With its rapid rise after the Cold War, China regards a peaceful and stable global environment not only as a stabilizer for development, but also as an important foundation for the country to promote connection and integration with the international political-economic system (Hsu, 2007). On the one hand, China promotes the concept of a "harmonious worldview" to counter the the impression of a "China threat," on the other hand, China hopes to improve its relations with neighboring countries through bilateral and multilateral approaches under the policy guidance of "good neighbor diplomacy," in order to reduce security threats and construct a regional environment favorable for eco- Asia by analyzing China's strategic goals and policy accomplishments in the region.

International relations have undergone major transformations since the end of the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and retreat of communism, the rise of liberalism pushed the world towards temporary peace while facilitating the spread of global capitalism. The collapse of the iron curtain and developments in technology ushered in the age of globalization, in which states become highly interdependent, and ideological confrontation and military competition have yielded their place to the market and economic cooperation. However, the stagnation of negotiations towards liberalization since the WTO Doha round provided a wakeup call for many states. States no longer simply embrace the ideal of multilateral trade liberalization and begin to adopt a more pragmatic approach towards global trade. Under the conception of "gaining the entry ticket first before upgrading the seat," states have turned their attention to the formation of regional trading networks, hoping to increase bilateralism before pushing for multilateral and trans-regional linkages.The development of regionalization in East Asia has lagged far behind the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). Regionalization in East Asia only began to take off after the Asian financial crisis, with the political and historical contradictions in the region affecting the delay in regional cooperation. Even though China, Japan and Korea have subsequently proposed schemes for regional cooperation since the early 1990s, territorial disputes and historical conflicts have hindered the realization of regional projects. Currently, regionalization in East Asia is centered on ASEAN. Over the years, ASEAN has expanded from the original ten countries in Southeast Asia to overlapping regional architectures that have different strategic implications such as ASEAN +