"The Peaceful Rise" of China: the problem of image and perception in 2000-2019

Overall, it can be seen that the reformation process had resulted in successful establishment of functioning institutions regardless deviation from the widely-accepted recipe for the development, namely the three pillar based Institutional Economics approach, which include liberalization of the market, privatization and property rights provision and security, as well as democratization (Rodrik, 2003). Following from the case in question, it is evident that democratization step was omitted with regard to preservation of the incumbent communist regime, while the other two components were partially implemented, to the degree that procured the maximization of state's comparative advantage. Therefore, it can be inferred that the main driver behind China's miraculous high-speed progress can be attributed to the carefully measured and performed development management strategies, which represents a valuable example of a new pattern, that can be applied by the governments of currently developing countries.

1.2 Participation in international organizations

The following subpart is dedicated to the overview of China's participation in the international organizations during the performance of the reformation. The analysis is aimed at revealing that even though subsequent development had enabled the state to be accepted for membership in core international institutional arrangements, its activities regarded mostly national interests and were characterized as passive by the scholars. The material is of interest as it shows the degree to which international community expressed recognition of China by agreeing to its membership, while beforehand, according to Kent (2007), China was ignored by the key actors as it remained mainly traditional, agrarian state, with poor conditions for institutional development, which considerably limited its actorship and status. Therefore, as the scholar argues the international institutional mechanisms' neglect can be considered another factor pushing the rise and development forward.

Based on this, Kent (2007) introduces a distinction between cooperation through the means of institutions and organizations on the matter of promoting shared values, norms, and the compliance with the mechanisms of regulating world order. Inferring from the results of his case studies, the scholar claims, that establishment and membership in security organizations, counterterrorist and arms-nonproliferation and ban treaties provide the example of the compliance with a certain, mutually binding arrangement. With this regard, the participation in the Conference on Disarmament since 1980s indicates Chinese engagement, first, in the form of compliance with the international regulation, yet, consequently, after successfully adopting the prevailing world norms and tendencies in agenda, China turned into a an active beneficiary and promoter of cooperation on the matter. This is further illustrated with the means of data of China's acceptance to the international formations during 1980s, as the majority of the organizations and institutions is represented by the banks, funds, economic forums on cooperation and development, financial organizations, while evident reluctance towards formation of alliances and participation in military blocks or security organizations (Kent, 2007). The prevalence of the economic organizations is said to be due to liberalization and confirmation with the international standards urgent for conditional participation, therefore resulting from implementation of reforms and exceptional economic growth China had gained ability to push for acceptance.

At the same time, initially, the progress of international recognition has been facilitated by the replacement of ROC in the UN Security Council in 1971, which has been subject to polarization among the members of the UN, resulting in multiple voting against Taiwan-based government exclusion. The positivity toward PRC has been fueled starting from 1960s wave of independence which, as Liu (2014) argues, had changed the proportion of dominating Western democracies members, produced new states, organizing the bargaining in favor of communist China, later joined by European powers with newly established diplomatic representation in the mainland. Consequently, accepted by the voting of the General Assembly, PRC had been legally recognized as the formal representative of the Chinese state, which was further marked by noticeable improvement in the relations between China and the US, as both President Nixon and Mao Zedong had shared concern with regard to the USSR behavior. In addition, being considered as the Soviet ally inferred from the close cooperation in the beginning of the Cold War period, the Sino-Soviet split has allowed to reassess China as an actor and perceive it as a possible contributor to containing the Soviet Union. Therefore, both China's persistence and beneficious structural conditions allowed PRC to start integrating with the system, though succeeded by relative passiveness during 1980s.

During the following years, the substitution had occurred on behalf of membership in core economic institutions, including WB and IMF, which has contributed to the provision of the first loans in 1981, recognizing its legitimacy. Furthermore, highlighting its value as a partner, the state got accepted to the African Development Bank Group institutions, marking the enhancement of China-Africa cooperation on the development and assistance, as well as education and knowledge exchange. On the other hand, the activities on non-economic matters have been regarded as minor. The issue can be illustrated with the means of China's participation in the UN Security Council and resort to its veto power. According to the data provided by the UN General Assembly (2004), since 1971 up to the early 1990s, China has used the veto once with regard to the acceptation of Bangladesh, as during Bangladesh Liberation War China assisted Pakistan as its closest ally. All in all, the China's behavior during the rise has been resembling more the politics of non-involvement. On the other hand, the beginning of 2000s was marked with China's entrance to the WTO in 2001, through which the state has gained the ability to strengthen its linkages to other markets through WTO mechanisms, as well as considerably benefiting from the measures provided based on the status of a developing state, including granting most favored nation (MFN) right and more lenient regulations and tariff barriers.

