Rightsizing China.

FEATURES THE consensus view of the People's Republic of China as an anti-democratic, human-rights-abusing, authoritarian, ideologically communist state represents a significant reversal in policy-maker attitudes over the last 25 years. China is the largest investor in several of these countries, and much of that investment comes with the explicit requirement of its beneficiaries to buttress China's view that Taiwan should be governed from Beijing. Today, however, it would also be a mistake to accept uncritically the belief that China is an emerging military superpower and possible peer competitor with the U.S. While there is no question that the CCP has a grand vision for the PRC, we should realize what the leaders in Beijing also know: that there are many serious, irreversible problems facing China. Kazakhstan is sandwiched between China and Russia, and the Central Asian states form the core of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an economic bloc designed to help the PRC maintain its hegemony in the region. [Extracted from the article]