Introduction. The China Challenge: Opportunity or Threat?

China’s extraordinary rise could represent a crucial challenge for the contemporary international order. Will Chinese ascent underpin a more prosperous and stable East Asia, or will it usher in greater uncertainty, contentious territorial disputes with its neighbors, and big power competition and conflict? Will Beijing become a responsible power socialized to international norms and institutions? Or will it seek to unilaterally restore a Sinocentric system in East Asia? The two authors explores the nature and the consequences of the Chinese rise and analyzes how other great powers and the Asian middle powers have reacted to it.