This chapter explores Hu Jintao’s strategic responses to calls by the United States for China to assume greater international responsibilities. Hu’s leadership sought to project China as a ‘responsible stakeholder’ in global governance, but remained cautious about being drawn into Western normative frameworks. Ideological concerns about sovereignty and regime legitimacy had constrained China’s willingness to assume leadership position in international affairs, resulting in a cautious, defensive, and often ambiguous foreign policy style.