Abstract
This paper is an examination of how the contributing factors to the Danish authorities’ threat perception of China aligns with the ones present in the greater narrative of the China Threat Thesis. Furthermore, this paper seeks to critically assess the implications on security matters that can be derived from the threat perception and how unintended consequences on the security dilemma may be mitigated. The paper first applies an eclectic analytical approach to explain the interplay between the material and ideational factors, that the threat perception is based on.This is to explore how these factors give rise to certain threat perceptions. The paper explores this with the application of neorealistic and liberalist notions of security to address the theoretical assumptions inherent in the overall image of the threat. The eclectic analysis finds that the threat perception of China is best understood in the interplay between neorealist and liberalist assumptions and concludes that it aligns with the China Threat Thesis: Firstly, material factors reveal neorealist assumptions of competition from the return of geopolitical power politics. Second, ideational factors reveal liberalist assumptions of an ideological clash giving rise to a perceived threat on the democratic world order. Next, the paper discusses the unintended consequences on the security dilemma that can be derived from the China threat as perceived in a Danish context. The paper reconceptualizes the security dilemma with a constructivist approach. Through this perspective, it becomes evident that handling China as a threat itself poses a security issue. The paper concludes that Danish decision makers are likely create the security problems they are trying to solve if care is not taken about the ways such threat perceptions may be interpreted. Further research should therefore aim to fill out the blind spots that limits nuanced perceptions of non-western threats.