Correctly or wrongly, Bonaparte Napoleon is often attributed as saying about China,

"There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep, for when he wakes, he will move the world."
It is undeniable that China has risen economically, politically and militarily, becoming a
strategic competitor with the world's preeminent superpower, the USA.

China has changed dramatically, that much is undeniable since Deng Xiaoping moved to
open up a backwards and impoverished China to the outside world. More recently, under
Chairman Xi Jinping, China has changed yet again. Xi's authoritarian leadership style has
taken the country back to communism's ideological roots, demanding loyalty and punishing
severely any who stand in his way.

China has had four successive grand strategies since the modern country was formed in
1949:

 Revolution (1949-77),
 Recovery (1978-89),
 Building comprehensive national power (1990-2003) and
 Rejuvenation (2004 to the present).

Yet, even though these strategies, three core interests can be discerned, those of security,
sovereignty and development.

Reasons behind China’s applying grand strategies:

The decision to reform was clearly a consequential and transparent choice, but it was often
particularly dangerous, in ways that were occasionally ignored or downplayed by the West.
Deng and his colleagues were persuaded that change was necessary both for the national
existence and the security of the government when it emerged out of the 1970 's turmoil
and entered into a time of increased diplomatic competition with the Soviet Union. These are
some catalysts that can substantially justify the reasons behind applying grand strategy:
1. To build a solvent, strong and sustainable economy:
After more than a century of poverty and isolation, China is now delivering enormous
investments to developing countries around the world. Assuming China is successful in its
bid to shape emerging markets, it will be a masterstroke of geopolitical strategy. In Africa,
Chinese conglomerates are well positioned to capitalize on the continent’s need for
technology, trade, and manufacturing.

2. To deliver sustained, meaningful improvements in the quality of life of the

Chinese people:
 Chinese infrastructure ensures significant opportunities for knowledge-based goods and
services. And this is precisely what China is banking on. Beyond infrastructure, the future
of Chinese goods in Asia, Africa and Latin America is healthcare technologies, robotics,
industrial parks, manufacturing technologies, autonomous vehicles and clean energy.

3. To ensure less “Spiritual Pollution”:

Deng attempted to find the right balance between economic reform and the integration of
China into the global economy, on the one hand, while suppressing ideological and cultural
influences from abroad, on the other. This resolution had three parts:
 Firstly, Co-opting its citizens.
 Secondly, CCP continuing to develop and refine the tools of coercion, as well as on
technologies for monitoring and controlling flows of information into and within the
country.
 Finally, CCP worked hard to inoculate its people against the danger of intellectual and
spiritual contamination by launching a series of increasingly sophisticated and wide-
ranging ideological campaigns.

4. To focus deeper on long-term market:

Western analysts often miss the deeper, long-term markets that China is nurturing and this is
a mistake. As the World Economic Forum observes, China’s investments in emerging
economies are providing a vast platform for new markets in financial services, insurance,
legal services, education, human resources, venture capital and entertainment.

Some of the other reasons are pointing below:

I. China applied this grand strategy to exercise international influence commensurate
with its status as the world’s second-largest economy.
II. To change the commercial interaction with the rest of the world.
III. To shift ‘from complementarity to competitiveness.
IV. To continue to export furniture, hardware and toys will also increasingly manufacture
and sell the most advanced products, including supercomputers self-driving cars
heavy machinery and large aircraft.
V. To be more advanced and become more deeply intertwined with the countries
following behind it on the development path.
VI. To ensure China customer base is becoming more rapidly expanding.
VII. To aim to further replace the United States, Europe and Japan, becoming the most
important final consumer products market in East Asia.