China in the 21st Century

This book shows the likely course of China’s Foreign Policy and the evolution of its economy. It analyses an issue or set of issues that are likely to be of international concern during the 21st century. The ambitious purpose of this book is to examine important political and economic problems not only individually, but in relation to one another. The book had its origins in the widely-held recognition that many of the assumptions, policies and institutions that have characterised international relations during the past 30 years are inadequate to the demands of today and the foreseeable demands of the 21st century. The book seeks to identify those future conditions and the kinds of adaptation they might require. It is not the book’s purpose to arrive at a single or exclusive set of goals. Nor does it focus upon the foreign policy or national interests of India alone. Instead, it seeks to identify goals that are compatible with the perceived interests of most states, despite differences in ideology and in levels of economic development. All this aroused a curiosity in the mind of the author and he visited China to observe things for himself. The book is aimed at a broad readership including policy makers and potential policy makers and those who would influence the policy making process, but are confined to no single nation or region. The author, however, has tried not to be captive of the status quo. He has sought to question the inevitability of existing patterns of thought and behaviour that restrain desirable change and to look for ways in which those pattern might in time be attained and their consequences mitigated.