of evolutionary mechanism
of biosecurity hazards. To a large extent, biosecurity is characterized by those
non-conventional features of non-traditional security issues. As biotechnology and
biosecurity have been playing an increasingly significant role in promoting the
continuing development of human community, the 21st century will usher in the age

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