China is the world’s second largest economy and a key player in world politics. This book looks at China’s foreign policy from a macro perspective. It analyses China’s peripheral and regional policy as well as its relations with other major powers – India and Russia. It offers insight into the historical security concerns of China and the linkages of internal domestic issues with external diplomacy which reshape its relations with neighbouring countries. The volume also examines President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy orientations and aspirations for future. In face of growing global concern on China’s hegemonic ambitions in the region, the book gauges the tensions between China and Japan in the South China Sea as well as the apprehensions of several smaller Asian countries that may perceive China’s strategic and geo-economic advantages and military strength as a threat. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of China studies, politics, foreign policy, international relations, military and strategic studies, defence and security studies, area studies, and political studies.

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.

This book examines China’s relations with its weak peripheral states through the theoretical lens of structural power and structural violence. China’s foreign policy concepts toward its weak neighbouring states, such as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy, are premised on the assumption that economic exchange and a commitment to common development are the most effective means of ensuring stability on its borders. This book, however, argues that China’s overreliance on economic exchange as the basis for its bilateral relations contains inherently self-defeating qualities that have contributed and can further contribute to instability and insecurity within China’s periphery. Unequal economic exchange between China and its weak neighbours results in Chinese influence over the state’s domestic institutions, what this book refers to as ‘structural power’. Chinese structural power, in turn, can undermine the state’s development, contribute to social unrest, and exacerbate existing state/society tensions—what this book refers to as ‘structural violence’. For China, such outcomes lead to instability within its peripheral environment and raise its vulnerability to security threats stemming from nationalism, separatism, terrorism, transnational organised crime, and drug trafficking, among others. This book explores the causality between China’s economically-reliant foreign policy and insecurity in its weak peripheral states and considers the implications for China’s security environment and foreign policy. This book will be of much interest to students of Chinese politics, Asian security studies, international political economy and IR in general.

This book looks at human security in China's foreign relations. It discusses the concept and theory of human security, and their implications for China. The book goes on to analyse environmental security issues, including climate change and water resources, as well as looking at issues from an energy consumption perspective. Significant human security issues are then focussed on, including food safety, pandemic disease control, migration, and the human rights implications of China's overseas investment.

This book examines the power transition between the US and China, and the implications for Europe and Asia in a new era of uncertainty. The volume addresses the impact that the rise of China has on the United States, Europe, transatlantic relations, and East Asia. China is seeking to use its enhanced power position to promote new ambitions; the United States is adjusting to a new superpower rivalry; and the power shift from the West to the East is resulting in a more peripheral role for Europe in world affairs. Featuring essays by prominent Chinese and international experts, the book examines the US–China rivalry, the changing international system, grand strategies and geopolitics, foreign policy, geo-economics and institutions, and military and technological developments. The chapters examine how strategic, security, and military considerations in this triangular relationship are gradually undermining trade and economics, reversing the era of globalization, and contributing to the breakdown of the US-led liberal order and institutions that will be difficult to rebuild. The volume also examines whether the adversarial antagonism in US–China relations, the tension in transatlantic ties, and the increasing rivalry in Europe–China relations are primarily resulting from leaders’ ambitions or structural power shifts. This book will be of much interest to students of Asian security, US foreign policy, European politics, and International Relations in general.

Assessments of China's importance on the world stage usually focus on a single dimension of China's increasing power, rather than on the multiple sources of China's rise, including its economic might and the continuing modernization of its military. This book offers multiple analytical perspectives—constructivist, liberal, neorealist—on the significance of the many dimensions of China's regional and global influence. Distinguished authors consider the likelihood of conflict and peaceful accommodation as China grows ever stronger. They look at the changing position of China "from the inside": How do Chinese policymakers evaluate the contemporary international order and what are the regional and global implications of that worldview? The authors also address the implications of China's increasing power for Chinese policymaking and for the foreign policies of Korea, Japan, and the United States.

The expanding scope of China's international activities is one of the newest and most important trends in global affairs. Its global activism is continually changing and has so many dimensions that it immediately raises questions about its current and long-term intentions. This monograph analyzes how China defines its international objectives, how it is pursuing them, and what it means for U.S. economic and security interests.