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Abstract

This research aims to understand China’s geoeconomic strategy in reshaping the alternative international order in the Asia-Pacific region. China’s economic rise increased its geopolitical influence and significance as a global great power. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government, under Xi Jinping, has adopted classical ideas in its foreign policymaking, including tianxia. Tianxia is a classical concept of a hierarchical Sinocentric international order. An empirical study was conducted on several cases of China’s economic policy and analysed with the congruence method to determine the correlation between the tianxia concept and China’s economic policy. Tianxia served as a paradigm and justification for the Xi Jinping administration’s foreign policy making. Additionally, China’s economic expansion background is its economic pragmatism and the rise of Chinese nationalism. The China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Global Development Initiative (GDI) are being utilised to reshape and create a Sinocentric alternative international order. This was supported by China’s economic capabilities and geostrategic position in the Asia Pacific region. China combines constructive and coercive approaches towards the Asia Pacific countries to safeguard its national interests.

Bahasa Abstract

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memahami strategi geoekonomi Tiongkok dalam membentuk tatanan internasional alternatif di kawasan Asia Pasifik. Kebangkitan ekonomi Tiongkok meningkatkan pengaruh geopolitiknya. Gagasan untuk meningkatkan peran Tiongkok di dunia internasional diambil dari pemikiran klasik Tiongkok, salah satunya tianxia. Tianxia adalah pemikiran klasik Tiongkok mengenai sistem tatanan dunia yang tersusun secara hirarkis dan berpusat pada Tiongkok. Peneliti melakukan kajian empirik terhadap studi kasus kebijakan ekonomi Tiongkok, yang kemudian ditafsirkan menggunakan analisis kongruensi untuk menemukan keterkaitan kebijakan ekonomi Tiongkok dengan filosofi tianxia. Pemerintahan Xi Jinping menggunakan konsep tianxia sebagai paradigma kebijakan dan justifikasi kebijakan luar negeri ekspansionis. Ekspansi ekonomi ini juga didasari pragmatisme ekonomi dan peningkatan nasionalisme rakyat China. Program Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Asian Infrastcuture Investment Bank (AIIB), dan Global Development Initiative (GDI) digunakan untuk menciptakan tatanan internasional alternatif yang berpusat pada Tiongkok. Hal ini didukung oleh kapabilitas ekonomi Tiongkok dan geostrategisnya di kawasan Asia Pasifik. Tiongkok menggunakan kombinasi pendekatan konstruktif dan koersif terhadap negara-negara Asia Pasifik untuk mencapai kepentingan nasionalnya.

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