China’s Relations with Asia

Abstract No region in the world is more important to China than Asia. The future of China’s diplomacy in the potentially volatile region of East Asia will involve a series of interrelated challenges. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Beijing did well to manage these challenges, but entering the second decade its diplomacy has stumbled as its relations with several key players—most notably Japan, South Korea, and the United States—have all encountered new strains. China’s position in Southeast Asia is also mixed—it has cultivated a few client states (Cambodia and Myanmar), but its relations with the majority of Southeast Asian countries is mixed. Its position among the main southwest Pacific nations—Australia and New Zealand—is also mixed and strained. Similarly, Beijing has also encountered difficult relations with India and other South Asian states.