On The Status Of South - East Asia In China's Foreign Strategy

The process of reform and opening up of China over the thirty years has promoted the advancement of rapid increases in China's strength, thus China is playing an increasingly important role in the international society. As an ancient country with a long history of civilization, China's strategy of foreign policy has also evolved from ancient times to current times. The end of cold war changed the international society a lot. China's foreign strategy will be confronted with many new obstacles and challenges with changes and developments of the world after the Cold War.Therefore,China's foreign strategy in the future will have to continue adjusting to the new international environment. As a rising power, if China wants to become a great power in the world , she must firstly become a regionally great power.Southeast Asia, a neighboring region near to China, had exchanged with China for more than two thousand years .During the two thousand years, Southeast Asia have played a necessary role in China's foreign strategy.Today,Southeast Asia is an important strategic area for China's peaceful development,moreover, the status of Southeast Asia in China's foreign policy has gradually been improved after the new general pattern of China's foreign policy----'great power is the key, the surrounding is the most important, developing countries is the foundation ,the multilateral diplomacy is the arena'formed. The status of Southeast Asia in China's foreign strategy can be reflected mainly from the geopolitical, economic, social and cultural dimensions. Taking history as the starting point ,the author divides the development course of relations between China and Southeast Asia into the tributary system,the colonial system and the democratic international system after the founding of new China through analyses of theories of geopolitical economy, international system, national interest, regionalism, and other theories of international relations in this paper. At the same time,by reviewing the history of relations between China and Southeast Asia under the three systems, the author considers the changes of regional order and national interest and so on as independent variables, the changes of the status of Southeast Asia in China's foreign strategy as the dependent variables in order to analyze characteristics of relations between China and Southeast Asia and elaborate the different status of Southeast Asia in China's foreign strategy under the three different international systems .Under the tributary system, China contacted with Southeast Asia mainly through Tribute Trade ,and Southeast Asia was considered as the peripheral zone to maintain the dignity and national security of the ancient Chinese dynasty ; Under the colonial system, Southeast Asia was considered as an jointly anti-colonial areas for China ; During the Cold War, relations between China and Southeast Asia were severely constrained by ideology; After the Cold War, Southeast Asia is considered as a zone China's strategy of peaceful rise based on. The purpose of this paper is to sum up the pros and cons of China's experience in contacting with Southeast Asia through combing through historical changes .Then the author prospects China's future strategic framework for Southeast Asia from the political, economic, and cultural dimensions. The innovative point of this paper is discussing the status of Southeast Asia in China's foreign strategy from a long historical period and strategic perspective.