ABSTRACT
The current international system is undergoing rapid transformation and the second biggest economy, China's role in this process is receiving more and more attention. The concept of roles borrows from sociology in international studies. Several distinctive national roles have been identified in international society. Roles and role conceptions are shaped and changed through interaction between states-they are not something imposed on states by international society. The debate on China's role taking within the World Trade Organization (WTO) was the first major controversy involving a lot of pundits and experts. Role conflict is an unstable element of the change of the international system. The concept of constructive improver could resolve some of these role conflicts. It is better suited to guide the relations between China and the world, and to ensure the transformation of the international system is orderly and stable.
