ABSTRACT
In addition to examining Sino-American relations, the most visible evidence of the dramatic changes which have taken place in Beijing’s foreign policy development since the start of the reform era has been the relationship between China and its immediate neighbours in East and Southeast Asia as well as in the greater Pacific Ocean region. Obviously, China has a strong desire to protect its “national territory”; losing the imperial capital is the worst outcome, and signing unfavourable treaties under duress is the greatest shame. In Southeast Asia, there are also differences among governments regarding the significance to the region of China’s rise. In the wake of the Tiananmen Incident in June 1989, the then-Chinese government of Jiang Zemin placed a priority on relations with Asian neighbours via a series of foreign policy initiatives which came to be known as “peripheral” diplomacy.
