Abstract
In recent years, China’s power and influence relative to those of other great states have outgrown the expectations of even its own leaders. A unique feature of Chinese leaders’ understanding of their country’s history is their persistent sensitivity to domestic disorder caused by foreign threats. From ancient times, the ruling regime of the day has often been brought down by a combination of internal uprising and external invasion. But even as economic interests became a major driver of China’s behavior on the international scene, traditional security concerns and the need to guard against Western political interference remained important. The need to identify an organizing principle to guide Chinese foreign policy is widely recognized today in China’s policy circles and scholarly community, as well as among international analysts. The first transformation is the Chinese government’s adoption of a comprehensive understanding of security, which incorporates economic and nontraditional concerns with traditional military and political interests