The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power

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By Thomas J. Christensen

Published Jan. 27, 2016

Professor Thomas J. Christensen takes issue with the view of China as a rival to the United States. In The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power, he argues that Chinese leadership faces countless internal issues — especially the threat of domestic instability — that prevent the country from being considered a global “peer competitor.”

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The October 2025 cover of PAW, featuring an illustration of a woman dressed like Superman, but the S on her chest is a dollar sign.
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