Chapter 2. Overview of Chinese foreign policy

2.1 Origins of great power status and strategy

The previous chapter illustrates the fact that active persuasion of the rise politics has been especially evident ever since the adoption of the reformative course, however, as it is going to be provided later on, the notion of China's greatness and power has been always intact due to its mighty past and predicted impressive future. Therefore, it is of vital importance to acknowledge the conditions that have actually determined the formulation of the rise strategy and pushed the state toward rapid development that enabled it to revive at least some part of its past glorious status and authoritative power. Scholars and historians agree upon the fact that the origins of the striving the great power status have an extensive history, following from the tributary system and Confucian background.

The tributary system had represented a strict hierarchy, with China on the top of the pyramid. What has been rarely paid enough attention to, however, is that this variation of hegemony was institutionalized and brought into action under the only condition of the vassals paying the tribute in the form of official recognition of China's supreme power. In turn, they were allowed to engage in trade and other economic activities with the Asian Middle Kingdom. At the same time, the social mobility was developed through the system of cultural assimilation, namely through the adoption of Confucian values and legalities, as well as Chinese language, by that inheriting the ideational component and education (Pan and Lo, 2017). What can be seen, is that the system and the existing status quo, was thus established and enhanced through the ideology, rather than by any hard-military methods. In other words, the Chinese hegemony was built upon ideational, moral recognition, rather than power projection on the region. As Beeson (2013) points out, the primacy of China was agreed to and accepted by the vassal states due to the fact that, according to Confucian values, it was considered morally legal, thus automatically legitimized. Therefore, the concept of sovereignty that prevailed in the region following from the established system had been different from the Western from of sovereignty, that implied equality - China had always experienced the supreme status.

According to Pan and Lo (2017), the tributary system was based on six pillars that determined the great power status of China. They were, in particular, Chinese exclusiveness, largest resource endowment in the respective area, constitutionalized normal and legal basis, trade interrelation with the vassals, Chinese inclusivism and the image of a responsible power and patron. The conditions were intact by the formation of the Chinese empire under the leadership of Qin dynasty, that had stretched over the whole Asian region and represented the most powerful actor, which had to be either bandwagoned and being paid respect, or balanced, however due to the provision of economic benefits, developed diplomatic ties and early responsible power politics, Chinese hegemony summoned considerable territories under its rule. Each dynastical rule had been marked by further expansions and acquisitions making the Middle Kingdom the regional center and largest as well as the most powerful actor in the whole Asian region. What can be highlighted, starting from the Tang dynasty in the beginning of the 600s, the state had started to actively pursue great power politics, or rather realpolitik, in active propaganda and installation of Chinese inclusivist morals, based on culture, then technological supremacy, sophisticated language and law system, that were inflicted upon other nations, that is the direct representation of the exercise of �soft power�, but in a Chinese interpretation (Jacques, 2012). Particularly, the obedient assimilation with the Confucian China was met with humanness, while resistance was replied to by coercive measures, both inside the largely heterogeneous state, consisting of various affiliated peoples, and on the borderline.

However, the hegemonic rule had not been always smooth - the empire was attractive to other nations as well as frightening, which consequently had led to the attempts at active balancing on behalf of the Mongols. The leader of the Mongol khaganate Kublai Khan established the rule of the Yuan dynasty over the conquered Middle Kingdom's territories, becoming the first non-ethnical Chinese emperor, whose reign had been associated with one of the most violent periods of state history. Taking upon the previously existing status and procedural authority of the heavenly chosen ruler, khan persisted assertive actions with regard to those who opposed Mongol logic, therefore, both local Han population and inhabitants of the neighboring territories fell under the oppression. The newly united empire showed hospitality toward both Christians and Muslims from all over the continent to promote trade with the Middle Kingdom and simultaneously make other nations of the continent acknowledge the power of China and gain recognition of the hegemonic rule, as the center of the world (Kelly, 2012). The containment of the opposition had resulted in multiple long-term military conflicts with Japan, Korea and Southeast Asian nations, including Sumatra, which drained the conventional military and capital sources, considerably weakening the state. In subsequent years, following the reign of khan's heirs, the empire experienced a regression stage, which has left the mark of both humiliating foreign conquest and a downturn.

