China is not only a great power but often an opaque one. What does its regional diplomacy tell us about the country’s geopolitical position and ambitions, and what patterns does it reveal? Building from international relations theories focused on how external threats, domestic politics, and ideology influence foreign policy, Yuxing Huang puts forward a nuanced argument. He suggests that in an environment of numerous regional competitors and alignments, China has developed a form of asymmetric statecraft toward its many weaker neighbours. In the South China Sea, it maintains a uniform strategy toward Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Whereas in South Asia, it practises selective strategies to maintain the status quo with India and to enhance Pakistan’s position. Drawing on extensive archival sources, this perceptive interpretation of the different narratives and paradigms that constitute China’s foreign policy alerts us to the potential future of its diplomatic endeavours in a dramatically changing international environment.

Yuxing Huang's profile page

Yuxing Huang is a professor at Renmin University of China. His work has appeared in English in the Chinese Journal of International Politics and an edited volume of the Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series. His work in Chinese has appeared in World Economics and Politics [Shijie Jingji yu Zhengzhi], Guoji Zhengzhi Kexue [Quarterly Journal of International Politics], and Lengzhan Guojishi Yanjiu [Cold War International History Studies], among other publications. He is a co-author of A Theory of Interventions among Nations: Practice of Spring and Autumn Era and Implications for Modern China.

… a significant, important contribution to international relations theory.

S. C. Hart, CHOICE Connect

"The book offers a new and refreshing perspective on China’s regional diplomacy."

European Journal of East Asian Affairs

Huang is to be congratulated on his extraordinary utilization of archival as well as secondary materials.

International Journal

"Huang undertakes a forensic exploration of China’s Cold War relations with its neighbours in east Asia, south Asia and south-east Asia."

International Affairs

"The value of China’s Asymmetric Statecraft lies in its innovative approach to conceptualizing the strategies of great powers in regional competitions."

Contemporary Southeast Asia