ABSTRACT
China is turning a qualitative corner in its historic quest for comprehensive power, achieving the traditional Chinese goal of "wealth and power" (fuqiang). Long gone are the days when China was regarded as a basket case, inviting outside opportunistic intervention, as in the early part of the twentieth century. Gone too are the days when China's sheer size and systemic inefficiency gave it a relatively passive and dependent role in the "strategic triangle" of U.S.-Chinese-U.S.S.R. relations. Today China is poised to have an ever-larger say in the security system of East Asia in all its dimensions: political, economic and military. Yet in many ways the rapid maturation of China's capabilities has not yet been matched by development of a genuine intellectual appreciation throughout the Chinese leadership of the many membership dues, mutual obligations and rules of order that underpin the success of the Asia-Pacific region.
