Chinese Regionalism in Asia: Beyond the Belt-Road Initiative

With globalization on the wane in a world fractured by growing great power competition, Hoo and Mckinney argue that regionalism is likely to re-emerge as a focal area of significance and interest in the coming years. In Asia, how its regionalism evolves is inescapably linked to China’s part in this story.

Hoo, Mckinney and their contributors will help readers better understand regionalism as it is approached, conceived and practiced by China. Looking past the conventional attention on the Belt-Road Initiative, the contributors examine the evolving perspectives on regionalism within China, the forms in which this regionalism has taken, and the implications for the strategic order in Asia. This includes a focus on newer architecture such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); lesser-known mechanisms such as the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC); and more traditional ones such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

A valuable resource for scholars and students of China’s foreign relations, and of Asian regionalism and strategic order.