China’s Grand Strategy in the Context of the Sino-US Strategic Rivalry

The study focuses on the transformation of China’s grand strategy in the context of the ongoing, long-term Sino-US strategic rivalry. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of China’s grand strategy in global politics. To date, at the international level, the relevant study has been overwhelmingly dominated by the American school and narrative based on American realism. This paper therefore conducts the relevant research from a Chinese perspective. The study explores the evolution of the US China policy and the transformation of China’s grand strategy in the context of the Sino-US strategic rivalry. In particular, it demonstrates the linkage between China’s grand strategy evolution and the Sino-US relations. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of the implications of China’s grand strategy transformation. The research methodologies mainly contain comparative, analytical and inductive approaches. A conceptual framework is outlined, illustrating how the US policy and approaches towards China navigate the Sino-US rivalry and transform China’s grand strategy-making and its foreign policy implementation. The author concludes that it is the strategic rivalry and US policy towards China that are transforming China’s “grand strategy” from a defensive to an offensive model. Bloc-driven policy is one of the defining factors in the Chinese-American confrontation. However, in the case of the U.S., the obvious anti-Chinese orientation of the blocs created by Washington may cause a negative reaction from potential allies. In turn, China, relying on the states of the Global South, is also building a network of global partnerships in which such structures as the BRICS, which is becoming increasingly attractive to developing countries. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is also a significant player, and if it expands further, it could become the largest military-political bloc in the Eurasian space.