The most expressive instance of inglorious past is connected to the Ming emperors, who, on the one hand, managed to restore the graceful Middle Kingdom and eliminated the post effects of the Mongol rule. The period plays a special role for the development of state's ideology in the following centuries all the way to the contemporary political course, as it had been characterized as the phase of both Chinese grace and disgrace. In particular, as Cohen (2007) notices, Ming had facilitated the prosperity of the empire, fostering the stabilization of trade, including the Silk Road ties, that were considerably loosened in the Mongol empire, while actively pursuing the reestablishment of Chinese hegemony in the Asian region, overreaching the past glory and strengthening its status as the most powerful actor. However, at the same time, based on the scholarly research it can be pointed out to the fact that the level of power had a negative correlation with the development of the state - in other words, the more power primacy and authority China acquired, the more level of internal progress diminished, exacerbated during the last Qing dynasty. It can, thus, be concluded, that the consequent �era of shame� under the Westernizers' rule is the direct outcome of the state, being blinded by the amount of power potential and status that it experienced, so that neither external security system, nor the tribute and subordination of the vassal states had provided for the preservation of its hegemony and surrendered to the more developed and sophisticated military and economic capabilities of the European colonizers (Cohen, 2007).

Industrial revolution has empowered Europeans with the steam power, which enabled them to conduct colonial expansions. Late French Indochina and British India were arranged into a mobile and effective conventional force that could be easily deployed, while Chinese technologies remained outdated compared to advanced European ones. Moreover, the tribute system has established a stable coastal security system, that eliminated the risks of an overland attack from the neighboring states, at the same time, the hegemonic power had secured the regional status and authority, especially in the condition of the absent revisionist states with the capability of altering the status quo. Thirdly, the Confucian diplomacy and law morals would not enable any of the Asian states to violate the norms, while the above-mentioned factors proved insufficient to contain foreigners. What is more, as Iriye (1970) claims, exercising power domination, China had attempted to impose its requests on the all trade relations in the region, introducing containment measures on the intruders' economic activities. On its behalf, China has not provided for secure business conditions, including property rights, therefore the ban on the opium sales in southern Guangzhou region in 1839 had marked the beginning of the opium wars and had put the end to the Chinese hegemony in the region changing the distribution of power in favor of the British Empire. A direct descriptive example of the exercise of newly established European power in the East Asian region can be drawn from the treaty of Nanjing that introduced containment conditions on former hegemon, particularly, transfer of rights over Hong Kong to the British empire, as well as establishment of free ports for British residents and trade, according to both Cohen (2007) and Iriye (1970). The following appendices to the treaty had developed a tariff system, dominating the Chinese domestic legislature and deprived the state of the ability to control economic activities on its territories, directly related to the source of state capital, further weakening the state. The scholars, however, including Cohen (2007), insist that the introduction of the MFN principle with regard to Britain had been the most influential of all the treaties, as it granted the same capabilities to Britain as were provided to other states. By this, British merchants had enjoyed the advantages of all Chinese interstate connections, sharing the power over the largest and most resource-rich country in East Asia with other Western actors, which is frequently referred to as "multilateral imperialism" (Iriye, 1970).

By the late 19th century the state was on the verge of being torn into pieces due to the substantial weakening by the European colonizers. It can be seen that by the result of the conflict escalation former hegemon of the Southeast Asian region has lost enormous territories including Taiwan and its sphere of influence on the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, the time when the state was under the direct influence of the foreign governments of the Western states has become known as the �century of humiliation� of the Chinese people. Regardless of the national uprisings and beginning of the national riots, the Qing dynasty government was not able to run any reformation processes due to the considerable resource drain from the country, therefore it provoked the emergence of the national movement, the Boxers (Iriye, 1970). Due to the inability of the dynastical power to exercise any kind of protection against the colonizers the Boxers movement had been considered a new means to fighting back the intruders and reestablishing the authority over the Chinese state, hence, consequently, the official court of Qing dynasty had been expressing support to the patriots. On the other hand, it can be seen that the main instrument of the movement's protest exercise was the brutal force, in particular, it implied the massacre of the foreign residents and people of the Christian religion. As a result, in a span of a few months the colonizers' troops were able to contain the nationalists however various participating countries had different politics and view of the future of the Chinese state, therefore, it had led to the clash among those participating in the �multilateral imperialism�. Consequently when the movement was totally suppressed by the Japanese and Western militaries China was left ruined and had to repay a considerable compensation as a colony that had provoked a national appraisal and an independence movement against the formal ruling states and their power. It can, thus, be seen that the former status of China as a hegemon of the Asian region was totally destroyed and had a direct manifestation in its agreement to the intervention into its domestic affairs and state sovereignty.

