Page 160 - 《国际安全研究》2022年第2期

Journal of International Security Studies

47 Offensive Alliance, Ambiguous Deterrence and AUKUS’s Strategic
Expansion
LAN Jiang and JIANG Wenyu
[Abstract] The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have forged a
trilateral security partnership (AUKUS) on September 15, 2021. Based on Schweller’s
balance of interests theory, supplemented by Tang Shiping’s revision of Schweller’s
classification of state types, it can be seen that the formation of such an offensive
alliance is driven by expansionist motives of the three countries aiming to realize the
maximization of their power and change the established international order. By
establishing this offensive alliance, the United States attempts to consolidate its
hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region, the United Kingdom seeks to enhance its
regional influence and promote its “Global Britain” concept, and Australia plans to
strengthen its regional deterrence and entrench its position as a regional power in the
South Pacific. Viewed from deterrence targets and triggering conditions, the
deterrence function of AUKUS is ambiguous, which is mainly reflected in its
signaling function, intimidation function, operational function, intelligence sharing
function, and military-industrial cooperation function. AUKUS, by virtue of its
ambiguous deterrence function, will help the US realize its strategic expansion in the
Indo-Pacific region, thus threatening China’s national security and obstructing the
country’s reunification, inducing India to deepen its strategic cooperation with the
three countries and intensifying differences of opinion among ASEAN countries. It
will also accelerate the process of EU defense autonomy, weaken the nuclear non-
proliferation regime, exacerbate regional security concerns and exert a negative
impact on the global and regional security situation.
[Keywords] AUKUS, balance of interest theory, offensive alliance, ambiguous
deterrence, strategic expansion
[Authors] LAN Jiang, Professor, School of Tourism, History and Culture, Southwest
Minzu University; Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Indian Studies, China
(Kunming) Academy of South and Southeast Asian Studies, Yunnan Academy of
Social Sciences (Chengdu, 610041); JIANG Wenyu, MA Candidate, School of
History and Culture, China West Normal University (Nanchong, Sichun Province,
637009).

78 The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: Dilemmas and
Solutions
DING Yi
[Abstract] The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered
into force on January 22, 2021, includes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on
participating in any nuclear weapon activities, which encompass undertakings not to
develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear

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