This is the first work to examine the importance and role of middle powers in the key phenomenon of contemporary international politics, the rise of China. This book reviews China's middle-power relations with South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil.

This comprehensive volume fills a gap in the existing literature by focusing on the responses of other East Asian states to China‘s rise, exploring its implications for the region and beyond.

This book looks at the relationship between Chinese international relations (IR) scholarship and China’s rise as a world power. Specifically, it addresses how China’s rising international status since the early 1990s has shaped the country’s IR studies, and the different ways that Chinese IR scholars are interpreting that rise. The author argues that the development of IR studies in China has been influenced by China’s past historical experiences, its recent change in status in world politics, and indigenous scholarly interpretations of both factors. Instead of treating Chinese IR scholars as value-free social scientists, the author shows how Chinese scholars—as purposive, strategic, and emotional actors—tend to manipulate existing (mostly Western) IR theories to support their policy propositions and identity statements. This book represents one of few efforts to determine how local Chinese scholars are constructing IR knowledge, how they are dealing with intersections between indigenous Chinese and imported IR theory and concepts, and how Chinese scholars are analyzing “their China” in terms of its current rise to power.

China’s rise and processes of Sinicization suggest that recombination of new and old elements rather than a total rupture with or return to the past is China’s likely future. In both space and time, civilizational politics offers the broadest social context. It is of particular salience in China. Reification of civilizations into simple categories such as East and West is widespread in everyday politics and common in policy and academic writings. This book’s emphasis on Sinicization as a specific instance of civilizational processes counters political and intellectual shortcuts and corrects the mistakes to which they often lead. Sinicization illustrates that like other civilizations China has always been open to variegated social and political processes that have brought together many different kinds of peoples adhering to very different kinds of practices. This book tries to avoid the reifications and celebrations that mark much of the contemporary public debate about China’s rise. It highlights instead complex processes and political practices bridging East and West that avoid easy shortcuts. The analytical perspectives of this book are laid out in Katzenstein’s opening and concluding chapters. They are explored in six outstanding case studies, written by widely known authors, which over questions of security, political economy and culture. Featuring an exceptional line-up and representing a diversity of theoretical views within one integrative perspective, this work will be of interest to all scholars and students of international relations, sociology and political science. Chapter 7 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

How powerful is China? Is China powerful enough to change the world? This book distinguishes between China's obviously growing economic, political and military resources, and how they are translated into actual influence over other states' choices and policies. It investigates China's influence on the small and weak developing countries in East and South Asia, where China ought to have the biggest influence. It shows that China tends to try togain the support of these countries without forcing them to change their preferences or to act against their own interests, but how much it succeeds is determined more by how these target countries' policy-makers reactand by their domestic political considerations, than by how skilful Chinese politicians or investors are. China's influence even over these weakest states is not easily achieved, suggesting that China has more difficulty exercising its newfound power in the world than we assume.

The Rise, the Fall, and the Recovery of Southeast Asia's Minidragons offers a comprehensive study of recent Asian economic history. As the global economy adjusts to an increasing Asian presence, David Hollingsworth examines specific case models from the 1990s to draw conclusions, create paradigms, and prepare guidelines for the future. With studies ranging from Taiwan to Malaysia and an in-depth analysis of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998, this is one of the most in-depth studies of contemporary Asian economic history. With clear focus and a wide range, Hollingsworth shows the relevance of recent history to the current economic situations. Contract principle is essentially the driving force that propelled East Asia to engage in a series of policies that were responsible for its economic growth and sustainability since the late 1950s. The book discusses such growth and examines the economic history of this period. It examines the move from Import-Substitution-Industrialization to Export-Orientation and the forces leading to the subsequent Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998. The book applies a structural investigation to case studies of: Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It concludes by shaping the historical lessons into a vision for the future.

