Jeju Peace Institute

LEE Seon-jin(Professor, SIEAS/ Former ROK Ambassador to Indonesia)

Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China is changing its diplomatic strategies, which traditionally have placed emphasis on rivalry with the United States and Japan in East Asia. President Xi has said that China will turn its attention toward Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia to enhance the country’s regional economic cooperation and extend its influence in these regions (the Silk Road Plan) while voicing its opinions about various regional security issues. The General Secretary’s “Diplomatic Strategies for Neighboring Countries,” which he has said will be promoted over the next five to ten years along with his Silk Road Plan, a specific means of implementing his diplomatic strategies, imply structural changes for the Korean peninsula, East Asia, and Sino-American relations.

Specifically, the Silk Road Plan is characterized by the following:

First, Xi Jinping was heavily involved in the plan himself from the stage of proposition to discussion and laid it out as the direction of the country’s diplomacy for the next five to ten years. Second, apart from its traditional diplomatic framework centered on competition with the United States in East Asia, China is committed to expanding its diplomatic horizons while seeking balanced national development and the development of new engines for growth. Third, the plan is action-oriented, which is a most prominent feature of the country’s new approach to ASEAN.

The Silk Road Plan is equivalent to the country’s action plan in the economic field among Xi Jinping’s three diplomatic axes Economy, National Security and Public Diplomacy and is expected to play the role of a trailblazer for Xi’s diplomatic initiatives for a country gearing up to emerge as a global superpower.