Buffer Thinking in Chinese Foreign and Security Policy: The Reasoning behind China's Policies toward North Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia

Chen examines China's unwavering foreign policy toward North Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia, challenging conventional international relations theory. He introduces ‘buffer thinking’—a geopolitical mentality driving China to secure peripheral territories against potential rivals regardless of global power shifts.

Drawing from extensive historical evidence spanning decades, this book demonstrates how buffer thinking functions as an intervening variable that mediates the effects of systemic polari...