What were the new People's Republic of China's policies to the Universal Postal Union in its early years? How did they help China promote its national interests in the world stage? Why did China train Albanian interns in the Cold War? Was it out of 'communist fraternity' or was it part of China's concerted public diplomacy efforts? And what role has China's medical assistance to developing countries, especially those in Africa, played in its foreign affairs?Penned by well-known international relations scholars from China, the eight essays in this volume attempt to answer those questions and more. Based on rich literature, including some newly declassified files from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this volume introduces some of the most interesting and significant, but lesser-known, episodes in the diplomatic history of the People's Republic of China, and tries to shed light on their implications and impact on China's diplomacy.

China emerged as a major economic, diplomatic, and military power during the critical decade from 2008 to 2018. As a result, China's foreign policy has become more active and dynamic. This book provides a unique perspective to understand Chinese foreign policy during this decade by examining continuities and changes in both internal and external factors that have shaped China's development. The book focuses on key challenges in China's diplomacy such as US-China relations, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Japan, India, Chinese investment overseas, the Belt and Road Initiative, global and regional cooperation, soft power, etc. It also includes an extensive annotated bibliography of major recent publications on various aspects of Chinese foreign policy. This is the first scholarly book that studies the evolution and key challenges of China's foreign relations during the critical decade (2008-2018) when China grew into a crucial, sometimes assertive, power in international affairs.

Despite attempts to redress the balance, international relations (IR) as a discipline is still dominated by Western theories. The contributors in this book explore the challenges of constructing an alternative, with a dialogue between global and local approaches. Drawing on scholars with backgrounds in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America, this volume attempts to critically engage with and reflect upon existing traditions of IR theory to produce a deeply pluralist approach. Traditions, cultures, histories and practices from around the world influence their respective theoretical understanding and in turn explain why the Western tradition of IR is insufficient. This book provides great insight for scholars of IR from around the world, looking for more diversity in IR theory.

A multifaceted history of Ho Chi Minh’s climactic victory over French colonial might that foreshadowed America’s experience in Vietnam On May 7, 1954, when the bullets stopped and the air stilled in Dien Bien Phu, there was no doubt that Vietnam could fight a mighty colonial power and win. After nearly a decade of struggle, a nation forged in the crucible of war had achieved a victory undreamed of by any other national liberation movement. The Road to Dien Bien Phu tells the story of how Ho Chi Minh turned a ragtag guerrilla army into a modern fighting force capable of bringing down the formidable French army. Taking readers from the outbreak of fighting in 1945 to the epic battle at Dien Bien Phu, Christopher Goscha shows how Ho transformed Vietnam from a decentralized guerrilla state based in the countryside to a single-party communist state shaped by a specific form of “War Communism.” Goscha discusses how the Vietnamese operated both states through economics, trade, policing, information gathering, and communications technology. He challenges the wisdom of counterinsurgency methods developed by the French and still used by the Americans today, and explains why the First Indochina War was arguably the most brutal war of decolonization in the twentieth century, killing a million Vietnamese, most of them civilians. Panoramic in scope, The Road to Dien Bien Phu transforms our understanding of this conflict and the one the United States would later enter, and sheds new light on communist warfare and statecraft in East Asia today.

China's continuing rapid economic growth and expanding involvement in global affairs pose major implications for the power structure of the international system. To more accurately and fully assess the significance of China's emergence for the United States and the global community, it is necessary to gain a more complete understanding of Chinese security thought and behavior. This study addresses such questions as: What are China's most fundamental national security objectives? How has the Chinese state employed force and diplomacy in the pursuit of these objectives over the centuries? What security strategy does China pursue today and how will it evolve in the future? The study asserts that Chinese history, the behavior of earlier rising powers, and the basic structure and logic of international power relations all suggest that, although a strong China will likely become more assertive globally, this possibility is unlikely to emerge before 2015-2020 at the earliest. To handle this situation, the study argues that the United States should adopt a policy of realistic engagement with China that combines efforts to pursue cooperation whenever possible; to prevent, if necessary, the acquisition by China of capabilities that would threaten America's core national security interests; and to remain prepared to cope with the consequences of a more assertive China.

To explore what extended competition between the United States and China might entail out to 2050, the authors of this report identified and characterized China’s grand strategy, analyzed its component national strategies (diplomacy, economics, science and technology, and military affairs), and assessed how successful China might be at implementing these over the next three decades.

As the postwar international system continues its dramatic transformation, the fundamental question of what role China will play is becoming increasingly central. Contributors to the volume focus on the developments of the post-Tiananmen years, addressing the issues raised by China's expanding and increasingly complex relationships with a rapidly changing global environment. They consider such questions as: What is the principal challenge of post-Tiananmen foreign policy? How will China cope with the call for a more peaceful, equitable, democratic, and ecological world order? How has the nexus between China and the world changed in this transition period, and why? What are the implications for China's future and for the future of the rest of the world?Combining a broad theoretical framework with specific case studies, this text tackles themes that have long puzzled Westerners. Seeking the often elusive sources of Chinese foreign policy, the contributors assess the relative influences of domestic and foreign factors in shaping policy goals. They also examine the changes and continuities that have characterized Chinese foreign relations over the years, identifying the patterns underlying China's interactions with the major global actors and its policies on specific international issues. Special attention is paid to the word/deed (and at times word/word) disjuncture in Chinese foreign relations, with several chapters probing the discrepancies between rhetoric and reality, policy pronouncements and policy performance, and intent and outcome. The human-rights component of China's foreign policy and China's foreign policy options for the last decade of the century are also discussed.New to this revised and updated edition of China and the World are discussions concerning Chinese foreign policies and international relations theories, the relationship between China and the Third World, and China's environmental diplomacy.