China's success in achieving economic growth has created speculation that China will become a great power in the twenty-first century. The rise of China is particularly alarming given the resurgence of Chinese nationalism that is occurring in the People's Republic of China (PRC) today. How should we interpret the rise of China? What are the implications of nationalist appeals on Beijing's policy of national reunification with Taiwan? Moreover, has the rise of nationalism made Beijing's international behavior more aggressive? These are important questions. Using a case study of the recent changes in Beijing's Taiwan policy, this paper argues that the rise of nationalism does not necessarily make China a threat to the international community because nationalism has not driven China into taking irrational action against Taiwan. Despite nationalist rhetoric, Beijing's policy of national reunification has not been particularly inflexible. Although Beijing has intermittently used the strategy of military coercion and peaceful offense, nationalism has not prevented Beijing's pragmatic leadership from adopting peaceful offense as the most desirable approach for national reunification.