China's Rise and the External Circumstances

I would like to touch upon two things: how to assess China's rise and its international environment. The first is a controversial issue among the Chinese academic community with some claiming that China is rapidly rising and others seeing such a statement a luxury. This difference in assessment represents the focus of the current debate. Is Chinas rise a reality already? Of course not. In the light of Deng Xiaopings design, China will not reach the level of a medium developed country…