Shambaugh reminds us that the age-old pursuit of national rejuvenation is far from accomplished. Even in the economic field, in which China has fared well, its explosive growth has come at a high cost and has had a limited global impact.

Although Shambaugh's cool-headed assessment will make some excited Chinese calm down, it is not without its problems.

First, Shambaugh grades China's global positions and influences according to Western benchmarks.

Undoubtedly, Shambaugh is more concerned with China's power relative to the US, because the latter is still the world's leading superpower. His conclusions certainly could help to assuage anxiety among US elites, triggered by China's rapid rise. However, such a method is problematic on three counts: China's momentous achievements are selectively played down; there is no detailed breakdown of China's global impact in each of the sectors explored; there is no scientific barometer to gauge how global is global for nations such as China.

With these problems in mind, to describe the world's second-largest economy as a partial global power seems arbitrary.

Second, Shambaugh delivers his verdict on China's global status in a static fashion. China is big in terms of population and territory, but it was quite weak in the early years of the People's Republic of China. Since China carried out the reform and opening-up policy, it began to transform itself from an isolated and backward land to an economic powerhouse. China's political and military global standing have also improved significantly. Even though its economic growth has slowed a little in the past two years, its current growth rate easily dwarfs those of other major economies.

The power gap between China and the US continues to shrink. Even if we acknowledge that China is a partial power in many sectors, as Shambaugh maintains, it might be more convincing to conclude that China is a growing partial power, which may become a fully fledged one in the years to come.

The author is deputy director of the Center for China's International Strategic Studies at Renmin University of China.