Understanding China's strategy to become a hegemon power through the transformation in Chinese foreign policy

Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China has adopted foreign policy strategies suited to the conditions of the time. During the Mao Zedong era, China presented itself as a more inward-looking and self-sufficient country. However, during the Deng Xiaoping period, China began to open up with comprehensive reforms and adopted an economically focused profile. In this period, China embraced a low-profile foreign policy strategy to ensure that its economic moves did not alarm regional and global powers. With the end of the Cold War, the bipolar world order came to an end, and the United States maintained its dominance in the new system for a time. However, the political and economic upheavals caused by the September 11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 global financial crisis led to questioning of America's supremacy. The diminishing influence of the United States within the system strengthened the views on China's rise as an alternative power. From the 2000s onward, as China continuously rose, it shifted from Deng Xiaoping's low-profile policy of "Tao Guang Yang Hui" to the "Chinese Dream" strategy under Xi Jinping, playing a more prominent and active role in the international system. This study investigates whether China's foreign policy transformation and these changes reflect an hegemonic ambition in the new era. Keywords: China, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping, Hegemony