The rise of China as a major player in international affairs over the past few decades has generated substantial debate among scholars and policy makers in the field of international relations. As evinced by the Covid-19 outbreak, what happens in China now has international repercussions. More than that, Beijing's economic footprint, growing military presence, and political influence have raised questions and concerns about its long term intentions, whether it will cooperate or challenge the existing global order, and consequently how countries should respond, react, and relate to the current Chinese government.

Following the November 2012 assumption of China's top office by Xi Jinping, China's international prominence has become even more conspicuous, with many suggesting that it is now moving away from the previous “strategy of lying low” (taoguang yanghui 韬光养晦) to take up a more active, even assertive, stance in international relations. Linked to this is Chinese leaders’ frequent emphasis over the last decade that China's rise would be peaceful, and that it would not become a hegemonic power. According to Barry Buzan, this rhetoric of a “peaceful rise” represents an “indigenous and original idea deeply embedded in China's reform and opening up, and effectively constituting the core concept for a grand strategy. While not without its ambiguities and contradictions, ‘peaceful rise’ represents a potentially workable program, and a distinctive way of marking China's return to great power standing in international society.”