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This chapter attempts to delineate ontology of China’s grand strategy, by distinguishing between grand strategy and military strategy, between autonomy and national rejuvenation as two grand strategic visions, and between security and rise as two concrete strategic objectives. It presents the conceptualization of tailored multilateralism and its strategic importance for modern China. The conceptual feasibility of a peaceful rise as a grand strategy would be certainly weakened, although it will be a prospect as well as a principle for China. Quite distinctive from major developed counterparts in the West, modern China, regarding itself as a developing nation, was built through revolutions and resistance against foreign invasions and colonialism. The chapter provides vivid analytical examples of China’s One Belt One Road initiative and cybersecurity governance to illustrate how tailored multilateralism works in China’s strategic practices. China spares no effort, mainly by means of multilateralism as it claims, to promote the international legalization of a state-centered regulatory framework on cyberspace.

In 2015, the XI administration snared 30 ministerial-and-above officials including Guo Boxiong of the Central Military Commission for corruption; abolished the long-delayed one-child policy; restructured state-owned enterprises; and overhauled the military by rejigging existing military regions and executing a cut of 300,000 army personnel. In the stock market meltdown, many officials, securities brokers and fund managers were arrested for insider trading and market manipulation. The stabilisation of the market laid the foundation for many long-awaited financial reforms.

President Xi Jinping has been quick to make his mark on China's foreign policy compared to his predecessor, especially in fostering a positive momentum in China-US relations. China is also leveraging on its economic strength by engaging in mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries. Nevertheless, China's Air Defence Identification Zone and its expressed determination to administer the waters within the nine-dotted lines have cast doubts on China's professed policy of good neighbourly relations.

Hu's handover of both party and military rein to Xi at the same time surprised many as a new norm for future power transition. Xi's power is still constrained by his two predecessors, as well as his six peers in the Politburo Standing Committee. Bo Xilai's downfall not only disgraced the left-leaning “Chongqing model”, but unveiled the tip of an iceberg of how unbridled political power could impact the judiciary system.

China devoted much effort to manage its relations with Asia-Pacific countries in 2012 due to the US pivot to the region. China views the military-centric focus of the US pivot as directed at China and as emboldening regional countries to be more assertive in their territorial claims vis-à-vis China. In 2013, the Chinese leadership will likely strike a balance between seeking a stable external environment and standing firm on issues concerning China's national interests.

This paper identifies major trends in China in 2011 and analyzes their implications. The past year has witnessed a continuous rise of anger among social groups, as demonstrated in various forms of social protests. Chinese intellectuals are becoming increasingly politically conscious and calling for political reform. However, the leadership is trapped in the politics of power succession; uncertainty is widespread.

In 2011, the Chinese government overcame a string of challenges ranging from inflation and corruption to social unrest. However, the government's soaring fiscal revenue in the aftermath of a global financial crisis has sparked a domestic backlash of guofu minqiong (the state is rich, the people are poor). The Chinese Communist Party on the other hand has been busy reshuffling Party and administrative officials at various levels to prepare for leadership succession at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.

This paper examines China's transformation from different perspectives, including economic, social and political, and discusses how these transformations are linked to the country's open-door policy. The paper argues that the most powerful driving force behind China's rapid transformation is its openness. At the domestic level, openness creates an institutional environment in which different existing factors reorganize themselves, thus providing new dynamics for change. At the international level, openness links China and the world together, and the interplay between China and the world produces an external dynamism for China's internal changes. Openness, however, has led to social injustice. Society often becomes the weakest link in the process of globalization and opening up; therefore, it must be defended by all means and in all major policy areas.

Reforms in post-Mao China have led to the rise of social movements and collective action. The Falun Gong movement, a semi-religious movement, in particular has caught worldwide attention. Indeed, social protests have become a norm in China.

(1993). Nationalism, Neo-Authoritarianism, and Political Liberalism. Asian Affairs: An American Review: Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 207-227.

Globalization has thrown up challenges and opportunities which all countries, especially developing ones, have to grapple with and China is no exception. In fact, China, the most populous country in this world, has globalized rapidly over the past two decades. When Deng Xiaoping opened China's door in the late 1970s, no one expected that China would be integrated into the rest of the world at such a dramatic pace. The country has transformed “from a policy of self-reliance and suspicion to one of openness and integration.” With its membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other major world and regional organizations, China has become an integral part of the world community. The significance of a rapidly globalizing China has led scholars, policy consultants and policy-makers alike to pay intensive attention to the impact of China's globalization on world politics. China's rapid globalization has been driven by capitalistic economic development. Capitalism was “illegally” pursued initially as a way of economic development after the Chinese leadership began to implement the reform and open-door policy in the late 1970s, and was legitimized only after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in early 1992. Globalization has brought about sea changes to every aspect of economic and social life in China. Nevertheless, the Chinese state appears to have remained in its traditional Leninist form. Many questions have therefore been raised regarding the impact of globalization on the Chinese state such as: How has capitalism driven globalization?

Democracy's failure to develop in contemporary China gave rise to an intense debate between the advocates of neoauthoritarianism and of democracy in mainland China.' Because of the government's crackdown against the 1989 democracy movement, this debate inside China was interrupted for a while. Yet both within China and among Chinese abroad, the debate is being revived. The state's measures for economic and political stabilization and their relative success have led scholars and many politicians, both old and young, to con