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Many see China and the United States on the path to confrontation. The Chinese leadership violates human rights norms. It maintains a harsh rule in Tibet, spars aggressively with Taiwan, and is clamping down on Hong Kong. A rising power with enormous assets, China increasingly considers American interests an obstacle to its own.But, the authors argue, the United States is the least of China's problems. Despite its sheer size, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military forces, China remains a vulnerable power, crowded on all sides by powerful rivals and potential foes. As it has throughout its history, China faces immense security challenges, and their sources are at and within China's own borders. China's foreign policy is calibrated to defend its territorial integrity against antagonists who are numerous, near, and strong.The authors trace the implications of this central point for China's relations with the United States and the rest of the world.
Rapid economic pluralization in East Asia has empowered local and medial groups, and with this change comes the need to rethink usual notions regarding ways in which "democracies" emerge or "citizens" gain more power. Careful examination of current developments in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia show a need for expansion of our understandings of democracy and democratization. This book challenges traditional ways in which political regimes in local as well as national polities are conceived and labeled. It shows from Asian experiences that democracy and its precursors come in more forms than most liberals have yet imagined. In reviewing recent experiences of countries across East Asia, these chapters show that actual democracies and ostensible democratizations there are less like those in the West than the surprisingly consensual and standard political science of democratization suggests. This book first examines the extreme variation of democracy’s meaning in many Asian states that hold contested elections (South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand). Then it focuses on China. It analyzes a range of grassroots forces driving political change in the People’s Republic, and it finds both accelerators and brakes in China’s political reform process. The contributors show that models for China’s political future exist both within and outside the PRC, including in other East Asian states, in localities and sectors that already are pushing the limits of the powerful, but no longer all-powerful, Chinese party-state. With contributions from leading academics in the field, Democratization in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia? will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian politics, comparative politics, and democratization more broadly.
Numerous crosswinds are buffeting the more than 40-year-old People's Republic of China--American relationship, yet only once since Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1972 has a major conflagration seemed a real possibility. Anchoring the relationship throughout multiple storms are the two countries’ broad areas of collaboration such as deep links in culture, economics, and education. However, for some observers, the conflictual aspects of the relationship seem to be gaining prominence. Conflict and Cooperation in Sino-US Relations offers a timely and current look at one of the world’s weightiest bilateral relationships. It goes beyond detailing the conflict and cooperation that have been integral facets of China--US interactions since 1972, to gauging the relationship's evolution and future trends, examining its nuances regarding diverse issues such as the Asia-Pacific leadership structure, the South China Sea, and the Korean peninsula. The book further delves into the causes of conflict and cooperation, offers diverse solutions for tempering frictions between Beijing and Washington, and considers the efficacy of some of the mechanisms (e.g., military-to-military exchanges) that China and the US currently employ to manage their relationship.The chapters suggest that extreme anxieties about China--US relations may be misplaced, but that there nonetheless are some worrisome signs even in areas like economics and the environment that are perceived as naturally cooperative. While the book does not offer any silver bullets, various contributors contend that successful management of Sino-American relations may require greater American accommodation of China’s interests. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics, American politics, international relations, and Asian studies, as well as to policy-makers working in the field.
"China's post-Mao leadership has been increasingly sensitive to China's position in the changing global environment. This book examines China's strategic place on the world stage, particularly in its relationships with major powers and Asian neighbours and highlights the security implications of China's emerging role in the global system."--
This series examines the key consequences of arbitrary border making in world history - past and present. These studies describe arbitrary borders as places where people interact differently from the way they would had the boundary not existed. Analytical, but easy to read, these brief histories will appeal to a broad sweep of readership
The "Taiwan question" has long been considered one of the most complicated and explosive issues in global politics. In recent years, however, relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland have improved substantially to the surprise of many. In this ground-breaking collection, distinguished contributors from the US, Asia, and Europe seek to go beyond the standard "recitation of facts" that often characterizes studies focusing on the Beijing-Taipei dyad. Rather, they employ a variety of theories as well as both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to analyze the ebbs and flows of the Taiwan issue. Their discussions clearly illuminate why there is a "Taiwan Problem," why conflict did not escalate to war between 2000 and 2008, and why cross-Strait relations improved after 2008. The book further reveals the limits of realism as a device to gain traction into the Taiwan issue, demonstrates the importance of taking into account domestic political variables, and shows how theory can be used to advance the cause of better China-Taiwan relations and to analyze the potential for future conflict over Taiwan. New Thinking about the Taiwan Issue is essential reading not only for students, scholars and practitioners with an interest in studying relations across the Taiwan Strait, but also for any reader interested in economics, international relations, comparative politics or political theory.
Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and particularly after the opening brought about by economic reforms roughly thirty years thereafter, China has become an influential player in regional and global affairs. Increasingly, both American and European policymakers examine Chinese foreign policy as a flexible, pragmatic, and significant element in world affairs. This has accelerated in the middle of the new first decade of this century, as business firms and political officials have developed interests in the sources, processes, and significance of China's reemergence as a global force. This volume examines how, in conjunction with rapid economic growth and profound social transformation, China's foreign policy is experiencing significant transition. The purpose of this truly deep and probing collection is to deepen Western understanding of the sources, substance, and significance of Chinese foreign policy--with a focus on the post Cold War environment. Contributors include academic specialists, area researchers, and distinguished journalists, all with firsthand experience in the field of China studies. The volume is divided into four parts: (1) theory and culture; (2) perspective and identity; (3) bilateral relationships; and (4) retrospective and prospective essays on Chinese policy concerns. The volume is sensitive to changes in national leadership and Communist Party structure as well as continuity and change in foreign policy. As Lowell Dittmer of the University of California notes in his Foreword, "precisely because it is so difficult to do well, the analysis of foreign policy is often conducted rather tritely. Thus it is a real pleasure to find assembled here a treasure trove of some of the finest work by some of the field's most penetrating minds. This is fortunate, for at the core of this volume is one of the biggest and most portentous questions to confront the world at the outset of the twenty-first century. That question is: in the decades to come, what role will China play in the world? As the homeland of about a fifth of mankind, this question is almost guaranteed relevance whatever the fate of China's domestic economy." Guoli Liu is associate professor of political science and international relations at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. "[Chinese Foreign Policy in Transition] is an extremely useful collection of articles by leading China scholars." Lucian W. Pye, Foreign Affairs
Despite its impressive size and population, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military, China remains a vulnerable nation surrounded by powerful rivals and potential foes. Understanding ChinaÕs foreign policy means fully appreciating these geostrategic challenges, which persist even as the country gains increasing influence over its neighbors. Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell analyze ChinaÕs security concerns on four fronts: at home, with its immediate neighbors, in surrounding regional systems, and in the world beyond Asia. By illuminating the issues driving Chinese policy, they offer a new perspective on the countryÕs rise and a strategy for balancing Chinese and American interests in Asia. Though rooted in the present, Nathan and ScobellÕs study makes ample use of the past, reaching back into history to illuminate the people and institutions shaping Chinese strategy today. They also examine Chinese views of the United States; explain why China is so concerned about Japan; and uncover ChinaÕs interests in such problematic countries as North Korea, Iran, and the Sudan. The authors probe recent troubles in Tibet and Xinjiang and explore their links to forces beyond ChinaÕs borders. They consider the tactics deployed by mainland China and Taiwan, as Taiwan seeks to maintain autonomy in the face of Chinese advances toward unification. They evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of ChinaÕs three main power resourcesÑeconomic power, military power, and soft power. The authors conclude with recommendations for the United States as it seeks to manage ChinaÕs rise. Chinese policymakers understand that their nationÕs prosperity, stability, and security depend on cooperation with the United States. If handled wisely, the authors believe, relations between the two countries can produce mutually beneficial outcomes for both Asia and the world.
Alfred Thayer Mahan has been called America’s nineteenth-century ‘evangelist of sea power’ and the intellectual father of the modern US Navy. His theories have a timeless appeal, and Chinese analysts now routinely invoke Mahan’s writings, exhorting their nation to build a powerful navy. Economics is the prime motivation for maritime reorientation, and securing the sea lanes that convey foreign energy supplies and other commodities now ranks near or at the top of China’s list of military priorities. This book is the first systematic effort to test the interplay between Western military thought and Chinese strategic traditions vis-à-vis the nautical arena. It uncovers some universal axioms about how theories of sea power influence the behaviour of great powers and examines how Mahanian thought could shape China’s encounters on the high seas. Empirical analysis adds a new dimension to the current debate over China’s ‘rise’ and its importance for international relations. The findings also clarify the possible implications of China’s maritime rise for the United States, and illuminate how the two powers can manage their bilateral interactions on the high seas. Chinese Naval Strategy in the 21st Century will be of much interest to students of naval history, Chinese politics and security studies.
This book is a groundbreaking analysis of the India-Pakistan nuclear confrontation as a form of ‘cold war’ – that is, a hostile relationship between nuclear rivals. Drawing on nuclear rivalries between similar pairs, the work examines the rise, process and potential end of the Cold War between India and Pakistan.