China as a great power

China, the world's most highly populated country and fastest growing economy and the strongest military power in Asia, is still a totalitarian state. It is perceived to have latent Middle Kingdom ambitions and a Greater China, at least in economic terms, is a distinct possibility. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and without a focus for their security framework, some analysists have begun to look at China as the great power that is most likely to threaten regional stability. Is this warranted? What other reasons are there for concern about China? What opportunities does China present? This book draws together the views of academic specialists who have studied China's economy, its history and domestic politics, its security and defence policies, its foreign policy and its place in the world, its geography and its looming environmental problems. Some have engaged in diplomacy with or on behalf of China. Their analysis of China as a great power is supplemented by those of regional specialists who look at the regional implications of China's great size and its growing power and influence.