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CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY: Theory and Practice. Edited by Thomas Robinson and David Shambaugh. Oxford (England): Clarendon Press (Studies on Contemporary China). 1994. xv, 644 pp. (Figures, tables.) C$125.00, cloth. ISBN 0-19-828389-X
CHINA AND THE WORLD: Chinese Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War Era, Third Edition. Edited by Samuel S. Kim. Boulder San Francisco and Oxford: Westview press. 1994. x, 304 pp. (Maps, tabs.) US$69.95, Cloth, ISBN 0-8133-1595-4. 95, pap- ISBN 0-8133-1596-4.
CHINA'S FOREIGN POLICY behavior has become more assertive while China's articulation of the country's role in the world has become increasingly muddled. The international community needs some guidance in interpreting China's foreign policy behavior. This has become more acute in recent years in certain issue areas as Chinese deeds defy world opinion through arms sales to the Middle East, nuclear testing in defiance of world opinion, dishonest export practices, and a general defiance of international regimes even as the intensity of China's links with the world have increased. Chinese interaction with the international system has become less predictable and more volatile in some areas such as security and Sino-American relations. The disjuncture between Chinese foreign policy behavior and Chinese foreign policy proclamations leads to demands from the international community for greater policy transparency.
These two volumes attempt to explain the multitude of factors that shape Chinese foreign policy, and represent the most comprehensive studies of Chinese foreign relations currently available. Both volumes give considerable thought to the choice of analytical framework in a search for the key that will explain the Chinese puzzle, and both heavily...