ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes Xi Jinping's economic statecraft during his initial term from 2012 to 2017. Xi Jinping's economic statecraft is largely a synthesis of the developmentalist and Marxist approaches, combined with China's classic Confucian philosophy. To a large extent, it melds the approaches of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Compared to Hu Jintao, Xi appears much more at ease on the international stage. His diplomatic approach has been significantly more active than Hu's. Xi's first term witnessed high-profile economic statecraft, exemplified by numerous ambitious projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with the USA and the EU, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Xi is the first Chinese leader since Mao Zedong to actively seek to transform China's accumulated national wealth into a prominent position on the world stage.