According to Cohen's (2007) research, this historical experience had been a driving force for the state government to initiate reforms in order to strengthen the state power, however due to the dynastical ruler's inability to preserve the authority reputation and power of the former middle Kingdom the Qing dynasty was removed by the efforts of the Xinhai revolution of 1911. The newly established Republic of China even though at its weakest form experienced a significant strive for the development and becoming worth of the power that China has enjoyed and exercised up to the 19th century. In other words, regardless of the fact that the government of the state had represented a completely new ideology and vision of political course and strategy, one of the main priorities remained to be the unification of the state and restoration of Chinese actorship in the region.

It can be seen that throughout the period that followed the establishment of ROC the country struggled for the retrieval of the lost territories resulting from the consequences of the foreign intervention, however the measures were bound to only mild results due to the escalation of multiple large-scale military conflicts including the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the World War II and the ongoing Civil War. Thus, according to scholarly opinion, it can be inferred that during the respective moment of considerable weakness of the Chinese state, its government, both the one represented by the Kuomintang party and the subsequent communist government, up until late 1970s were concerned with a more realist policymaking strategy rather than a course based on the ideology and national morality, therefore, it can be concluded that the chosen political path was represented mainly by the realpolitik. This assumption can be explicitly supported by the empirical evidence that shows that during the respective time frame China was not pursuing a Soviet pattern of international behavior that is the enlargement of the communist bloc, containment of the Western ideology spread and agitation of the regional players to follow a pro-Soviet direction, instead the country can be even described as the one focused mainly on the domestic affairs. With regard to the international level, China represented a realist player prioritizing the security issues first, compared to the balance of power matters and distribution of the influence zones.

2.2 Eastphalian peace

Encountering the fact that China has been possessing the status of the great regional and global player ever since the ancient times, the rise strategy is nothing less than the means to attain the lost power status lost for a few centuries. However, the puzzle is in the fact that the perceptions of the rise on behalf of the other key actors lie on the opposite extremes. In case of the regional perspective, the absence of massive open military conflicts involving China either as a direct participant, or as a precedent creator points to the considerable condition of overall peace in the region, opposite to the predicted and logical balancing actions. The issue, thus, can be best assessed with the help of the emerging notion of the Eastphalian peace.

Quite recently it had been noticed that the Asian pattern of the interstate behavior and regionalism can be conceptualized in a model, bearing the title of the �Eastphalian project�. According to Kim (2018), the appearance of this postulation in the discourse and its further investigation and development has been conducted due to several reasons. First of all, throughout the years the Southeast Asian countries have been the recipients of the norms, values, legal principles, and, consequently, the international law system that are the direct product of the efforts of the Western states. In other words, the majority of the treaties and agreements of world-wide importance had been drafted out by the developed countries, as they have appeared victorious in majority of the conflicts, which enabled them to craft the system to their liking and interests. The Westphalian state arrangement following from the peace treaty of 1648 has been a direct embodiment of the primacy of European countries over the others, institutionalizing the nation states sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.

However, as can be noticed from the power politics of states, especially starting from the Cold War period onwards, the Westphalian system would likely be long forgotten due to frequent neglect of its propositions on behalf of the great powers, including the blurring of the state's sovereignty, multiple territorial disputes and interference into the domestic affairs followed by territorial integrity bridging. In this account, the idea of the sovereign nation states is a mere archaism (Fassbender, 2003). After the World War II massive independence and state formation took place, however not all of the cases were successful. Due to the lack of internal governmental basis, political and economic institutions, underdeveloped system of domestic law, some of them either failed or remain subject to national wars up until now - the gained sovereignty resulted in plain independence from the former colonial rule of great empires.

Overall, the old Westphalian system's decay created the opportunity for states to build a new pattern of organization. As seen during last decades the power balance has shifted toward the Asian region highlighting the capability of rising powers to influence the international relations and ability to alter the rules of the game. Therefore, it is logical that power transition theory has been frequently applied to analysis - the theory is especially relevant as it points out both the revisionist tendencies of the states and their capabilities to challenge the current world order (Kugler & Organski, 1989). With regard to the rise of China, the proposed Eastphalian project has been envisaging the idea of the new international pattern of interaction advocated by the leading regional actors being able to insist on the law craft and creation of new norms and values, based on the principles of mutual respect, noninterference, solidarity, unity of interests and, most interestingly, Confucianism. What is more, the concept is not locally oriented, it is proposed for the whole world and, as scholars, including Zhang (2015), state, it can bring the experience of rising Asian states to the solution of contemporary issues, in particular the human rights and security, in the conditions of globalization and interconnectedness and can serve as a new model of regional integration.

