Politics and Development of Contemporary China

This book presents a comprehensive exploration of China's foreign policy evolution from the early twentieth century to the contemporary era. The intricate interplay between the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the global stage is meticulously traced, offering a nuanced understanding of China's dynamic engagement with the world. With a detailed analysis spanning eight chapters, the book delves into the contextual factors that influenced CCP's initial foreign policy ideas prior to the establishment of the People's Republic. It systematically unravels the gradual development of these ideas during the Cold War era and unveils the fundamental and adaptive trajectories that have shaped China's foreign policy landscape over the past three decades. Utilizing primary sources and academic texts, the book incorporates both Chinese and global perspectives to shed new light on the evolution of Chinese foreign policy thought, making it an invaluable contribution to the study of China's global interactions. The authors uniquely bridge the gap between different stages of China's foreign policy development across a centennial timeframe, offering an "organic" perspective on its growth, and their comprehensive analysis of China's foreign policy "toolset" adds a distinctive dimension to existing knowledge. By steering clear of preconceived notions, the book delivers a well-rounded analysis of China's foreign policy evolution.

This book has come up with the most up-to-date, comprehensive and objective analysis of China’s investments in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. It covers the broad range of Sino-Pakistan relations in the backdrop of Pakistan’s complex political, governance, security, socio-environmental and technological challenges that hinder implementation of CPEC projects. Backed by robust empirical evidence, a unique feature of this volume is that it demystifies several myths about CPEC concerning ‘debt-trap’ narrative, China’s ‘win-win’ proposition and Pakistan’s mantra of ‘game changer’ and ‘fate changer’. By examining Chinese infrastructure-building initiative vis-à-vis competing economic initiatives such as the US/G7-led Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment, the Global Gateway strategy of the European Union, and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor of the G20, a distinctive significance of this book is that it aptly situates the implications of China’s growing role in Pakistan in broader regional and global context.

Taiwan is seen as one of the most dangerous global flashpoints today. The political status of Taiwan (i.e., the Taiwan issue) is very complex, which involves multiple important aspects, including nationalism, ideology, democracy, national identity, regional security, geopolitics, geoeconomics, and great power rivalry. Taipei, Beijing, and Washington are the three key parties that have particularly high stakes and play the most important role in the Taiwan issue. Because of their very different concerns and fundamentally conflicting interests behind the Taiwan issue, Taipei, Beijing, and Washington are pursuing very different goals regarding the future of the island. Covering some most important aspects of the Taiwan issue, this edited volume provides readers with a multifaceted picture of this important and complex issue in the world today.