A number of publications have recently focused on China’s increasing role in world affairs.

The Economist

The Economist’s “How China Runs the World Economy” explains the interesting relationship between Chinese fiscal policy and the American economy. Many American commentators have been angry about the artificially-high price of the yuan, which makes American products more expensive in China, and therefore decreases American exports. Yet, as this article points out, in order to keep the yuan’s value, the Chinese have had to buy large quantities of American bonds, keeping bond prices high (and therefore, bond yields low). This has prevented what might otherwise have been high inflation and kept investment high. Accordingly, while a serious reevaluation of the yuan might slightly increasing American exports, it could also be disastrous

There is no consensus on Chinese economic power, however, as a recent letter from economist Andrew Freris demonstrates in attacking the “cannard.”

A later Economist article, “Hu’s in Charge,” takes a look at the increasingly-authoritarian tone of the Chinese President, once thought to be a liberal reformer.

Foreign Affairs

After decades of publishing primarily Western opinions, Foreign Affairs’ September/October issue presents Asian views on China’s future.

Zheng Bijian’s “China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’ to Great-Power Status” presents a clear, if somewhat expectable, mainland view of the coming years for the People’s Republic. He emphasizes the need for decades’ more economic development to pull the country out of third-world status, and the Party’s according reliance on a peaceful and economically stable world in the coming years.

“China’s Global Hunt for Energy” by David Zweig and Bi Jinhai looks at the the foreign policy necessitated by the mainland’s need for cheap energy to fuel its economic development. In particular, the authors focus on China’s changing focus from developed trade partners to developing resource-rich states, and the deals Beijing has been forced to make with “rogue” states. This development threatens conflict with America over its attempts to isolate states supporting terrorism, proliferating weapons of mass destruction, or

“China’s Search for Stability with America,” by Wang Jisi, takes a realistic look at the coming decades of relations between China and America. He emphasizes Beijing’s role in moderating the country’s popular resentment against the West and what he perceives as the absolute necessity that Washington adapt itself to the new realities of Chinese economic and political power if China’s current moderate tone is to continue.

“Understanding China,” by Kishore Mahbubani, takes a similar look at the potential divisions within Chinese politics and emphasizes that only America has the power to restrain and shape China in the coming decades.