China Begins to Articulate Its Asian Regional International Political and Security Plans

On 24–25 October, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee held a work forum on diplomacy to the periphery (zhoubian), i.e., the land and maritime regions adjacent to China. Central authorities last held a similar event in 2006, when then-CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao presided over a diplomacy work meeting. In the taxonomy of CCP official gatherings, work forums (zuotan) differ from work meetings (huiyi) in that the former tend to be smaller in attendance, shorter in duration, less structured events focused on a more specialized topic. This forum followed a number of important Politburo study sessions aimed at refining China’s diplomatic strategy. In January, the Politburo held a study session on China’s overall diplomacy (Xinhua, January 29). In July, the Politburo held a study session on maritime strategy topics (Xinhua, July 31).

PRC recognition of key long-term changes in the global economy and the international security environment, as well as of the region’s growing strategic importance, underpin the rationale for holding the work forum. As many analysts have noted, Asia is expected to expand its share of global GDP for years to come. Many economists predict that China’s economy will become the world’s largest in coming decades. Asia’s intraregional trade is also expected to continue to grow at a relatively high rate. Reflecting these developments, China and ASEAN recently announced that both hope to double this year’s trade volume to US $1 trillion by 2020 (Xinhua, October 9). At the periphery diplomacy forum, Xi hinted at such “great changes” when describing regional trends. He also cited geographic proximity, natural environment, political relations, and robust economic and trade as reasons for the “extreme strategic importance” of China’s periphery.

PRC leaders have explained that consolidation of China’s influence throughout Asia is essential for the country’s rise as a great power. Xi noted that the “strategic objective” of diplomatic ties to the periphery is intended to “serve and support” the CCP desired end state of “national rejuvenation” by mid-century. This requires developing “comprehensive relations” with regional powers and “consolidating friendly relations.” This guidance builds on the 18th Party Congress Work Report, which similarly called for efforts to “consolidate” (gongu) relations with the periphery (See China Brief, Vol. 12, Issue 23). As a consequence, Beijing appears to have elevated the importance of diplomatic relations with the region. Foreign Minister Wang Yi explained that relations with countries on China’s periphery had become the “priority direction” (youxian fangxiang) for foreign policy

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