China's new diplomacy : rationale, strategies and significance

Based on extensive research, Zhu investigates China's new diplomacy since the early 1990s, with a focus on Chinese initiatives in the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. He examines China's current efforts to secure energy, to expand investment and trade, and to enhance "soft power" around the world and evaluates how China's activities affect international political economy and how the international community, especially the United States, has reacted to China's new, pro-active diplomacy.

The following issues are of particular importance:
• What has driven China's policy adjustment since the early 1990s?
• How has China's new diplomacy been implemented?
• What is the impact of China's new multidirectional diplomacy on international political economy?

By addressing these important policy questions, this study will help answer some of the lingering questions about Chinese politics and the policy implications for both China and the international community as they become increasingly interdependent.