Unpacking "De-risking" China in the Indo-Pacific Region: Origin, Evolution and Variations

by Karl Chee Leong Lee (Editor), Jens Damm (Editor), Nurliana Kamaruddin (Editor), Nur Shahadah Jamil (Editor), Alan Hao Yang (Editor)

Overview

Lee and editors bring together a group of international scholars to map the overall landscape of “de-risking” China ─ a concept that drew consensus among the Group of Seven (G7) countries.

Divided into three themes of conceptual evolution, national responses of individual Indo-Pacific countries and prospects of success with featured case studies, this groundbreaking work explores the origins and developments of “de-risking” China in a region that will define the twenty-first century. Drawing on rich findings by different scholars, it demonstrates that a wide spectrum of variations exists insofar as the Indo-Pacific countries’ observance to the concept of ‘de-risking’ China.

A must-read book for academics, scholars and university students of International Relations and Political Science as well as those interested in understanding the evolving dynamics of “de-risking” China among the Indo-Pacific countries today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040649374
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/26/2025
Series:	Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	222

About the Author

Karl Chee Leong Lee is Senior Lecturer for Institute of China Studies (ICS) University of Malaya, Advisor to Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia (TWCHAM) and Editor-in-Chief for the Scopus-indexed International Journal of China Studies (IJCS). A Taiwan scholar on a myriad of research areas, his research interests include Taiwan-Southeast Asia overall relations, Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP), semiconductor geoeconomics and economic-technological statecraft (ETS).

Jens Damm is an Associate Fellow at the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT), Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany. His research interests include the new media and the Internet, China’s soft power and gender studies.

Nurliana Kamaruddin is Senior Lecturer at the East Asian Studies Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Malaya. She is also a fellow at the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism, AEI. Her research interests include international security and development with a focus on East Asia and specifically Malaysia-Korea relations.

Nur Shahadah Jamil is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), University of Malaya (UM). Having received a PhD in Strategic and Security Studies from National University of Malaysia (UKM), her research concentrates mainly on China’s foreign policy, South China Sea, Southeast Asian responses to Belt and Road Initiative and East Asian Security.

Alan Hao Yang is a Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies (GIEAS) and Deputy Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taiwan. He has been engaging in Track II Diplomacy and currently works as the Executive Director for NCCU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies which served as the secretariat of the Consortium of Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA). His research interests cover international relations and regionalism in Southeast Asia, environmental governance and disaster resilience, border politics, resistance politics in Southeast Asia, foreign policy and soft power analysis with specific focus on China’s Confucius Institute and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP).

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction

1. De-Risking China: The Evolution of European Strategic Thinking (2019–2024)

2. US and De-risking China

3. Germany’s Strategic Balancing Act: Navigating Economic Dependence and Systemic Rivalry with China

4. China’s Mitigation of Chips-Derisking by the West (US, the Dutch and Chips4)

5. Japan’s Evolving Approach to Economic Security under U.S.-China Rivalry: A Departure from the Pacifist State?

6. Navigating Risk: South Korea’s Strategic Approach to China

7. De-risking China: Taiwan as Method

8. Between Security and Economics: India’s De-risking Strategy towards China

9. Indonesia’s Responses to ‘De-risking’ China vis-à-vis the US and Allies: The Nexus of Domestic and International Interest

10. In the Dragon’s Shadow: How Has Vietnam’s Selective “De-risking” Strategy Played Out?

11. Malaysia’s Multi-Alignment Approach to “De-risking” China Wave: The Quest for Semiconductor Powerhouse

Conclusion

Index