Steve Chan's research focuses on international relations, especially Sino-American relations. His publications include twenty-eight books and over two hundred book chapters and journal articles. His recent books include Punctuated Equilibria and Sino-American Relations (2025); Fuses, Chains, and Backlashes (2025); and Mobilizing the Past (2025).

• 1. An introduction to gauging China's influence abroad Steve Chan; 2. The China threat: how do Taiwan citizens react to Beijing's coercion? T. Y. Wang and Su-feng Cheng; 3. The limits of China's influence: how and why smaller states defy whilst deferring selectively Cheng-Chwee Kuik and Alexander L. Vuving; 4. The Dragon in Thailand and Cambodia: shifting foreign policy and the influence of China Mark Cogan; 5. Tracing China's influence and its limits in the Philippines Enrico Gloria; 6. China's influencing Maneuver in South Korea: real or fictional? Chung-in Moon and Xin-hua Cui; 7. Why money can't buy everything: understanding the limits of China's economic statecraft in Japan Ronan Tse-min Fu; 8. Tracing China's influence in South Asia Sumit Ganguly; 9. Australia and China: can geography, history and path-dependence be overcome? Mark Beeson and Shaomin Xu; 10. Structure, geography, and agency: New Zealand and its management of great-power relationships Alexander C. Tan; 11. Sino-Russian cooperation and competition in central Asian higher educational exchange Gaye Christoffersen; 12. Assessing China's belt and road initiative: a domestic dynamic approach to China's global influence Min Ye; 13. Conclusion: what can we learn from this book's studies? Steve Chan; Index.

'The volume tackles the elusive question of China's influence abroad. Leading regional experts uncover the myths and realities about China's influence in a wide array of states in the Indo-Pacific. This major work raises thought-provoking questions about theorizing on, and the policy implications of, China's global influence.' Yong Deng, Professor of Political Science, US Naval Academy, and author of 'China's Strategic Opportunity: Change and Revisionism in Chinese Foreign Policy'