From Import to Synthesis: Stages of Chinese International-Political Thought and Its Influence on Contemporary Chinese Foreign Policy

The subject of the study is the evolution of Chinese international-political thought from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 21st century and its influence on the contemporary foreign policy of China. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic such as the peculiarities of perceiving and mastering foreign theoretical concepts, the stages of their adaptation and synthesis into China's own international policy. Special attention is paid to the analysis of four stages in the formation of Chinese thought: from passive borrowing to the development of independent innovative approaches, as well as the active role of Chinese thinkers and reformers in transforming the worldview in accordance with the tasks and challenges of the historical period. The article analyzes the key ideas that have emerged under the influence of experiences of colonial pressure, revolutionary rejuvenation, socialist construction, reform policy, and the modern course toward leadership and the proposal of alternative global concepts. The author traces how the gradual accumulation of historical, theoretical, and practical experience has reflected in the current foreign policy strategy, including the concepts of "peaceful development," "a community with a shared future for mankind," the "Belt and Road Initiative," and the creation of institutional alternatives to Western institutions. The methods of historical-chronological analysis, comparative political research, and elements of discursive analysis of foreign policy doctrines and official documents are used to analyze the historical and theoretical evolution. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the propositions that modern Chinese foreign policy has been formed based on a multifaceted, staged absorption, adaptation, and creative interpretation of foreign ideas in the field of international relations and law. The author's special contribution to the research topic is the systematization of the stages of development of Chinese international-political thought, highlighting the mechanisms of transition from imitative import to independent synthesis, allowing China to take an active role on the world stage in the 21st century. The novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive analysis of the connections between historical traumas, reformist heritage, and the search for its own path to leadership, as well as in substantiating how, in the modern strategy, despite the multidimensionality of external initiatives, basic principles rooted in the historical experience of survival and integration of the state into the system of international relations dominate.