ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the available interpretations of Deng Xiaoping's "pragmatic" foreign policy and explores the difference between Western and Chinese "realism" as it concerns the development of Deng's foreign policy content. It reviews the stages of "normalization" with special reference to Deng's management of Sino-American relations. The book focuses on the particular question raised by scholars such as Gerald Segal, David Goodman and Michael Yahuda at the time of Deng's death. It argues that Deng Xiaoping established a rational response to globalization, which was designed to seize the opportunities for foreign investment and technology transfer while controlling for those political aspects of globalization that undercut state sovereignty. The book details which Dengist foreign policy contributions have lasted through time, considers the reasons for their persistence and shows how and why the original formulations have been extended to meet new circumstances.
