China and World Affairs

In spring 2006, Chinese President Hu visited Washington and conducted a tough formal talk with his counterpart, George W. Bush. The talk contains many subjects and urgent issues, such as the rebuilding of Iraq, anti-terrorism, global financial system, the U.S. debt and China-U.S. trade, human rights issue and definitely the issue of oil. Hu felt uncomfortable with this visit as Chinese Falun Gong protestor heckled him for several minutes on the White House lawn and besides a white house announcer mixed up China’s formal sovereign name (People’s Republic of China) with the name preferred by the Nationalist government on Taiwan (Republic of China). By contrast, Hu immediately left for Saudi Arabia after his rash farewell to D.C. and had a greatly cozy atmosphere in Riyadh with the Saudi royal family. Later, it seems that Hu’s Arabian sojourn piqued interest in the United States. As a rising power, will China be a threat? In this provocative and illuminating account, Shiwei Jiang offers a captivating portrait of China’s all-round transformation from Mao to today in the areas of leadership,institutions, social capital and military.