Current preoccupations with the ‘rise of Asia’ attest to the nascent contestation of the very idea of what the pattern of international politics should look like and how it should be practiced. In this respect, the growing reference to a ‘shift to the East’ in global politics has become a popular shorthand for the nascent “power transition” in world affairs. This volume offers a detailed conceptual and empirical inves tigation of the dynamics of power tran sition in Asia and details the accommodation strategies and coping mechanisms of different small and middle powers in Asia and, importantly, China’s responses to these approaches.