The May 19-20, 2011 Asan conference provided a venue to reassess foreign policy decision-making in China. Bringing together leading voices in this reassessment, the meeting elicited lively exchanges centered not on refuting rival interpretations but on jointly exploring leads that clarify the processes of China's foreign policy formulation that have yet to be adequately explained. Updating the conference papers to cover the end of 2011, this book reflects the state of analysis on the eve of the important 2012-13 transition to China's fifth-generation leaders.

The Asan Institute for Policy Studies is an independent think tank located in Seoul, South Korea, that provides innovative policy solutions and spearheads public discourse on many of the core issues that Korea, East Asia, and the global community face. The goal of the institute is not only to offer policy solutions but also to train experts in public diplomacy and related fields in order to strengthen Korea's capacity to better tackle some of the most pressing problems affecting the country, the region and the world today.

Gilbert Rozman is the Musgrave Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, USA and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He received a BA from Carleton College and a PhD from Princeton University. Professor Rozman's research concentrates on national identities in China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, to understand how they shape bilateral trust and evolving relations in the region. Recent co-edited books include Russian Strategic Thinking toward Asia (Palgrave, 2006), Japanese Strategic Thinking toward Asia (Palgrave, 2007), and Korea at the Center: The Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia (M.E. Sharpe, 2006). He is a member of the editorial boards of China Quarterly, Asian Survey, and the Journal of East Asian Studies.