Speaking to BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight, Carnegie’s Paul Haenle, Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer, Peking University’s Wang Yizhou, and Renmin University’s Jin Canrong explained that strategic mistrust and a lack of understanding between China and the United States and China and Japan could have far-reaching repercussions for the rest of the world if not addressed. Territorial disputes between China and neighboring countries like Vietnam are another pressure affecting China’s foreign relations.

As China grows to become a more important global player, defining the country’s foreign policy and the way in which it wants to be perceived in the region and beyond will become an increasingly important task for China’s policymakers. Equally, they added, it still remains unclear how much China considers current global norms and standards to be in its best interest and whether China will fulfill the role of the “responsible stakeholder” so desired by other major powers.