China’s Rising Global Profile: The Great Power Tradition

China is an emerging superpower with growing economic and political interests worldwide that need to be preserved and enhanced. As China becomes economically powerful, it has also become more ambitious and assertive. Its foreign policy strategy is aimed at protecting the country from external threats as it pursues its geopolitical interests, allowing China to continue with economic reforms as well as the acquisition of comprehensive national power. China initially shied away from playing an active role in international affairs commensurate with its economic weight. This was primarily because the political leadership made a strategic choice to concentrate on economic development at home without attempting a more interventionist global role lest it distract from the number one priority of economic development. But the last few years have seen China shun this reticence like a traditional great power and signal that it is no longer willing to watch international events unfold from the sidelines, thereby promoting its new status as a global player of significance. It is this evolving global profile of China that is the focus of this book as Harsh V Pant examines the growing role of China in various parts of the world - Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean and Europe - and the tough diplomatic choices that it is having to make as it goes about asserting its interests.