CHINA An Enigma

China has alternated between long periods of isolationism and interaction with other nations. This resulted in internal squabbles and external wars, throughout its long history. Contemporary China, after Mao’s death, slowly and steadily moved ahead on the path of economic growth. The process to strengthen the military began some years later, when it realised that it too is necessary to go alongside the economic growth. Western liberals and optimists hoped to welcome China into the global economy as a ‘responsible stakeholder’, with an accompanying political transformation. How wrong was their premise!China, in the twenty-first century, is no longer a ‘rising power’, but has grown as a competitor to USA, which had gotten used to having its way in a unipolar world after the end of the Cold War. China has emerged as a global actor, affecting the liberal world order in nearly every region and every major issue; it has its ambitions of being able to dictate the world order on its terms, although it still has a long way to go. Nevertheless, it has developed the capabilities, to quite an extent, to alter the international geopolitical architecture. Whether it does this peacefully, or as a belligerent, is the attendant question, since capabilities and intentions have to be dealt with separately.