The launching of economic and political reforms in 1978 has transformed China's standing in world politics. A new power has emerged. Yet, after more than four decades, the question of how to understand and interpret China's foreign policy remains a source of debate and contention. Nicholas Khoo examines China's arrival as a major power in contemporary world politics, making the case for a neorealist model highlighting the operation of state interests and relative power. He illuminates the relevance of economic and military power projection, spiral dynamics, and the use of wedge strategies to split adversaries. Khoo also reviews influential alternative theories of Chinese foreign policy that emphasize the concepts of trade, identity, socialization, domestic politics, and the security dilemma. Presenting readers with an analysis of the major issues and theoretical debates on China's role in bringing the Cold War to a close in East Asia, and its relations with the US and Japan, China's Foreign Policy since 1978 will be of great interest to university students at all levels, as well as specialists on Chinese foreign policy, East Asian international relations, and international security.

This volume explains China's foreign policy from the perspective of its historical recovery after 1949 and the country's subsequent rise as a great power, including its transformation into a global power. It also illuminates how China has, in tandem with its rise, developed an increasing array of political, economic, 'sharp power' and military capabilities that is helping it to further its increasingly expansive foreign policy objectives. The volume examines two key questions: What have been the implications of China's rise for its foreign policy? And how has an increasingly powerful and confident China used a range of foreign policy instruments to pursue its expanding national interests in Asia and beyond? The volume is divided into three parts, covering the conceptualization and drivers of China's foreign policy, China's relations with the world, and the instruments of China's foreign policy, namely its economic power, military capabilities and its 'sharp power' manipulation of information and relationships. It will be of interest to academics, students and researchers interested in understanding China's role in world politics.

David Martin Jones, Nicholas Khoo, M. L. R. Smith

East Asia is currently emerging as a central site of economic, political and security significance. This book offers an overview and assessment of the international politics of the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the Cold War, seeking to address the overarching question of how we can most convincingly explain the central dynamics of Asia's international relations.

This volume in the Weapons of Mass Destruction series makes the case that the United States' expansive missile defence policy has eroded both its own security and that of its allies. These findings are based on an examination of the response of a number of key states to U.S. policy, including Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Situating their argument in the theoretical debate on balancing in unipolarity, the authors contrast their view to influential perspectives that see little evidence of hard balancing against the U.S. in the post-Cold War era. Adopting a neorealist perspective, the authors demonstrate the clear presence of this inter-state practice, providing insight into the international politics of unipolarity, showing how hard balancing and security dilemma-related dynamics operate in the contemporary strategic environment.

Although the Chinese and the Vietnamese were Cold War allies in wars against the French and the Americans, their alliance collapsed and they ultimately fought a war against each other in 1979. More than thirty years later the fundamental cause of the alliance's termination remains contested among historians, international relations theorists, and Asian studies specialists. Nicholas Khoo brings fresh perspective to this debate.

Using Chinese-language materials released since the end of the Cold War, Khoo revises existing explanations for the termination of China's alliance with Vietnam, arguing that Vietnamese cooperation with China's Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, was the necessary and sufficient cause for the alliance's termination. He finds alternative explanations to be less persuasive. These emphasize nonmaterial causes, such as ideology and culture, or reference issues within the Sino-Vietnamese relationship, such as land and border disputes, Vietnam's treatment of its ethnic Chinese minority, and Vietnam's attempt to establish a sphere of influence over Cambodia and Laos.

Khoo also adds to the debate over the relevance of realist theory in interpreting China's international behavior during both the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. While others see China as a social state driven by nonmaterial processes, Khoo makes the case for viewing China as a quintessential neorealist state. From this perspective, the focus of neorealist theory on security threats from materially stronger powers explains China's foreign policy not only toward the Soviet Union but also in relation to its Vietnamese allies.