ABSTRACT
China’s institutionalised and noninstitutionalised engagement with surrounding Asian regions is the subject of the following two sections. China’s engagement with Southeast and Central Asia and with Northeast and South Asia are analysed in tandem so as to highlight common patterns in the articulation of its regional policy, but contrasted so as to ensure that differences in approach are understood. The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 heralded the emergence of a major communist power in Asia. The ideological basis of the PRC guaranteed a worldview predicated on socialism’s struggle against capitalism. Union was reflective of the political and strategic alliances in the territories surrounding China. While these agreements could be dismissed as simply political statements with relatively little impact on regional governance or norms, it is necessary to consider the nature of some of the more recent agreements.
