China s engagement with Regionalization in South and Southeast Asia: A comparative perspective

China’s involvement in Asian regionalization is a main axis of its foreign policy and a part of China’s multilateral strategy which aims at increasing its regional role in Asia and multilateralism in global arena. The engagement with the regional institutions such as SAARC and ASEAN on the one hand facilitate China’s role as an effective player in the peripheral politics and on the other hand, maximizes PRC’s strategic interest for further regional integration. The article seeks to analyze the main elements of China’s engagement with two Asian regional organizations, (SAARC and ASEAN). The comparative analysis over China’s behavioral policies towards SAARC and ASEAN leads to the estimation that China has the potential for leadership in Southeast Asia while in South Asia its “voice” is still inaudible. The article argues that China’s engagement with SAARC compared to ASEAN is limited due to the games of balance of power in the region of South Asia deriving from the internal contradictions among the members (India-Pak relations), the low level of regionalization in South Asia as well as due to the increased role of other great and regional powers in the region of South Asia such as USA and India.