Jean-Pierre Cabestan | China's New Foreign Policy Priorities

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, ''China's New Foreign Policy Priorities'' Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa, October 7, 2015. Since Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, China’s foreign and security policy has become more assertive by the day. Aiming to turn China into a global leader and full-fledged naval power, the new Chinese leadership is clearly prepared to take more risks in order to challenge the U.S. domination of the Western Pacific and return “Asia to the Asians”. Simultaneously, the Xi administration has become more active on the world stage, trying to appear not only as a challenger to the status quo but also a builder of new international norms. As its economic growth slows and its reform plan faces fresh challenges, can China deliver as much as it has promised? Can it really reshape the world economic order, lead the reorganisation of Asia’s diplomatic and security order, and replace the U.S. as the hegemon of East Asia and the Western Pacific? Are the U.S. and its Asian allies (particularly Japan) ready to let this happen? Is Obama’s ‘rebalancing’ strategy an appropriate response to China’s new ambitions? And what other actors can contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the region? Jean-Pierre Cabestan is Professor and Head of the Department of Government and International Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also Director General of the European Union Academic Programme in Hong Kong, as well as associate researcher at the Asia Centre, Paris and at the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China in Hong Kong. His most recent books include La politique internationale de la Chine. Entre intégration et volonté de puissance; China and the Global Financial Crisis. A Comparison with Europe (co-edited with Jean-François Di Meglio & Xavier Richet); Secessionism and Separatism in Europe and Asia. To have a state of one’s own (co-edited with Aleksandar Pavkovic); Le système politique chinois. Un nouvel équilibre autoritaire; and Political Changes in Taiwan Under Ma Ying-jeou. Partisan Conflict, Policy Choices, External Constraints and Security Challenges (co-edited with Jacques deLisle).