An analysis of the causes and consequences of China's transformation from a minor player to the world's tenth largest trader in less than two decades. It locates the transformation in the synergy created by new forces unleashed in China and their interaction with entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, who invested capital, transferred production facilities and provided the marketing channels by which Chinese goods reached world markets. The book also examines the dynamics behind Japan's increasing role in China's foreign trade in the late 1990s and the growing trade friction between China and the United States, which it argues is produced by the failure of the latter to recognise the dynamics of China's export growth.

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.