Regional Relations and the Future of China's Foreign Policy

Abstract

At the outset of China's Regional Relations, Mark Beeson and Fujian Li pose the following question: Will a rising China become a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system, or will it challenge the US-led international order as it grows more powerful? The book thus contributes to the massive literature on the implications of China's rise. Yet, although the question is far from novel, the authors adopt an innovative approach for addressing it. China's current relations with countries in neighboring regions, they argue, are particularly informative of its future foreign policies. Because China's growing power and influence will first be manifested in relations with its neighbors, China's regional relations should yield insights into its likely future behavior in other contexts as it becomes more powerful. Furthermore, because China is a member of several distinct and heterogeneous regions, explaining variation in its foreign policies across these regions should help identify factors that will affect China's foreign policies in future contexts.