ABSTRACT
This chapter examines evidence for a change of thinking in China's regional relations. It argues that the situation was not as comprehensively bad as Shambaugh states, but much more complex in its origins. China became the world's largest importer of petroleum in 2014 and had total consumption of 10.7 million bbl/d, less than half of it domestically produced. China's military has been the focus of exceptional attention in the past decade, as analysts frequently talk about China's "assertiveness". China's Good Neighbor Policy continued to be used and cited during the 2004–2014 period as the basis for its regional relations. Within China's neighbors, Japan is the obvious example and has been for over one hundred years. Occasionally, Chinese analysts have recognized the asymmetry in the relationship between China and other countries. By virtually all measures, China's capabilities placed it as the most prominent of the great powers during the 2004–2016 periods.
