ABSTRACT
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it was at the end of 2014 that China replaced the USA as the world’s largest economy, measured by GDP PPP. This appears to have vindicated nearly three decades of all-out efforts to modernize and strengthen China’s economic, military and diplomatic capabilities. Although Beijing’s ‘reform and opening’ began in the late 1970s, China did not emerge as a serious contender until its accelerated reform in the mid-1990s. China’s rise really began with its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Particularly, Beijing gained more visible confidence after the 2008 global financial crisis. The rise of China and what it means to the rest of the world, especially East Asia, has generated important and heated debate. Scholars and practitioners both within and outside China seem to disagree on the content and implications of Beijing’s growing stature on the world stage. Some observers (as has already been outlined in the Introduction to this volume) perceive China’s rise as an instance of a global power transition process, which may lead to a military confrontation between Beijing and Washington. Others contend that the rising China will be a friendly giant, who has no intention to take over the world.
