China’s new foreign policy strategy and Russia’s concerns

The recent trends in Beijing’s foreign policy have become a broadly discussed topic throughout the world. China’s economic success over the last ten years has led Beijing to take a more assertive approach to China’s relationship with the outside world. This shift has manifested itself in a more hard-line approach to China’s relationship with her partners, less inclination toward compromise, and a tendency to respond to the external pressure with more pressure, to the external bumps with harder bumps. The new assertiveness of China can be understood. After all, it is merely the natural urge of a new, large, and successful regime to actively pursue its interests. At the same time, it is true that the successful economic development of the last ten years has led to the growth of nationalism among the elite. If the nationalist tendency prevails in the Chinese foreign policy, China’s neighbors, including Russia, will have to do some serious rethinking of their approach to the growing giant.