![handle is hein.journals/resgest12 and id is 1 raw text is: LAWCRAFT: CHINA'S EVOLVING
APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND
THE IMPLICATIONS FOR AMERICAN
NATIONAL SECURITY
Captain Matthew H. Ormsbee*
INTRODUCTION
As enthusiasm for the modern Pax Americana) budded, bloomed, and
now, by many accounts, withers, the United States must grudgingly reckon
with its waning influence in a world that turns increasingly to China as a
rising superpower.2 The coming years will likely provide an answer to the
burning question of whether China will outpace the United States as a
superpower, and, if so, how the United States can safeguard its national
security in an environment in which it is no longer the uncontested world
leader. The 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy orients defense
* Captain Matthew H. Ormsbee is a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force Judge
Advocate General's Corps, currently serving as the Area Defense Counsel at Misawa Air
Base, Japan; J.D., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; B.A., Hendrix College. Opinions,
conclusions, and recommendations expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, or any of
its components.
1. See, e.g., Christopher Layne, The End of Pax Americana: How Western Decline
Became Inevitable, ATLANTIC (Apr. 26, 2012),
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/the-end-of-pax-americana-how-
western-decline-became-inevitable/256388/ [https://perma.cc/WE2H-ZDQS] (defining Pax
Americana as the post-1945 international order ... in which the United States employed its
overwhelming power to shape and direct global events).
2. See, e.g., Dan Balz, America's Global Standing is at a Low Point. The Pandemic
Made It Worse., WASH. POST (July 26, 2020),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/reckoning-america-world-standing-
low-point/ [https://perma.cc/2XGN-QHGQ] (noting that, [i]n this climate, China's
leadership has gained a larger advantage in the 'great power competition,' and the other player,
Russia, is now on a more even level with the U.S.); see also STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT 2020:
INTO A NEW ERA OF GREAT POWER COMPETITION 186 (Thomas F. Lynch III ed. 2020)
(describing the shift in the global balance of power, in particular: While major aims have
remained consistent, the power differential between Washington and Beijing has changed over
the past 20 years. It has moved in Beijing's favor in terms of economic influence and selected
measures of conventional military power, most notably in areas near China.); ANONYMOUS,
THE LONGER TELEGRAM: TOWARD A NEW AMERICAN CHINA STRATEGY 16 (ATL. COUNCIL
2021) [hereinafter THE LONGER TELEGRAM], https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-
content/uploads/2021/01/The-Longer-Telegram-Toward-A-New-American-China-
Strategy.pdf [https://perma.cc/9KHZ-5PN8] (stating that [t]here is a subtle yet corrosive
force that has been at work in the United States' national psychology for some time now,
raising doubt about the nation's future and encouraging a sense that, as a country, America's
best days may now be in the past).
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