Despite its impressive size and population, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military capabilities, China remains a vulnerable nation surrounded by powerful rivals and potential foes. The key to understanding China¿s foreign policy is to grasp these geostrategic challenges, which persist even as the country comes to dominate its neighbors. Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell analyze China¿s 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 new perspective on China¿s rise and a strategy for balancing Chinese and American interests in Asia. Though rooted in the present, Nathan and Scobell¿s study makes ample use of the past, reaching back into history to contextualize the people and institutions shaping Chinese strategy.

AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I. Interest and Identity in Chinese Foreign Policy1. What Drives Chinese Foreign Policy?2. Who Runs Chinese Foreign Policy?Part II. Security Challenges and Strategies3. Life on the Hinge: China's Russia Policy During the Cold War and After4. Deciphering the U.S. Threat5. The Northeast Asia Regional System: Japan and the Two Koreas6. China's Other Neighbors: The Asia-Pacific7. China in the Fourth RingPart III. Holding Together: Territorial Integrity and Foreign Policy8. Problems of Stateness: Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan9. Taiwan's Democratic Transition and China's ResponsePart IV. Instruments of Power10. Dilemmas of Opening: Power and Vulnerability in the Global Economy11. Military Modernization: From People's War to Power Projection12. Soft Power and Human Rights in Chinese Foreign PolicyPart V. Conclusion13. Threat or Equilibrium?NotesAcknowledgmentsIndex