China Goes Global

Most global citizens are well aware of the explosive growth of the Chinese economy. Indeed China has famously become the workshop of the world. Yet while China watchers have shed much light on the country''s internal dynamics--China''s politics its vast social changes and its economic development--few have focused on how this increasingly powerful nation has become more active and assertive throughout the world. In China Goes Global eminent China scholar David Shambaugh delivers the book that many have been waiting for--a sweeping account of China''s growing prominence on the international stage. Thirty years ago China''s role in global affairs beyond its immediate East Asian periphery was decidedly minor and it had little geostrategic power. Today however China''s expanding economic power has allowed it to extend its reach virtually everywhere--from mineral mines in Africa to currency markets in the West to oilfields in the Middle East to agribusiness in Latin America to the factories of East Asia. Shambaugh offers an enlightening look into the manifestations of China''s global presence: its extensive commercial footprint its growing military power its increasing cultural influence or soft power its diplomatic activity and its new prominence in global governance institutions. But Shambaugh is no alarmist. In this balanced and well-researched volume he argues that China''s global presence is more broad than deep and that China still lacks the influence befitting a major world power--what he terms a partial power. He draws on his decades of China-watching and his deep knowledge of the subject and exploits a wide variety of previously untapped sources to shed valuable light on China''s current and future roles in world affairs.