Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Message from the Director
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Introduction
- THE REGION
- The Diplomatic Emergence of China and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (1975*)
- Stability and Security in the Region after ANZUK (1975)
- The Question of the “Overseas Chinese” (1976)
- Southeast Asia 1976: The Handling of Contradictions (1977)
- The “Fukuda Doctrine” and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (1978)
- Expanding Horizons in Southeast Asia? (1994)
- AFTA in the Light of New Economic Developments (1995)
- The ASEAN Economic Miracle Unravels (1999)
- Southeast Asia in 1999: A False Dawn? (2000)
- East Timor's Future: Southeast Asian or South Pacific? (2001)
- Southeast Asia in 2002: From Bali to Iraq — Co-operating for Security (2003)
- The Year in ASEAN: The Charter, Trade Agreements, and the Global Economic Crisis (2010)
- Seeking Stability in Turbulent Times: Southeast Asia's New Normal? (2015)
- China's Two Silk Roads Initiative: What It Means for Southeast Asia (2015)
- China's International Strategy and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (2016)
- BRUNEI
- CAMBODIA
- INDONESIA
- LAOS
- MALAYSIA
- MYANMAR
- THE PHILIPPINES
- SINGAPORE
- THAILAND
- VIETNAM
China's International Strategy and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (2016)
from THE REGION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 May 2019
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Message from the Director
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Introduction
- THE REGION
- The Diplomatic Emergence of China and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (1975*)
- Stability and Security in the Region after ANZUK (1975)
- The Question of the “Overseas Chinese” (1976)
- Southeast Asia 1976: The Handling of Contradictions (1977)
- The “Fukuda Doctrine” and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (1978)
- Expanding Horizons in Southeast Asia? (1994)
- AFTA in the Light of New Economic Developments (1995)
- The ASEAN Economic Miracle Unravels (1999)
- Southeast Asia in 1999: A False Dawn? (2000)
- East Timor's Future: Southeast Asian or South Pacific? (2001)
- Southeast Asia in 2002: From Bali to Iraq — Co-operating for Security (2003)
- The Year in ASEAN: The Charter, Trade Agreements, and the Global Economic Crisis (2010)
- Seeking Stability in Turbulent Times: Southeast Asia's New Normal? (2015)
- China's Two Silk Roads Initiative: What It Means for Southeast Asia (2015)
- China's International Strategy and Its Implications for Southeast Asia (2016)
- BRUNEI
- CAMBODIA
- INDONESIA
- LAOS
- MALAYSIA
- MYANMAR
- THE PHILIPPINES
- SINGAPORE
- THAILAND
- VIETNAM
Summary
Amid worldwide salutes and suspicion, China's international strategy took full shape in 2015. While many observers find increasing opportunities in China's multiple initiatives to enhance regional and global development as well as economic cooperation, others see an ever more assertive China, projecting might with its growing wealth. Especially for Southeast Asian nations, the most susceptible to China's moves due to their proximity to and close economic ties with China, the many new Chinese initiatives have brought both hope and challenges. Now that three years have passed since President Xi Jinping took office and the basic framework of China's international strategy has been established, it is time to examine the new features of China's international endeavours and draw salient implications for the future trends of its political, security and economic relations with the world, and in particular with its closest neighbour, ASEAN.
From the author's perspective, despite its widely perceived image as a revisionist, hegemony-seeking power, China has maintained its course of peaceful rise, and its new international strategy features more continuity than change. Nevertheless, with the evolving geopolitical environment of the world and bigger stakes in regional stability and global economic well-being, China has made many adjustments to its international strategy under the new leadership. If effectively implemented and well understood by other nations, this strategy will not only help achieve the grand “Chinese Dream”, but also boost global peace and development as well as regional stability and integration.
Old Ambition, New Approach: Five Changes to China's International Strategy
The peaceful and inward-focused nature of China's rise was reaffirmed when President Xi put forward China's strategic goal to achieve the “Chinese Dream”, a new name for the century-long ambition for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, on 29 November 2012, only two weeks after he was elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Despite occasional headstrong behaviour since then, China has in general demonstrated a peaceful and constructive stance in the international arena, and domestic reform and development have remained its first and foremost strategic targets.
- Type
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- Information
- Turning Points and TransitionsSelections from Southeast Asian Affairs 1974-2018, pp. 166 - 176Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2018