ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the book and gives an overview of the analysis which follows. It explores the idea that popular conceptions of the China threat and energy security are overly simplistic and that reliance upon unarticulated assumptions within the literature is widespread and serves to undermine otherwise thoughtful analysis. The chapter then discusses how poststructuralism will be used in the book. The introduction explains how CNOOC's failed bid for Unocal in 2005 will be used to demonstrate how the central discourses of the book work in conjunction with one another. The chapter concludes by outlining the chapters which follow.
