China’s Power from a Chinese Perspective (II): Back to the Center Stage

Abstract

While China is perhaps still a “fragile” or a “partial” power,¹ China has made itself a serious major power in today’s world. People outside of China tended to see China as an emerging power, a new power in the world affairs. For this author, China is not a new power in the world, but a reemerging power, and being a great power seems to be a matter of necessity and a natural return to its normalcy. The current Chinese leadership has displayed its stronger intention to make use of China’s growing power in its foreign policy, a development seemingly unnerved some countries already. Therefore, it is the moment for scholars at home and abroad to look back at how this Chinese power has been cultivated and accumulated, how it is assessed in comparison with other major powers, particularly the most powerful state of today’s world, the United States, and how China’s power would evolve in the next ten or more years. This chapter will focus on the comprehensive national power of China and provide a general audit of China’s power based on various Chinese assessments.