China and Multilateralism From Estrangement to Competition

This book thoroughly analyzes China’s political ideas regarding the international order and their reflection in China’s engagement in multilateralism. It introduces the debates and discussions that take place among Chinese intellectuals in the study of international relations as an important part of non-western international relation theories, generating reflections on the convergences and divergences between China’s political ideas and Europe-centric perspectives. With a focus specifically on China’s main bilateral and multilateral relations in its principal regions of interest– East Asia and Central Asia –the bookalso examines China’s relationship with the United States, Russia, and the European Union, and the One Belt One Road initiative drawing on a mixture of primary and secondary Chinese language sources, extensive interviews with Chinese officials, academics, and think tanks. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of Chinese politics/studies, foreign policy analysis, Asian studies, and international relations.

1. Introduction 2. China’s Multilateralism: A Challenge to the Existing Theoretical Legacy 3. China’s Engagementin Multilateralism 4. The Development of Multilateral Institutions and Regionalism 5. Conclusion

Yuan Feng isa Researcher at the Institut des études Européennes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. She is also the General Secretary of EU-CHINA People to People Association.