The Global Implications of China’s Rise

Abstract

China Rising: Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia. By David C. Kang. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. 296 pp., $24.95 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0231141888). China, the U.S., and the Power-Transition Theory: A Critique. By Steve Chan. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 208 pp., $43.95 paper (ISBN: 978-0415440240). China's Emergent Political Economy: Capitalism in the Dragon's Lair. By Christopher A. McNally. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 288 pp., $170.00 hardcover (ISBN: 978-0415425728). The Environmental Dimension of Asian Security: Conflict and Cooperation over Energy, Resources, and Pollution. By In-Taek Hyun, Miranda A. Schreurs. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2007. 344 pp., $19.95 paper (ISBN: 978-1929223732). The rise of China represents one of the most fundamental shifts in world politics over the past few decades and, as such, has attracted increasing interest from scholars of international politics. A growing literature examines the causes and likely consequences of China's ascent in an increasingly sophisticated way, and the four books reviewed here are no exception in this regard. Though the books consider very different dimensions of China's rise and its global implications, all four will be of considerable interest to those who study China or who have a desire to learn more about the causes and consequences of China's growing role in international politics. China's rapid rise has generated spirited debate concerning the political implications of growing Chinese power. Will a more powerful China pursue revisionist goals, potentially triggering conflict with the United States and other countries along the Pacific Rim? Will it be more prone to resolve longstanding disputes—such as the Taiwan issue—using military coercion? Or will China—perhaps driven by an increasing stake in the existing international order—use its growing influence to help achieve cooperative outcomes, as seen for example in the six-party talks over North Korea? Scholars of Chinese foreign policy have increasingly turned to rigorous international relations theory as a way to help gain traction on these sorts of issues.1 The books by David Kang ( China Rising ) and Steve Chan ( China, the U.S., and the Power Transition Theory ) fit neatly into this mold, and each represents an important contribution that should be of great interest both for regional specialists and for international relations scholars more broadly. Kang's study makes two core arguments. First, though realist international relations theory predicts that states should balance against power and that rising powers tend to threaten surrounding countries, neither of these expectations holds true in contemporary East Asia. …