An Implicit Acknowledgment That China’s Rise is a Threat

Deng Xiaoping adhered to a philosophy of “don’t stick your head out”: do not make aggressive moves until prepared to handle the reactions they would provoke. This approach still obtains: allay fears about the role China will play in the future, thus preventing the emergence of threat perceptions that produce counter-moves denying Beijing the breathing space needed to reacquire the position it feels is its due. By the time the world really notices, officials seem to hope, China’s return will be a fait accompli.  

Implicit in this is an acknowledgment that China’s rise is in some sense threatening to those powers (i.e., the United States) that would be displaced in their geopolitical centrality by China’s return to its rightful place in the world. It tacitly concedes that they should feel threatened, or at least that it is unsurprising if they do.