ABSTRACT
This chapter presents PRC’s foreign policy in the WANA that intends to balance several objectives that may sometimes be in conflict or tension. This policy includes maintaining mutual respect between China and each regional state, maintaining a peaceful and stable international environment to advance China’s modernization, maintaining a peaceful setting in the WANA, and avoiding a major confrontation with the West. Moreover, the WANA region represents four significant priorities for China’s foreign policy: Energy security, a crucial part of China’s new Silk Road grand strategy, an arena of great-power competition, and concerns regarding the spread of terrorism and extremist ideology from the region and its impact on Uighur separatism. While the West tends to perceive the WANA region as a hotspot of geopolitical challenges, PRC sees it as a land of untapped opportunity. The new Silk Road grand strategy offers a viable and attractive developmental alternative, requiring the regions to undergo democratization or Westernization. More importantly, the BRI vision is positive for the WANA and consistent with the status quo.
