China's Quiet Rise

Book excerpt: Despite China's desire to make its rapid ascendance in the 21st century as non provocative as possible, the key to ensure China's peaceful rise lies in two-way integration and engagement. A closely integrated China with the rest of the world and China's acceptance of existing international norms and rules may compel China to behave in a more predictable and responsive way. This co-edited book examines China's rising military capacity and the complex feelings its neighbors, such as Taiwan, South Korea and India, have toward the increasingly powerful China. The focus of this book is on the efforts made by China to brand her non-aggressive image through promoting public diplomacy and expanding regional free trade and cooperation in Asia and Latin America. It uses the cross-Taiwan-strait relations as a testing ground for the prospect of peace between the two former adversaries. China's Quiet Rise will help readers understand why integration, instead of isolation and containment, may be the most effective way to facilitate China's peaceful rise.