ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the four cases of China's use of force in foreign affairs. The obvious discrepancy in China's words and deeds worries policymakers in Washington and Asia-Pacific, and gives rise to more than just doubts about the strategic orientation of an economically prosperous and militarily ever more capable 'Middle Kingdom'. Alastair Johnston has demonstrated that other well-established explanatory models such as diversionary theories of conflict and crisis behavior, theories focusing on the foreign policy of revolutionary states, or Neorealism's balance-of-power logic fall short of developing sufficient explanatory power to account for the four cases of China's large-scale use of military force in foreign affairs. The phenomenon of China's large-scale use of military force in foreign affairs commands further analytical attention and explanatory efforts in order to disentangle the empirical puzzle and overcome the corresponding explanatory deficit of established theories.
