The empirical findings we presented above are largely compatible with the long-running policy pursued by a great majority of East Asian countries.
Contrary to the theoretical prediction of the neorealists, most of them avoid pursuing either a balancing or bandwagoning strategy.
In the face of the intensified strategic competition between China and the United States, most of them avoid having to choose one side at the obvious expense of the other.
Whenever possible they opt for maximizing benefits from deepening economic ties with China while maintaining a close security relation with the United States for hedging potential risks.