ABSTRACT
Introduction The emergence of China as a state of potentially global significance is the product of over fifty years of revolution, reform and renewal. By 2003, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was a state in transition, with the ‘fourth generation’ assuming leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This chapter examines the main players in the Asia-Pacific region with which the PRC interacts: Taiwan, Hong Kong, North Korea, Japan and the US. The national security interests of these states are integrally linked, and the region has exhibited volatility in recent years, with tensions between the PRC and Taiwan, together with North Korea’s resumption of nuclear weapons development. At the same time, the PRC has developed considerable economic linkages with its neighbours, which have profound implications for Chinese foreign policy in the region over the coming decades. In the concluding section, we examine how an emergent China is viewed through the prisms of realism, liberalism and neo-Marxism.
