China’s increasing economic and military capabilities have attracted much attention in recent years. How should the world, especially the United States, respond to this emerging great power? A sensible response requires not only figuring out the speed and extent of China’s rise, but also answering a question that has received much less attention: What is China’s grand strategy?

This book describes and explains the grand strategy China’s leaders have adopted to pursue their country’s interests in the international system of the 21st century. The author argues that their strategy is designed to foster favorable conditions for continuing China’s modernization while also reducing the risk that others will decide a rising China is a threat that must be countered. Why did China’s leaders settle on this grand strategy and what are its key elements? What alternatives were available? Is the current approach yielding the results China anticipated? What does this grand strategy imply for international peace and security in the coming years—and, most critically, what are the prospects for an increasingly prominent China and a dominant United States to rise to the challenge of managing their inevitable disagreements?

"This is an important work on a topic--China's grand strategy--on which we have had little serious and detailed work. It is very well written, well researched and well argued. It should prompt a new debate on the subject among academics, policy makers, and the public." (Michael Swaine, Senior Associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

"Goldstein's book makes an important and insightful argument and should be required reading for those in the policy and academic communities seeking to grasp what many acknowledge to be the most important bilateral relationship in the coming decades--rhat between the United States and China." (Michael Mastanduno, Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government, Dartmouth)

Avery Goldstein is Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. He is the author, most recently, of Deterrence and Security in the 21st Century (Stanford University Press, 2000)