China's Rediscovery of Southeast Asia
Part of IERES' Visiting Scholars Roundtable
At the beginning of the 1980s, as China sought to overcome Cold War structures, it found that it knew little about the real Southeast Asia, one of its nearest neighbors. The countries in that region were mostly focused on their own region, developing economically, suffering from political and economic divisions, and seeking to keep both superpowers and China at a distance. Focusing on Southeast Asia marked a break for China's foreign policy. Thus a change in thinking emerged, which laid the basis for China's post-Cold War policy towards the area.
Yanan Li is a Ph.D. candidate in diplomacy at the School of International Studies at Peking University in China. She is currently conducting research on China's foreign policy toward Southeast Asia during the late Cold War. Her areas of interest also include China's foreign relations and Chinese foreign policy decision-making.
Please RSVP at http://go.gwu.edu/li