This publication discusses the national image of China. The author argues that the misalignment between China's image of itself and how it is viewed by the rest of the world may be China's greatest strategic threat. The country's most important strategic issues, challenges as diverse as sustaining economic growth and the threat of Taiwanese independence, have at their root a shared connection to China's national image. The paper argues that alongside its other reforms, China needs a "fifth transition" if trust and understanding necessary for the next stage of its development are to be achieved.
Joshua Cooper Ramo is Managing Director and partner at Kissinger Associates, one of the world's leading geo-strategic and cross-border
advisory firms. He is based largely in Beijing.
Prior to entering the advisory business, he was a journalist, the
youngest Senior Editor and later Foreign Editor in the history of TIME
Magazine. The World Economic Forum has called him "one of
Ch...