Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China’s International Politics Since 1949

This cogent but comprehensive book examines the international relations of the People’s Republic of China since its founding in 1949. Noted scholar Robert G. Sutter provides a balanced assessment of the country’s recent successes and advances as well as the important legacies and constraints that hamper it, especially in nearby Asia—long the focus of China’s foreign policy attention. Sutter demonstrates how Beijing has carefully created an image of a China that follows consistent policies based on morally correct principles, but its record shows repeated episodes of sometime surprising change and frequent use of violence, intimidation, and coercion. China’s leaders, he argues, still fail to manage the desire for productive foreign relations with their aspirations to build Chinese security and sovereignty interests. Image-building efforts condition Chinese public and elite opinion to be extraordinarily sensitive, self-righteous, and often alarmist in dealing with the many disputes China has with its Asian neighbors and the United States. Advances the PRC has made in other parts of the world focus mainly on commercial interests, limiting its actual impact on world affairs. Sutter shows readers how to use China’s rise in nearby Asia as a reliable barometer of how important and effective it actually will become internationally.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Assessing China’s Role in World Affairs Chapter 2: Mao’s Changing Course in Foreign Affairs, 1949–1969 Chapter 3: Maneuvering between the United States and USSR, 1969–1989 Chapter 4: Chinese Foreign Relations after the Cold War Chapter 5: Patterns in Decision Making and International Outlook Chapter 6: China’s Changing Importance in World Affairs Chapter 7: Relations with the United States Chapter 8: Relations with Neighboring Asian Countries Chapter 9: Relations beyond Nearby Asia Chapter 10: Implications and Outlook

About the Author :
Robert G. Sutter was an analyst of Asian and Pacific affairs and American foreign policy for the U.S. government for thirty years. He is now Professor of Practice of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.

Review :
Sutter is a China expert who worked for the Congressional Research Service (as well as other government agencies) for more than 30 years and now is an international relations (IR) professor at George Washington University. He challenges the assessment of some specialists that a power shift is now occurring in the Asia-Pacific because of China's extremely rapid economic development and rising military power, making China likely to supplant the US. The volume surveys China's foreign relations in ten chapters. Sutter begins by describing the important characteristics of policy, such as its interest-based nature (notwithstanding rhetoric emphasizing principles). In three chapters he describes the changing course of policy, from the Maoist era (1949-69) to rapprochement with the US (1969-89) and the post-Cold War era. He forays into the decision-making environment and China's changing global importance. Then, three chapters discuss China's relations with the US, neighboring Asian countries, and with countries beyond Asia. Sutter concludes by emphasizing that China's IR focus will remain on its periphery, and it has far to go to 'emerge in a dominant position in Asia.' Comprehensive, up-to-date, and balanced in coverage; superior to Donald Gross's China Fallacy Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. This is an important book that will be extremely valuable for anyone who wants to know more about the PRC’s current policies, the historical background of China’s place in the world, and the meaning of China’s 'rise.' Sutter’s book is a timely contribution that provides a thorough survey on PRC’s foreign relations based on solid observation of the drastic shifts and unpredictability in China’s behavior patterns since 1949, which, as the author argues, constrain China’s current program to exert greater influence in the Asia-Pacific. This book is recommended for general readers as well as researchers looking for updated studies of China’s foreign relations. This is simply the best up-to-date text on China's foreign relations available. In his detailed and measured study, Professor Sutter—a seasoned and sober observer—deflates the exaggerated estimates of many analysts about China’s rise and global influence by arguing that the country’s image and relations around the world are actually quite troubled and that China’s international behavior has been highly unpredictable and narrowly self-centered. This is a well-researched, strongly argued, and definitive assessment of China's role in the world. Robert Sutter, who has contributed much to the understanding of China's foreign policy, brilliantly shows how from its early beginnings to the present day there has been a disconnect between China's self-image as an international actor and how its actual behavior has damaged its relations with neighbors and limited its capacity to contribute to international order. This should be of great interest to both students and diplomats. Taking issue with the forecast of an imminent global power transition, Robert Sutter provides us with an analysis of modern Chinese foreign policy that is especially timely in view of Beijing's growing prominence in world affairs. It is also peerlessly comprehensive, both geographically and chronologically. For anyone interested in the shifting global balance of power, this book is a must read.