In September 2019， the 6th High-level Think Tanks Symposium of China and CEEC was held in Bled， Slovenia. The Symposium took place regularly in China or CEE countries each year from 2013 to 2019， and it is a top-level platform for scholars， experts and government officials from China and CEE countries to discuss China-CEEC Cooperation. This book collected essays of the 6th Symposium， which analyzed the achievements of China-CEEC Cooperation in the past eight years and discussed the direction for future cooperation from multiple dimensions. The purpose of this book is to provide readers with a comprehensive perspective of analyzing China-CEEC Cooperation and contribute to the success of the 6th Symposium.

This book is the first systematic China-based study on connectivity cooperation between China and Europe. It is packed with discussion of scholars not just from China, but also from Central and Eastern Europe on the origin and paradigm of China–European connectivity from a range of different perspectives. As a result of intensive coordination efforts, the study, co-edited by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Serbia, aims at providing analyses of greater links between China and European countries heading into the future. Furthermore, this Cooperation is used as a special research case to showcase cooperation between China and Europe along with its achievements and challenges. This collection of essays is the fruit of extensive transnational efforts and will be a valuable resource for all those working in the areas of International Relations and Political Science with a focus on China and Europe.

Rising Powers and State Transformation advances the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a useful lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation, with chapters dedicated to China, Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The volume breaks with the prevalent tendency in International Relations (IR) scholarship to treat rising powers as unitary actors in international politics. Although a neat demarcation of the domestic and international domains, on which the notion of unitary agency is premised, has always been a myth, these states’ uneven integration into the global political economy has eroded this perspective’s empirical purchase considerably. Instead, this volume employs the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation. State transformation refers to the pluralisation of cross-border state agency via contested and uneven processes of fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation of state apparatuses. The volume demonstrates the significance of state transformation processes for explaining some of these states’ key foreign policy agendas, and outlines the implications for the wider field in IR. With chapters dedicated to all of today’s most important rising power states, Rising Powers and State Transformation will be of great interest to scholars of IR, international politics and foreign policy. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

This book focuses on China’s foreign strategy and policy toward Central and Eastern Europe via the “China-CEEC” Cooperation Mechanism. It discusses the formation and evolution of the mechanism, concentrating on China’s leading role in this process, and covering a range of issues related to the mechanism’s organizational development. This discussion includes the broad context of China’s foreign policy, a coherent framework analysis of institution and cooperation issues, the internal aspects of the heterogeneity, external aspects of its asymmetry interactions, and finally, its emphases on cooperation in the two primary dimensions of great powers engagement and localization. After the end of the Cold War and the sudden and shocking collapse of the Soviet Union, the geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe begins to undergo dramatic changes. Since then, an increase in public discussion in China about the transformation from the planned economy to market economy became very visible. Moreover, this part of the world perceives as the gate to Europe through almost forget Silk Road. Both factors have played a crucial role in shaping China’s interest in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Following the points mentioned above, China’s interests in Central and Eastern Europe are due to several factors, including its frontier stability, national security, economic expansion, and search for new sources of energy and new markets for made in China products. Recognition of the importance of the region culminates in the recent Chinese grand strategy of “Belt and Road,” which highlights Central and Eastern Europe as the essential link in China’s plan New Silk Road strategy. In this regard, the “China-CEEC” Cooperation Mechanism has a crucial role in China’s “Go West” strategy.