How are China's ongoing sovereignty disputes in the East and South China Seas likely to evolve? Are relations across the Taiwan Strait poised to enter a new period of relaxation or tension? How are economic interdependence, domestic public opinion, and the deterrence role played by the US likely to affect China's relations with its counterparts in these disputes? Although territorial disputes have been the leading cause for interstate wars in the past, China has settled most of its land borders with its neighbours. Its maritime boundaries, however, have remained contentious. This book examines China's conduct in these maritime disputes in order to analyse Beijing's foreign policy intentions in general. Rather than studying Chinese motives in isolation, Steve Chan uses recent theoretical and empirical insights from international relations research to analyse China's management of its maritime disputes.

‘Steve Chan has produced a theoretically and empirically rich book on China's territorial dispute behaviour and the possible trajectories it may take in the future. It nicely synthesizes existing literature on the subject while offering many thoughtful suggestions for a cautious approach for all concerned states.'

T. V. Paul - James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University, and editor of Accommodating Rising Powers: Past, Present and the Future (forthcoming, 2016)

'Declining to treat China as sui generis, Chan argues in China’s Troubled Waters that we can look to general theories of international relations, cross-national patterns of behaviour, and historical parallels to advance our understanding of the Chinese case.'

Savannah Jones Source: SirReadaLot.org (www.sirreadalot.org)