INTERPRETING CHINA’s STRATEGIC DISCOURSE: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND APPROACHES OF THE SILK ROAD ECONOMIC BELT (SREB)

Abstract

China’s SREB is a geo-strategic program that has been initiated based on Beijing’s judgment on its international and domestic environment. Building the SREB program servers the China grand strategy and satisfies the national demands. The Chinese government declared the ‘community with a shared future for Mankind’ is a national grand strategy and the guiding slogan of its foreign policy. This article interprets China’s governmental discourse on the guiding slogan and Chinese academic efforts to justify the grand strategy. From the Chinese perspective, the construction of the SREB needs to adopt omnidirectional diplomacy, which includes dealing with its relations with great powers, with neighboring nations, and building regional regimes and mechanisms. China’s grand strategy and three approaches sound ideal to some extent, but they demonstrate Chinese real concerns and ideas. In the long-term future, Russia will become more and more significant for China’s SREB program and the grand strategy as a whole.