As far as the Asian form of diplomacy originates from the century long experience of explicit primacy of Chinese power in the region and, as Beeson (2010) notes, high degree of power personalization and elimination of state boundaries' concept, that is the strict hierarchy with China occupying the hegemonic position and inflicting the idea of peaceful coexistence, the issue has been frequently ascribed to the founding Confucian values and, especially, to the notion of Confucian pacifism. Indeed, the idea of �peace� (��a���) is advocated in ancient Confucian texts referring to peaceful means of conflict resolution, and just reasons for exercise of military power. However, as Zhang (2015) argues, that is the form of Confucianism, conceptualized by liberal Western and Asian scholars, while in reality this form had never existed - the dynastical rule from Qin up to the last Qing dynasty was marked by the total of 3131 military conflicts, including wars of unification, order restoration, open territorial conflicts and national tensions, highlighting the fact that Chinese foreign policy was nonetheless bloody, even though the number of conflicts does not determine the degree of their violence, it distorts the idea of pacifism ascribed to Confucian past (Zhang, 2015). What is more, Confucianism does not explicitly state complete abolition of use of force, instead it states the permission on the conduct of the just, reasonable war, which makes is a probable ideational premise to the Just War theory and principle.

The scholar argues, that in reality the Confucian foreign policy is based on two approaches originating from the human nature theory and strict distinction between the notions of the Chinese people (? �hua�) and the foreigners (�� �yi�) due to the fact that China had been considering itself the Middle Kingdom, the center of the world surrounded by barbarians, the notion of own peoples and others was always strong and intact. Hence, from this follow the two approaches, namely inclusive Confucianism and exclusive (Zhang, 2015). The first one, the inclusiveness is based on cultural, historical, moral assimilation of the neighboring tribes and nations joining China, therefore, this approach is softer and more diplomatic in nature, implying acceptance of the �others� resulting from cultural penetration and treating others with humanness and condescension, giving chances to learn if they defect, rather than straightforwardly punish for disobedience. Exclusive approach, on the other hand is characterized as nationalist and more aggressive, implying the idea of Chinese nation's superiority over the others. These two methods of foreign policy conduct are both based on the behavior and attitude of other states. As Zhang (2015) argues, that in case neighbors themselves act aggressively - China shifts toward more exclusiveness-based policy, in other words, policies of China have always been reactional.

The reason why Confucianism has been attributed to Asian diplomacy is that inclusiveness has been evidently intact in the discourse since the liberalization under Deng Xiaoping's administration and is explicitly encouraged currently by Xi Jinping, promoting peaceful coexistence, win-win relationships with the states across the world, so that to eliminate the �China threat� message and put an emphasis on the absence of any intention to threaten the stability and challenge the status quo. However, while inclusiveness is advocated and present in the discourse, the actual Confucian foreign policy remains reactional and determined by the actions of others - in case of an antagonistic perception of the rise and attempts at balancing China shifts toward exclusive approach and assertive strengthening of its position.

2.3 Policies toward regional neighbors: case studies

As seen from the previous chapters, it is clear that the policy of China towards the regional inhabitants is implied to be different compared to the case of outer region political strategies and interactions with other powerful actors on the global arena. Therefore, we can argue that the policy inside the East Asian region represents a regionalism scheme that is built upon historical background that extends throughout the centuries and has a direct embodiment in the form of the Eastphalian peace. In other words, as it can be seen even though the contemporary power status of the Chinese state both inside the respective region and on the global scale provokes various sentiments from other actors, especially the cases which are going to be analyzed thoroughly further on, overall China is not likely to exercise oppressive policies and represent a hegemony in its most classical terms meaning the supremacy over other players. Contrary, China has been actively reviving and pursuing the course of the responsible great power (RGP) rather than oppressive dominator. Hence, in the following chapter we represent the case studies of the most vivid examples of China's interactions with other actors inside the region namely the interrelations with India and the ASEAN.

2.3.1 China-India relations

The period of 2000-2019 poses a considerable interest for the studying as far as the relations between the two world fastest growing economies have experienced several key processes that should be reflected upon. The common geopolitical agenda and historical past, as well as progressive economic ties mark the exceptional dynamics between the two and constitute for the substantial part of the regional political and economic conditions. According to Bajpai, Ho and Miller (2020) the bilateral relations between China and India have to be analyzed as subject to the multiple factors, which preclude the possibility of a future escalation of the military conflict, especially with regard to the territorial disputes, at the same time bilateral trade comprises a substantial part of import-export for both actors, therefore, the majority of scholars agrees upon the fact that open hard-power conflict would be unpreferable. For the paper, the case of India is of particular importance as it represents another powerful regional player, whose perception of the rise of China is as follows.

