Power Competition in East Asia: From the Old Chinese World Order to Post-Cold War Regional Multipolarity (review)

298 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. ?, Spring 1998 toration ofthe actual musical-performance dimension of Chinese culture, it cannot accept music as simply a topic for intellectual discussion. Tanya Storch University of Florida Tanya Storch is a professor ofChinese religion specializing in Buddhism and Daoism. m Zhao Suisheng. Power Competition in EastAsia: From the Old Chinese World Order to Post-Cold War Regional Multipolarity. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. xv, 346 pp. Hardcover $45.00, isbn 0-312-16258. Zhao Suisheng wrote this book because he could not find a suitable text for his East Asian seminar. He has one now. It is a remarkably successful effort to blend history, international-relations theories, security dimensions, and international political-economy concepts into a single short volume dealing with the East and Southeast Asian regions. There are extensive notes and a good bibliography. Chinese -language sources are few, which is surprising considering that Chinese is Dr. Zhao's native language. However, he writes English clearly and effectively but for an occasional error in singular/plural-subject/verb agreement. The editing has also left something to be desired; infrequent but obvious errors in spelling mar an otherwise well-produced book ("Mamanski" versus Damanski Island, for example). Zhao's mastery of theory is impressive, as is his ability to apply it to the concrete realities of the East Asian region. The only weaknesses come from the nature of the book itself. It is short—only 243 pages of text. It also adopts a neorealist approach that treats nations as "black boxes." Absent is a treatment of the internal political struggles that lay beneath the foreign policies of the nations involved. Thus, if there are shortcomings in this volume, they are usually errors of omission rather than commission. But it is an excellent text, and I intend to adopt it for my graduate seminar next semester. It would also be suitable for advanced undergraduate students. St. Martin's should offer a paperback version at a reduced price. That might encourage more faculty to use this fine book in their courses. Harvey Nelsen© 1998 by University ofHawai'iPressUniversity ofSouth Florida Harvey Nelsen is a professor ofinternational studies specializing in Chineseforeign and defensepolicies. ...