China’s Response Towards QUAD in the Indo-Pacific: A Paradoxical Strategy?

In response to China’s phenomenal rise in the Indo-Pacific, the United States and its allies have institutionalized the QUAD. This article seeks to critique the novel construct of ‘Harmonious Realism’ and argues that the Chinese strategy for an Indo-Pacific regional order is paradoxical in nature. This paradox entails dichotomy between China’s rhetoric and practices in its institutional, strategic and economic aspects which can be empirically corroborated by the way China relates to ASEAN, its effort to seek an alternate model of security, and ensure economic interconnectivity through the BRI—all of which is counter-intuitive to China’s rhetoric of peaceful co-existence.