The logic of China’s Strategic Partnerships: Foundations and Motivations

Abstract

China and Western powers (the United States and Europe) possess different interpretations about the concept of strategic partnership. The first part of this article will focus on a theoretical analysis of the term “strategic partnership” exploring how this term has been used and understood in business and diplomatic circles. The second part will cope with how China has theoretically and culturally understood the idea of strategic partnership conceived since the decade of the 1990s. The third and last part will provide an example of a strategic partnership aiming to illustrate how China developed and implemented it.