Evaluation of Chinese foreign policy strategies in the context of Neorealist theory

This study examines from the traditional strategies of the Chinese Imperial era to today's modern strategies with the framework of Neorealism to understand which structural elements guided China's foreign policy after the center of power shifted from West to East with rise of China and how China regained its great power status. In this study, it has been demonstrated that Chinese foreign policy strategies have shown continuity and changes according to the conditions of the international system and dangers that it poses in order to reach the self-centered Middle Kingdom understanding and not to experience the Century of Humiliation once again. In a multipolar system, where the great powers seek to maximize their relative power in order to ensure their survival and establish their hegemony, it has been tried to implement that China which increased its material power followed more proactive, assertive and aggressive policies under the rule of Xi Jinping. In this context, after the implementation of continuity and changes of China's grand strategy; it has been examined China's debt trap diplomacy in Africa, One China Policy, the effects of historical competition on China- Japan relations, sovereignty claims in South China Sea, Tibet and Hong Kong issues and reason of assimilation policies in East Turkistan with the reference of "China follows offensive realist understanding in its foreign policy." Key Words: China's Foreign Policy, Defensive – Offensive Realism, Middle Kingdom, Grand Strategy