As part of “China’s south,” Southeast Asia has historically assumed a peripheral position when juxtaposed against the power of the Chinese state. In the existing scholarly literature, the power asymmetry is reflected in the ostensible bias where most studies are about China’s presence in or engagement with Southeast Asia rather than the reverse; studies on the presence or influence of Southeast Asia in China have been a marginal enterprise. The present volume aims to fill this void by exploring the historical entanglements and contemporary engagements of Southeast Asia(ns) in China through a Southeast Asian perspective. As China seeks to understand Southeast Asia’s presence in the country on its own terms, it is also engaged in a process of self-discovery and defining where and how it should stand in relation to the region. Departing from the discourse of China as the a priori center dominating the scholarship on China–Southeast Asia relations, the present volume hopes to subvert such power relations in order to bring fresh perspectives on the historical and contemporary contributions of Southeast Asia(ns) in China.

The most remarkable phenomenon in Asia in the 21st century is arguably the economic rise of China and India. Amazingly, the two most populous countries in the world are uplifting millions of their citizens annually from poverty through rapid economic growth. What is the impact on the region, given the ascendance of China and India? There are at least two possible outcomes: the rise of the two great Asian powers may challenge the US and instill fear among the smaller countries in Asia, or, China and India will act as new economic dynamos that will benefit the region even if US economic presence in the region is to decline in the future. This book explores the opportunities and obstacles to a “harmonious” region underpinned by the rise of China and India.

ÔKhoo, Jones, and Smith have pulled off a remarkable balancing act, crafting a well-grounded and multifaceted survey of ChinaÕs rise in the context of Asian security. In a field which is often marked more by scholarly effervescence than substance, the authors provide a refreshingly detailed portrait of the last two decades, and fair-mindedly point out evidence which might support both extremes of the debates they challenge with their own Òthird wayÓ.Õ Ð Frank ÒScottÓ Douglas, US Naval War College, US ÔCongratulations to the authors for a clearly argued and comprehensive treatment of ChinaÕs post Cold War rise and what it means for existing and future dynamics of the Asia-Pacific region. Effectively employing realist theory in a fair-minded treatment of regional developments, the volume shows how and why power realities are more important than non-material factors in determining the regionÕs trajectory and thereby demonstrates that ChinaÕs ascendance in Asia remains complicated and conflicted.Õ Ð Robert Sutter, George Washington University, US East Asia is without question a region of huge economic, political and security significance. Asian Security and the Rise of China offers a comprehensive overview and assessment of the international politics of the Asia-Pacific since the end of the Cold War, seeking to address the overarching question of how we can most convincingly explain the central dynamics of AsiaÕs international relations. Via a realist perspective on the dynamics and frictions associated with accommodating the rise of powerful states, this timely book addresses the core issue in contemporary Asian politics: the rise of China. The contributors expertly evaluate ChinaÕs rise and the impact it has had on the dynamics of regional relations in North East and South East Asia. It demonstrates that ChinaÕs economic development and its regional and international ambition increasingly conflict with the existing consensus-based regional arrangements like the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asian Summit mechanism. As a consequence, smaller states in the region increasingly resort to hedging and balancing strategies in an attempt to mitigate Chinese hegemony. This leaves the region in the grip of a complex and potentially destabilizing security dilemma. The book offers a compelling analysis of the problem that China presents for its region that will enlighten undergraduate students of regional political studies and international relations. Postgraduate and MasterÕs students on courses addressing East and South East Asia will also find plenty of information in this invaluable book.

China's rapid military and economic growth has fuelled a steady stream of analysis and debate about the PRC's motivations and objectives regarding the United States. Yet until now, there has not been a sustained, single-authored assessment in English of China's expanding influence in Asia in the post-Cold War period. Respected analyst Robert G. Sutter draws on his extensive experience in the region to explore the current debate on China's rise and its meaning for U.S. interests by examining in detail China's current and historical relations with the key countries of Asia. He finds a range of motivations underlying China's recent initiatives. Some incline Chinese policy to be cooperative with the United States, others to be competitive and confrontational. Sutter's nuanced study shows that U.S. power and influence continue to dominate Asia and play a critical role in determining China's cooperative or confrontational approach. He argues that the Bush administration's policies of firmness and cooperation have encouraged China to stay on a generally constructive track in the region.