India had been one of the first states to recognize PRC in 1949, which on the basis of common, especially economic, interests have made them potential companions: on Bandung Conference 1955 they have agreed on Asia-African development and solidarity principle governing mutual progression of rising states in both regions, underlining one of the contemporary directions of Indian and Chinese foreign policy goals, as well as establishing a stumbling-block resulting from the clash on the distribution of spheres of influence in Africa (Li, 2010). The war of 1962 was lost in favor of China, which left India striving for revenge, which has been embodied in the differing paths of economic advancement, perception of the colonial past and freedom of media, which generally makes China-India relations an example of a rational account, rather than brotherhood. At the same time, as scholars argue, the shared status of developing states gives the opportunity for the collaboration on the grounds of mutually beneficial disposition in the international economic institutions, particularly, WTO and IMF, forming issue-based coalitions and representing the voice of the developing states, enabling them to advocate for their interests on the matters of climate issues, financial reforms, international trade regulations (Panda, 2016; Li, 2010). All in all, as can be seen from the researches, China-India relations remain pragmatic, rapprochement from both sides is likely to take place only in the win-win conditions.

Panda (2016) highlights that even though a profound positive shift has not yet taken place, the relations have gradually improved since 1960s, especially seen from the meetings of the official representatives in 2014-2015, however, beside the interaction in the BRICS, SCO, APEC and other forums and platforms, China and India constitute simultaneously each other's closest partners and rivals, therefore, this communication is considered to be crucial for the whole Asian region. Along the same lines, Dahlman (2011) argues that the China-India relationship has been shaped by the realities of the contemporary multipolarity, therefore the sustained development represents the result of the structural constraints - both states are pressured by the aura of balancing on behalf of the other poles, while clashing over energy and water supplies.

The value of relations with India had been assessed in China primarily based on three main factors, Li (2010) argues. Firstly, the rise of Indian power globally and regionally could not be denied, the process represents a significant potential for cooperation and facilitation of mutual development based on the shared strive for advancement, thus, similar goals. At the same time, due to the exceptional Indian diplomacy approach and active interrelation with other actors through international organizations and forums, India represented a model of more open inclusiveness, compared to relative Chinese exclusiveness, which backed by the support of allies, including the US, had made India a considerably powerful regional player. Therefore, the China-India relations have been of particular importance in terms of both cooperation and Chinese national security measures. Secondly, the scholar claims that both states have experienced the same trends of rising ethnic separatist sentiments, hence, adding importance to the promotion and enhancement of the principles of the UN Charter considering the sovereignty and territorial integrity, in order to prevent foreign intervention and interference with the domestic affairs in case of an internal ethnic uprisings. Thirdly, aligning on the economic issues enabled India and China to represent the two most powerful rising economies strengthening their voting and decisive power.

By the beginning of 2000s, several conditions were considered to be obstacles for the China-India cooperation growth. Particularly, Chinese government was set aback by India's nuclear weapons tests, implementing its long interest for the obtaining the status of a nuclear power, however, the visit of India's President to China in 2000 made a positive discourse reappear. The long-lasting tension over the Tibet region was partially resolved by 2003 when India on its behalf recognized the Tibetan Autonomous Region part of PRC, and together with China drafted out the core principles of bilateral relations and cooperation, while China de facto recognized Indian authority over Sikkim (Panda, 2016). Furthermore, in 2005 the states have established the strategic partnership on peace and prosperity in order to prevent escalation of confrontation and strengthening the positive tendency toward economic ties. During the same year, several rounds of talks on the strategic measures to confidence building were successfully conducted. By 2006 China and India issued the Ten-pronged strategy to enhancement of the mutual ties, which underlined the expected rise in the threshold of trade volumes by 2010, as well as strengthening the partnership on the joint regional defense measures, mutual cultural exchange, social mobility through the borders, and, more importantly, the collaboration on the tripartite talks with Russia, counterterrorism, technological exchange, and implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the matter of oil and gas resources (Li, 2010). Due to the fact that the development of both states happens simultaneously, they have to engage in the competition for resources, namely the oil and gas rich countries, including Bangladesh and Myanmar in the neighbourhood, Iran in the Middle East and Russia, while the two pursue active penetration to the African region for the high-scale manufacturing (Pant, 2012).

