1 Harmonization of NTS Securitization in U.S.-China Security Cooperation∗

This article explores the dynamics of securitization in U.S.-China relations in the aftermath of the events of 9/11, and the ways in which they reflect three emerging trends in these two countries ’ security politics: the mutual securitization of international terrorism, the subtle resecuritization of the Taiwan problem, and the preliminary desecuritization of the U.S.-China geostrategic relationship. I argue that the United States and China have mutually securitized international terrorism in their security relations, not because of their shared strategic interests in combating international terrorism as such, but because of the growing political and strategic space provided by the imperatives of the “war on terror ” for those political forces in favor of constructive engagement in both countries to strengthen their case decisively against their domestic opponents, and thus to manage their otherwise competitive strategic relations in a more cooperative manner. In effect, it is the prevalence of an informal political alignment of constructive engagement across the Pacific that explains best the complex dynamics of securitization in U.S.-China relations. It is the contested nature of U.S.-China security politics that determines the shallowness of NTS securitization