ABSTRACT
One of the defining features of Chinese foreign policy over the past decade has been the country’s increased participation in multilateralism, a remarkable development given Beijing’s longstanding skepticism of – and, at times, hostility toward – institutionalized forms of international cooperation (Medeiros and Fravel 2003; Wang 2005).1 While Chinese activity in global-level multilateralism is now well documented, fewer studies have focused on the increasingly important regional dimension of Chinese multilateralism. For example, although China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has received detailed attention from policy makers, scholars, and journalists, Beijing’s growing participation in the emerging economic regionalism of East Asia remains a lessstudied phenomenon. This chapter attempts to complement the existing literature by examining how Beijing has sought to use regionalism in managing various foreign policy challenges, including challenges associated with globalization.
