ABSTRACT
One salient feature of Chinese diplomacy in recent decades has been its increasing embrace of multilateralism in foreign policy. The traditional approach to studying China’s multilateral diplomacy, however, has tended to focus on the geopolitical and instrumental motivations and considerations behind Beijing’s regional multilateralism. In this chapter we will explore the issue from the perspective of relational theory and integrative Social Network Analysis (SNA) through two case studies: Central Asia and Southeast Asia. We argue that China’s multilateral and regional diplomacy can be understood more fully by focusing on its multilayered and multifaceted networking and its social interactions with neighboring countries in which China’s identity, interests, and norms are shaped and being shaped.
