| Abstract: | The acceptance and promotion of partnerships among major countries reflect an attempt on the part of China to re-define its position in the new international strategic pattern. They also reveal a strategic idea offered by China in the post-Cold War era in which it is emerging as a major power. The key questions are as follows. (a) What are the contents of such partnerships among major powers? (b) What are the differences between this partnership model among major powers and the Chinese foreign policy of independence and peace in the 1980s? (c) What are the motivations behind China's promotion of this model of partnerships among major powers? (d) Does the new model of partnerships among the major powers provide an important innovation in the management of relations among the major powers in the coming century? This article attempts to answer these questions so as to better understand China's international strategic behaviour patterns in the post-Cold War era, the inner logic of partnership relationships, and the trends of China's international strategy in the coming century. |
