China’s Project for Greater Eurasia

Abstract

The Chinese dream of great Rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is inseparable from the restoration of China's positions on the international arena, primarily in East Asia and in Eurasia. Since the beginning of reforms in 1978, Beijing has constantly expanded its contacts with the outside world, at first as a promising and capacious market for industrial equipment, technologies and investment, and since the beginning of the 21st century as an active member of the global governance institutions. Multilateral formats have allowed China to accumulate significant experience in participating in international affairs, especially at the regional level. At the global level, China's activity was constrained not only by opposition from the United States, but also by the specific character of Chinese civilization and its development model. In this context, the concept of "community of the common destiny of mankind" put forward by Xi Jinping did not mean universalization and unification, but, on the contrary, the right of countries and regions to a variety of development paths and forms of international interaction between small, medium and great powers. The rivalry between China and the United States in Asia does not only mean a struggle for leadership in the region, it also means a clash of two concepts of the international order, built on different approaches and values. The Belt and Road project, originally proposed as two regional, unrelated initiatives for Central and South-East Asia, has evolved after their combination into China's first global foreign policy strategy. Its practical implementation challenges Russia's integration efforts in the post-Soviet space and requires both countries to search for new tools and forms of interaction.