ABSTRACT
Taken together, the events of the opening years of the twenty-first century symbolise how China has risen to become a major force in the international economic and security system just over ten years after being cast as a pariah after the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. The reaching of the long-awaited agreement on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in September 2001 symbolised its membership of the world trade system. Following the terrorist attacks on the United States that took place that same month, President Jiang Zemin met his American counterpart at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai in October, and China became a partner in the war on terrorism with a global reach. With Beijing scheduled to hold the summer Olympic Games in 2008, it seems that a growing degree of ‘soft power’ has secured China’s place in the global cultural system, too.
