Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Read an Excerpt: “China’s Strategic Foreign Initiatives Under Xi Jinping: An ASEAN Perspective”

Details

Professor Aileen Baviera of the UP Asian Center recently published her article, “China’s Strategic Foreign Initiatives Under Xi Jinping: An ASEAN Perspective” in the China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies (Vol. 2, No. 1, 2016). Below is a snippet of her article:

“This article attempts to understand China’s new strategic initiatives in foreign relations under Xi Jinping, and their implications for ASEAN. It argues that collectively, these initiatives describe a new regional and global order that China aspires toward—one where it is able to promote and protect worldwide economic interests, play a leading role in a regional hierarchy, enjoy the respect of other big powers and deference by smaller ones, and maximize the benefits of power and new-found wealth to retrieve its rightful place in the world and therefore finally put the narrative and the burden of the “Hundred Years of Humiliation” behind it

The greatest obstacle to this vision is not that other countries find it difficult to accept it; it is the fact that China is also still trying to defend primordial territorial and cultural-ideational interests, settle historical scores, and find effective paths for its domestic politics and governance that will serve its increasingly globalized economy. In this regard its leaders have shown little inclination to make the compromises and sacrifices that lasting regional leadership entails. In the perceptions of some countries in its immediate neighborhood, China offers one open hand of cooperation and at the same time a fist ready to pound. In response, these countries offer one arm ready to embrace and one poised to fend off unwanted advances. This is the basic contradiction that Xi Jinping’s new strategic initiatives will need to overcome if they are to succeed.”

The China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies (CQISS) is the journal published by the Shanghai Institute of International Studies. The CQISS features articles that “focuses on, though is not confined to, strategic issues related to China's role in global affairs.”

Dr. Aileen SP. Baviera is Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. She specializes on and writes about contemporary China studies, China-Southeast Asia relations, Asia-Pacific security, territorial and maritime disputes, and regional integration. The editor in chief of the journal, "Asian Politics & Policy," she is the author of many academic publications, including the "The Domestic Mediations of China's Influence in the Philippines," which will appear in Rising China's Influence in Developing Asia, edited by Evelyn Goh and published by Oxford University Press. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman. VIEW FULL PROFILE.

The UP Asian Center offers M.A. programs in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. Get an overview of these programs. The Asian Center also houses a peer-reviewed, open-access journal, Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia. It has published several books and monographs, and hosts or organizes various lectures and conferences.