China is becoming more and more important on the world stage. It's time to look at where China is today, where it might be going, and what consequences that direction might hold for the rest of the world.

China is emerging as an economic world power. However, many skeptics see that one of the worrisome signs is that China is aiming to dominate all of Asia.

The authors examine China's economy and military muscle as it becomes the first new superpower of the twenty-first century. China's increase in arms spending bears watching, but the question remains, Is China mainly concerned with economic development or empire expansion?

Until recently, China's economy has been very aggressive. In the next few years, this economic growth will be challenged by excessive capacity in industry, increasing unemployment, and lower export growth.

One concern for China, as well as for the rest of Asia, is that they are experiencing a dangerous period of sluggish economic growth.

China has worked ferociously to avoid overpopulation, but, in doing so, it may well be faced with a daunting set of problems in the years ahead. With a declining population, China could impede economic growth, exacerbate social tensions, and complicate the enhancement of national power and security.

Many of Asia's intellectual and social traditions, called Asian values, do not explain the region's astonishing economic successes. And these same values do not explain the astonishing economic failures either.

The women of China were officially freed during the Mao Zedong regime, but the freedom brought  with it little more than the right to work. Now, in the late 1990s, many women are beginning to develop a sense of responsibility for themselves.

China's performance as a member of the UN Security Council should erase the impression that it has ambitions of 
 becoming a dominant world power. Proof of this include its compliance with international treaties and its respect towards UN regulations even if these oppose its personal position. 

A former Chinese government official reports that the menstrual cycles and pregnancies of women in China are subject to regulation. Those who become pregnant without the state's permission are forced to have abortions, and sometimes undergo involuntary sterilization.

China now allows for a small degree of political dissent which it hopes would diffuse massive demonstrations like those in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Several dissenters who are pursuing protests against the government are profiled.