If there is one constant in expert analyses of the history of modern China, it is the characterization of a country perpetually in the throes of crises. While China at the mid-point of the Twenty-first Century's first decade is arguably the most secure and stable it has been in more than a century, crises continue to emerge with apparent frequency. Consequently, the study of china's behavior in conditions of tension and stress is of considerable importance to policy makers and analysts around the world.

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Security Studies provides a detailed exploration of security dynamics in the three distinct subregions that comprise Asia, and also bridges the study of these regions by exploring the geopolitical links between each of them. The Handbook is divided into four geographical parts: Part I: Northeast Asia Part II: South Asia Part III: Southeast Asia Part IV: Cross-regional Issues This fully revised and updated second edition addresses the significant developments which have taken place in Asia since the first edition appeared in 2009. It examines these developments at both regional and national levels, including the conflict surrounding the South China Sea, the long-standing Sino-Indian border dispute, and Pakistan’s investment in tactical nuclear weapons, amongst many others. This book will be of great interest to students of Asian politics, security studies, war and conflict studies, foreign policy and international relations generally.

This book selects the most outstanding journal articles from the Chinese version of Foreign Affairs Review written by prestigious Chinese scholars in recent years. The articles focus on analysis of foreign affairs issues which are of relevance to China, and provide insightful perspectives on China's diplomacy and international system. The scope of the book is broad, including both theoretical insights and solid case studies. It covers recent hotspots in practice, like public participation in China's diplomacy, safety issues of overseas Chinese, and concepts of Chinese diplomacy like "People First," as well as case studies on historical events or long-term practices like analysis of China's crisis diplomacy decision-making in the post-Cold War era, China's cooperation with UNESCO, etc. The book provides fresh and insightful articles from Chinese perspectives, which will benefit international readers who are interested in China's diplomacy, foreign affairs and international relations.

In recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) civilian leaders seeking to curry favor with the military—suggesting that a nationalistic and increasingly influential PLA is driving more assertive Chinese policies on a range of military and sovereignty issues. To many experienced PLA watchers, however, the PLA remains a "party-army" that is responsive to orders from the CCP. PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking seeks to assess the "real" relationship between the PLA and its civilian masters by moving beyond media and pundit speculation to mount an in-depth examination and explanation of the PLA's role in national security policymaking. After examining the structural factors that shape PLA interactions with the Party-State, the book uses case studies to explore the PLA's role in foreign policy crises. It then assesses the PLA's role in China's territorial disputes and in military interactions with civilian government and business, exploring the military's role in China's civil–military integration development strategy. The evidence reveals that today's PLA does appear to have more influence on purely military issues than in the past—but much less influence on political issues—and to be more actively engaged in policy debates on mixed civil-military issues where military equities are at stake.

Leading authorities analyze growing tensions in US-China relations and what this means for the future The US-China relationship is now defined by “strategic competition.” In Cold Rivals, a distinguished group of scholars from the United States and China examine the reasons for this deterioration and its implications for world politics. The two countries are now competitors locked in a long-term rivalry, but how volatile this rivalry will become is still to be determined. The book explores not only the historical roots and contemporary foreign policy aspects of this era, but also looks at the economic, military, and technological arenas of US-China strategic competition. In doing so, this volume highlights important differences in US and Chinese perspectives. A final section of the volume explores future scenarios for this relationship from a variety of perspectives, all coming to a sobering conclusion. This policy-relevant book provides a comprehensive overview of US-China strategic competition and reinvigorates thinking about how to avoid reaching a crisis point.

This book is a study of the making of foreign policy of China, a rising power in the 21st century. It examines three sets of driving forces behind China’s foreign policy making. One is historical sources, including the selective memories and reconstruction of the glorious empire with an ethnocentric world outlook and the century of humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialist powers. The second set is domestic institutions and players, particularly the proliferation of new party and government institutions and players, such as the national security commission, foreign policy think tanks, media and local governments. The third set is Chinese perception of power relations, particularly their position in the international system and their position relations with major powers. This book consists of articles from the Journal of Contemporary China.

Protecting China's Interests Overseas provides a fascinating and new window into Chinese foreign and security policymaking. In particular, it shows how the management of non-traditional security issues abroad led to the emergence of China's strategy to defend its interests overseas. This book comes at a critical time, as China has just inaugurated its first overseas military base in Djibouti, thereby establishing a long-term military presence outside Asia. Based on a large number of Chinese primary sources, the book examines how the main actors involved in the making and implementation of Chinese foreign policy understood the problem of protecting the assets and lives of Chinese companies and nationals abroad, especially in North Africa and the Middle East, and interacted with each other depending on their priorities, preferences, and organizational interests. As the different chapters explore various aspects and dynamics within the Chinese foreign and security policy machine, the analysis concludes that the emergence of China's strategy to defend its interests overseas was, to a large extent, crisis-driven. The evacuation of 36,000 Chinese nationals from Libya in 2011 was a critical moment in this process. Henceforth, significant efforts were made to strengthen the capabilities of and coordination between the different agencies under the control of the Chinese leadership, especially the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Consistently, China's military presence abroad expanded and evolved over the years to stabilize the regions where the country's human and economic presence is most significant, and to neutralize the non-traditional security threats against it. However, Chinese policymakers still face important challenges and complex dilemmas on the path to formulate a sustainable policy towards this very difficult issue. Protecting China's Interests Overseas also offers an opportunity to rethink how we study and understand Chinese foreign policymaking.

"Although the United States is rightly preoccupied with the threat of Islamist terrorism and the two conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a wide consensus among American strategic thinkers that America’s greatest challenge over the next decades will be the rise of China. With its expanding economy and formidable military growth, China is positioning itself to challenge the United States as the greatest international power on the world stage. The Rise of China is a collection of essays about the nature of that threat and what the U.S. and its allies might do in the areas of foreign and defense affairs to meet it. Contributing authors Michael R. Auslin, Dan Blumenthal, Ellen Bork, Nicholas Eberstadt, Robert Kagan, Gary J. Schmitt, and Ashley J. Tellis contemplate how these two rising, ambitious powers are contesting for leadership in East Asia and ask if the sanguine forecasts for a peaceful century will hold true. Although the Chinese have been very careful to look like a cautious power, and in key respects have been, they see the international scene as fundamentally one of antagonism. And this is unlikely to change until and unless the regime changes. It is this China, the authors of The Rise of China assert, that we will be dealing with for some time to come. "

The decisions that shape the policy of weapons procurement are an important area of national security policy. This is all the more true for China, which during recent decades has vacillated between different sources and directions of military build-up. This book explores the politics of military procurement in China under the successive leaderships of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. It shows how China’s political and military leaders have sought to adjust military procurement policy to meet China's strategic objectives, to relate it to non-military needs, to strike a balance between the import of weapons and indigenous production, and to determine the connections between hardware and other components of military power. Exploring in detail five major shifts in the nation’s military procurement, it traces the considerations and negotiations among China's civilian and military leaderships. By doing so, it offers both a conceptual framework and empirical grounds for evaluating the factors that shape China's military procurement directions, as well as their limitations, prospects, and operational implications. As the first book to study comprehensively and systematically the attributes shaping China's military procurement, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics, Chinese history and military and strategic studies.