According to A. P. Venkateswaran, former ambassador to China, India has favored independence from the balance of power ever since decolonization, resulting in pioneering the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). As the official notices, even though China has failed to comply to the principles of the NAM by resorting to military force for the solution of the territorial disputes, China remains one of the crucial partners (Gaur, 2011). On behalf of India, the rise in its economic and political capabilities admittedly constitutes a potential for challenging China in the Southeast Asia, which makes the cooperation the sought behavior for the win-win relations, notes former ambassador Gupta in the responses given to the Foreign policy Research Center Journal (2011). However, on the other hand, the official highlights the role of the India-US interaction: the US presence in the Asian Pacific has been indicating the region as one of the US spheres of interest since the World War II, therefore, the rising China has been representing a vivid possibility of a threat for the US influence, including the comparative decline of its global hegemony. Thus, Gupta underlines that alliance with another potentially rising state, such as India, can be considered a strategic action to secure the US presence through the ties with the number of Pacific states. Similarly, for Indian �Look East policy� dimension US assistance is beneficial for its greater inclusion and integration with the regional dynamics, yet, in the official discourse it has been emphasized that this cooperation is not intended to be forced against any of the states and attempt to trap them in a security dilemma. Instead, Gupta claims that endorsed China-threat argumentation has been artificially created and inflicted upon the Indian politics, which considerably constraints its policy options pushing in the directions of the security and defense focus, while the actual threat has not been ever present.

On the other hand, it can be seen that some of the Chinese policies have indeed been rising ambiguities in the their intentions due to the fact that during the period of 2000-2019 the state has been pursuing not only economic but also military and security arrangements in the Southeast Asian region to create a space for its power projection and market (Pant, 2012). Particularly, Pant (2012) argues that Chinese development is considerably dependent on the resources, therefore the energy security is going to be the main Chinese foreign policy objective, and with the level of development the complexity of the military and defense mechanisms are also progressing, which indicates that the military advancements can be potentially used for the securitization of the resource supplies. The scholar draws the inference form the China's strive to build the ports in neighboring Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to get the presence in the Indian Ocean, which represents its Maritime Silk Road initiative that ignores Indian territories and expels it from participation. In turn, India proceeds with its own initiatives on naval building and maritime diplomacy, for instance the 2008 India-Myanmar agreement on transportation with the means of Kaladan river, military testing near the Malacca strait, getting presence in the South China Sea, which are considered the means of deterrence (Pant, 2012).

However, several long-lasting territorial disputes remain unresolved, with regard to the Himalayan border line and the Western sector, which includes the Aksai Chin region, and the Eastern Sector with the Arunachal Pradesh. The first is considered geopolitically strategic as the Chinese national highway runs through the territory connecting the Tibetan region with the Xinjiang province, while the second, referred to as �South Tibet� has been claimed by China opposing the Simla Accord of 1914 as, to China, the decision on India-China borders could not be signed by Tibet being part of Chinese state, thus making the McMahon line border void. The issue got more complicated, when the British government stated that the agreement is valid and China's suzerainty over Tibet is intact as of 2008. Indian claim over territory of the Arunachal Pradesh have been backed by the fact that the area is inhabited by substantial Indian population and contains Buddhist heritage sites. Furthermore, Chinese occupation of the Shaksgam valley close to the Aksai Chin represents an obstacle to dialogue, as the territory is subject to India-Pakistan Kashmir-related dispute (Panda, 2016). Thus, the territorial clashes, though experiencing slow evolvement, stem from the historical practice of multiple coastal routes, which blurred then non-defined borderline, as acknowledged by the two sides, hence, not likely to escalate into a real open conflict.

At the same time, the researches highlight the importance of official government rhetoric as an important factor influencing the development of the relations. For instance, Panda (2016) draws on the issue of Indian President articulating the Indian intact right over Arunachal Pradesh during his visit in 2013, which provoked active opposition both in Chinese media and party. Another illustrative instance from the 2017 Doklam standoff marks an important point in states' perceptions of each other's actions. On its behalf, China resumed road construction in China-Bhutan disputed territory arguing that the officials of Bhutan had been notified. Yet, as far as Bhutan is in close alliance with India, to Indian officials it constituted both security threat and violation of the tripartite agreement on the status quo. According to Jia (2019), after around two months, the standoff was alleviated, and states reached the consensus on the matter.

All in all, it can be seen that China-India relations represent an exceptional case due to the fact that prior to the 2000s, the relations were driven mostly in the neo-realist direction, as the two rising powers have found themselves in a position involving resource hunt and opposite alliances of the Cold War period. However, starting from the early 2000s, the leaders of the states have started rapprochement politics, beginning with Singh-Hu dialogue on cooperation, which was further developed by Modi and Xi, underlining the necessity of mutually beneficial ties and interaction based on the common goals and needs as powerful regional players and rising powers. Therefore, even though the realist paradigm remains present in India-China relations and territorial disputed intact, the governing principles tend to shift in favor of cooperation and elimination of the archaic China-threat rhetoric from the discourse (Panda, 2016).

