Chinese Foreign Policy Under Xi Jinping: The Milestones of the Shift and its Backgrounds

Abstract

This paper discusses the main features of the shift in China's foreign policy approach since the beginning of this decade. It aims to examine the relation of this shift to the transition of power in Beijing to a new elite representing the fifth generation of communist leadership since 2012, especially in light of the central position assumed by the current leadership under Xi. Jinping in the history of the Chinese Communist regime in the light of the arrangements adopted by the 19th Congress of the CCP held in late 2017. Accordingly, this paper examines the deviations of China's foreign policy under Xi from the of "Tao Guang Yang hui" principle towards a more assertive and active foreign policy. and to examines possibilities to describe this shift as a "third revolution" in Chinese foreign policy compared to the first two revolutions (the establishment of the communist state and the revolutionary foreign policy of the Mao era of 1949-1978) and the second (the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping since 1979). Finally, this paper examines the relation of this change With the transition of power in Beijing to a new ambitious generation, sees that China needs to play a global role consistent with its position as a great power in the current international system