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China's Internal Dilemma World Affairs Council: Nor Cal - San Francisco, CA China's Internal Dilemma with Susan Shirk.Why does China's prosperity make its leaders uneasy and threaten global stability? In China: The Fragile Superpower, author Susan Shirk explores how China's internal politics could derail its peaceful rise. She concludes that the real danger lies in the insecurity of its leaders who face a troubling paradox: the more developed and prosperous the country becomes, the more insecure and threatened they feel. As the world's fastest growing economy, Shirk argues that the ruling regime has become increasingly afraid of its own citizens, and this fear motivates many of their decisions when dealing with the U.S. and other foreign nations. She believes that unless we understand China's brittle internal politics and the fears that motivate its leaders, we face the very real possibility of avoidable conflict with China - World Affairs Council of Northern California