The leaders of the People's Republic of China (PRC) can look forward to the new decade with considerable optimism. Last year, the PRC celebrated its 60th anniversary, with the state-controlled media taking care to trumpet the regime's major political, economic, and military achievements. In the eyes of its leaders, the country's rapid increase in wealth, prosperity, and prestige has, by propelling China to the forefront of global players for the first time in centuries, vindicated its present model of government, both at home and abroad.
Although one can challenge that assessment, China clearly remains the world's most populous nation and is becoming the most probable next peer competitor of the United States for regional and perhaps global primacy. Both admiring and fearful foreign observers have cited the PRC's growing economic, diplomatic, and military power as foreshadowing the advent of "China's century." ...