Publisher's Synopsis
During the past sixty years, the People's Republic of China has watched the pendulum of post-communist victory swing from a period marked by extreme hardship to a period marked by tremendous economic development, growth, and prosperity. Indeed, prosperity over the past thirty years has propelled China up the ladder of financial wealth while also funding a sustained and extensive military transformation and modernization program. The combination has put China on a path to become a fully developed regional, if not global, power. As a result, many nations view China's rise as a source of suspicion and concern, primarily due to its lack of transparency. Against the backdrop of China's progress and its potential to "up end" the balance of power in East-Asia, how should the United States assess China?