2.3.2 Cooperation with ASEAN

The China-ASEAN partnership has started in the beginning of 2000s with a set of agreements in the spheres of free trade and economic corporation, particularly ASEAN-China Comprehensive Economic Cooperation agreement (2002), Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Dispute Settlement Mechanism (2004), etc. According to the scholarly research, it can be inferred that the progress in the relationships between China and other Southeast Asian actors symbolize the fact that both parties acknowledge the importance of regional integration and interconnectedness due to the exceptional economic status of China both inside the region and globally, therefore, the partnership is considerably beneficial. It can be seen that the signed free trade agreements represent the first documents of their kind to be signed on behalf of both ASEAN members and China providing the necessary framework for the establishment and institutionalization of multiple bilateral and multilateral agreements in the future (Simon & Goh, 2007). As scholars argue, these institutions reflect the fact that the China-threat theory is more applicable in cases of Western states while inside the region the situation is different: the actors seek cooperation both on the basis of historical path dependence and contemporary economic advantages.

Due to the fact that the ASEAN members by the respective period consisted of mainly liberal economies, the politics of openness in foreign direct investments attraction had been actively pursued ever since 1960s, which made them destination of considerable portions of foreign capital, according to Beeson (2013). However, regardless of the FDI flows not all the participants had been having the potential to develop equally which resulted in significant fragmentation between the states such as Singapore and Myanmar. In other words, the coalition had produced both the examples of Asian Tigers economies and states in the process of development. Taking these into the account, economic partnership with China represents an ability for the developing states to catch up with the developed ones and experience the effects of the Asian miracle. During the Asian economic crisis of 1997 both ASEAN members and China were suffering a severe economic downturn, however China was able to revive in a considerably short term with the help of investments, which was, as some argued, with the loss on behalf of the regional inhabitants. At the same time, actively pursued Chinese course oriented toward the development of the regional partnership and marketing, the state had been investing in the rising powers of Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, contributing to their advancements.

During the liberalization reforms one of the developments oriented toward cancellation of the China-threat argument was the redistribution of the state budget in favor of diplomacy, economic ties and regional communication, and considerable reduction of military expenditures. The openness policy has pushed China toward multilateral approach to regionalization, which was not pursued by Mao, as scholars claim (Simon & Goh, 2007). According to Beeson (2013) the creation of common economic space among the ASEAN states considerably facilitated the economic conditions of the members, simultaneously, integration with the Asian Tigers, particularly, South Korea and Taiwan, has created a powerful alliance which helped to overcome mutual hostilities based on historical experience, as well as prevent the escalation of new conflicts in the area by incorporating China to the ASEAN+3 to hedge against the risks of Chinese market expansion and cannibalization, while at the same time strengthening bilateral relations with the US and among themselves to provide for the common security agenda.

2.4 Outside region politics: case of Africa

The Chinese strategic actions in the African region have been provoking various sentiments and debate among scholars and political economists on whether the policies have proven to become more assertive and involve power projection on the region by the means of economic patronage, which might be considered a significant shift from the peaceful rise course. China's interaction with Africa is based on three main instruments, as Guerrero, Manji and Manji (2008) notice, which are namely the FDI flows, aid and trade. The scholars take the position, claiming that the Chinese investments constitute a considerably small percentage of the investments into Africa, compared to other Asian and Western states, therefore, the arguments about the Chinese sphere of influence rest upon not convincing empirical evidence (approximately 5% of global FDI to Africa, according to Brautigam, Xiaoyang, and Xia (2018) report). What is more, the scholars argue that compared to the Western actors, the degree of Chinese interference remains low-scale and does not have a historical experience of enslavement and colonization, therefore, regardless of the similar goals of opening markets and conduct cheap product manufacturing, the character of China-Africa relations are different in several key dimensions.

According to the scholarly research, the two biggest rival economies of the US and China constitute the problem of overproduction, as ever since the 1980s reforms, China had first been the destination of significant FDI flows of Japanese and American TNCs due to the opening-up policy, however, soon the enterprises shifted to the strategy of transforming China into the field of cheap production with the use of its abundant labor resources and large-scale productive capabilities, investing in the form of technological advancements and plants, rather than capital (Bello in Guerrero, Manji and Manji , 2008). Through these created ties of interaction, the US has gradually become one of the main consumers of the Chinese exports, however, the capacities of the American domestic markets are limited, the scholar highlights, therefore together the two state create the oversupply conditions. Hence, the strive for the increased sales in new markets is one of the top economic priorities for the Chinese state, as the scales of production are impossible to be diminished.