When Xi Jinping first articulated the “Chinese Dream” in 2012, it was primarily a domestic slogan designed to inspire national rejuvenation, reinforce the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy, and project optimism about China’s economic and social future. Over time, however, this vision has expanded beyond China’s borders. It has morphed into a more ambitious framework: the “Asian Security Concept,” a doctrine that positions China not only as the architect of its own rise but also as the central guarantor of regional order.
This brief explores the evolution from a domestically focused dream to a regionally ambitious security concept, analyzing how Beijing links internal legitimacy to external influence and what this doctrinal shift means for Asia’s future security landscape.
The “Chinese Dream”: Foundations of a Domestic Doctrine
At its core, the “Chinese Dream” sought to galvanize national pride by framing China’s rise as both a return to historical greatness and a pathway to modernization. Its key themes included:
- National Rejuvenation (fuxing): restoring China’s place as a leading global power after the “century of humiliation.”
- Economic Modernization: building a strong middle class, advancing technology, and sustaining growth.
- Military Strength: cultivating a “world-class military” capable of defending sovereignty and national interests.
This dream provided the Party with a powerful narrative: prosperity and stability under CCP leadership. But as China grew more assertive internationally, the dream inevitably acquired an external dimension.
Testing the Dream Against Regional Tensions
The early 2020s revealed the limits of a purely domestic narrative. China’s ambitions increasingly collided with external realities:
- Taiwan: Frequent military drills, gray-zone operations, and intensified rhetoric have made reunification a core test of the Chinese Dream’s credibility. Taiwan is not only a territorial issue but also a litmus test of China’s capacity to reshape the regional order.
- South China Sea: By building artificial islands and militarizing disputed waters, China has attempted to transform geography into geopolitical leverage. This, however, has brought it into sharper confrontation with Southeast Asian claimants and the United States.
- Global Pushback: Initiatives like the Belt and Road, once seen as symbols of cooperative growth, have come under scrutiny for debt traps and strategic overreach.
In short, the Chinese Dream’s regional implications demanded a clearer doctrine that could legitimize China’s security role in Asia.
From Dream to Concept: Building a Regional Security Vision
Xi Jinping outlined the “Asian Security Concept” at the 2014 Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The central message was simple yet profound:
- Asia for Asians: Security in Asia should be managed primarily by regional actors, not by external powers like the United States.
- Comprehensive Security: Stability should rest on economic integration and development as much as on military power.
- Non-Interference and Sovereignty: Each state should determine its own security path without outside interference.
This doctrine challenged the US-led alliance system and promoted China as a provider of “public goods” through infrastructure, trade, and multilateral forums. The idea was to shift the center of gravity for regional order from Washington to Beijing.
De Facto Alliances and Expanding Influence
China has translated this concept into practice by cultivating a network of partnerships that, while not formal alliances, serve to expand its influence:
- Russia: The “no limits” partnership offers military cooperation and diplomatic coordination, reinforcing the idea of a multipolar order.
- Pakistan: A long-standing strategic ally, now tied more deeply through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
- Central Asia: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) provides a platform for security coordination and counterterrorism initiatives.
- Southeast Asia: Through ASEAN forums, infrastructure diplomacy, and selective security assistance, China seeks to mitigate opposition to its South China Sea claims.
These relationships underpin a sphere of influence where Beijing’s preferences are increasingly embedded in regional security arrangements.
Conclusion
The evolution from the “Chinese Dream” to the “Asian Security Concept” encapsulates China’s strategic transformation. What began as a domestic narrative of rejuvenation has matured into a regional doctrine aimed at reshaping Asia’s security architecture. Whether this concept succeeds will depend on Beijing’s ability to balance economic integration with growing assertiveness, and on the responses of regional actors navigating between cooperation and resistance.
The doctrine remains in flux—but its trajectory is unmistakable: China no longer seeks merely to rise within the existing order. It seeks to define the order itself.
- Xi Jinping’s “New Asian Security Concept” was presented at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Shanghai, May 2014. Xi emphasized “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” and an “Asia for Asians” principle. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, “New Asian Security Concept for New Progress in Security Cooperation,” 21 May 2014.
- The Chinese Dream has been widely analyzed as both a political manifesto and a framework for national rejuvenation. Source: Zheng Wang, The Chinese Dream: Concept and Context, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 2013.
- The New Security Concept (NSC) from the late 1990s served as an antecedent, stressing multipolarity and cooperative security rather than US-style alliances. Source: Bates Gill, “China’s New Security Concept,” Brookings Institution, 1999.
- Comparative framing with the US “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” shows the ideological divergence. Source: Department of Defense, Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, June 2019.