ABSTRACT
Introduction China's rise as a major regional-and increasingly global-power has drawn growing attention from policymakers and analysts alike. Most debates and discussions have by and large focused on two related issues: one concerns the implications of China's rise and its likely impacts on the international system; the other is on how China will use its power in advancing its national interests.1 There is sufficient consensus on the
first and indeed many analysts can readily point out how China's rise has already affected global and regional developments from addressing the financial crisis to dealing with regional security challenges such as the North Korean nuclear issue. But less certain are China's future intentions and likely behavior as its power continues to grow in the coming decades. One key question is whether China will challenge the current international system or whether it will follow the existing norms, rules, and principles by which states interact with one another, including accepting multilateralism as a principle of managing inter-state relations in political, economic, and security spheres. The other is how likely it is that China will become a responsible great power or a stakeholder and grow more confident in assuming a greater and more active leadership role in regional and global affairs.2
