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China’s foreign policy makers are under increasing pressure to contribute to global governance. While those responsible for Chinese foreign policy strategic thinking struggle to come to terms with the increased activities of a diverse group of Chinese actors in the international arena, they are simultaneously aware that Beijing is expected to address the challenges and crises that afflict the international order. In Washington and Brussels, China faces rising criticism both for its support for regimes that the United States and European Union shun due to human rights abuses as well as for Beijing’s aid programs “with no political strings attached” in developing countries. The European Commission specifically targeted the need for transparency in China’s aid policies in Africa in the Commission’s unusually straightforwardly worded “Communication” on China in late 2006. In Sudan, in particular, questions regarding China’s credibility as a responsible global actor have become pertinent. As China’s economic, political and military involvement in world affairs expands, other countries’ scrutiny of Beijing’s motives and actions in Africa will deepen. This paper will provide a concise overview of China’s evolving foreign policy toward Africa in recent years, focusing on the Sino-Sudan relationship, with the aim of shedding light on the drivers and constraints of Beijing’s motives and actions. The paper will then assess the implications of Beijing’s policy choices in Africa for its overall international relations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rise as an economic and political power constitutes both an opportunity to promote regional stability as well as a threat to derail regional stability in Asia. One of the major factors effecting China's international role in the coming years will be the management of the so-called Taiwan question. Taiwan's unresolved future, as well as Sino-Japanese relations will, in turn, become increasingly significant issues within Chinese domestic politics. At present, China is doing its best to reassure its neighbors of its peaceful rise to the role of regional power. China wants to be seen as the pragmatic promoter of multilateralism to ensure regional stability, opposed to the China of previous decades, which created instability in numerous Southeast Asian countries by pursuing ideological objectives. On the other hand, when dealing with what Beijing calls a domestic affair, the so-called Taiwan question, China's stance threatens to destabilize the region, a cause of great concern throughout Asia. Increasingly, as Chinese society becomes more pluralistic, the leaders of China could conceivably come under intense pressure from factions within several domestic constituencies to adopt an even tougher stance toward Taiwan, to ensure that the goal of reunification is not nullified forever. Moreover, in the event of economic stagnation, a domestic crisis could propel the Chinese leaders to force a settlement in the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to divert public opinion away from problems at home. This paper will focus on Chinese policies in Asia, describing the development of these policies as they become more accommodating, on the one hand, while simultaneously, due to domestic constraints, more uncompromising and hard-line in the Taiwan Strait and vis-à-vis Japan. The paper will attempt to analyze the effect that the diversification of Chinese politics as well as the emphasis on China's century of humiliation have on China's dual-track Asia policy and its effects on stability in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]