Marcin Adamczyk

There are many indications that China’s unquestionable successes in expanding its own reserve of economic and military power have simultaneously awakened the national pride and ambitions of the Chinese people. This, however, has led to an awareness of China’s limited ability to shape the international environment and to pursue its own interests in the international arena. As a result, the Chinese have adopted a revisionist policy with the aim of finally undermining the existing global order – after all, the ultimate goal is to achieve the position of hegemon (with all the benefits and responsibilities that implies). It should be noted, however, that a change of hegemon can only occur through a hegemonic war – which will result in the emergence of a new prestige hierarchy with a pretender as the new world leader. To prepare for a hegemonic clash, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is constantly expanding its economic and military influence (both internally and externally). Above all, China is trying to attract other dissatisfied states into its own coalition, forming the so‑called „revisionist coalition”. To do so, the Chinese offer other countries potentially lucrative trade deals, extensive investment, low- or no‑interest loans and development assistance. This paper intends to popularize the author’s perspective on hegemonic change within international relations – termed „hegemonic realism” as it best reflects the assumptions of the proposed theory. These theoretical assumptions and the author’s model of hegemonic change will be used in the rest of the article to analyze the dynamics of the relations between selected revisionist states and China as a contender for global hegemony. The author’s thesis is that states join the revisionist coalition in order to increase their own military and economic power. The case study will focus on China’s relations with Russia, Pakistan and Iran – all of which are seen by the author as key allies of the PRC on the Asian continent – due to their resources of power and revisionist policies. The study used secondary research sources, including academic publications and journalistic articles in Polish and English. Three methods were used in the research process: comparative analysis, historical‑critical method and desk research method.

The crisis on the European Union’s eastern border was probably one of the possible key security threats in Central and Eastern Europe in 2021. In the face of the deteriorating situation on the Polish-Belarusian border, the idea of engaging the People’s Republic of China as a mediator became relatively popular in Poland – as evidenced by numerous articles on leading Internet portals (such as Money.pl, Onet.pl or Rp.pl) and the increased interest in this topic in social media (observed by the author in discussions on Twitter in particular). At its core was the belief that the two countries represent an important place in China’s economic policy – with a particular emphasis on their transit role within the New Silk Road. This article is intended as an attempt to answer to what extent this concept may have come to fruition, and how much do Minsk and Warsaw really mean to China?

The main incentive for creation of this work was the issue by the People’s Republic of China, their first in the history arctic White Paper. The articulation of the Chinese strategy regarding the High North, has become the source of the main contribution, as it goes for the Beijing’s interests in that distant region. Author, basing on his previous researches, clarifies the role of the White Paper in the foreign and internal policy. He undertakes the circumlocution of the Arctic’s legal status and its economic potential, which for many reasons arouses hot emotions in the world and is to a large extent the mentioned attractiveness of the High North. Thereby, the present research has been carried out using the analysis and synthesis of secondary research material in the form of scientific studies and source texts. The research problems for which answers can be found in this work are questions about sources of Arctic interest on the part of contemporary China and the functions of the first Chinese Arctic white book. In their light, a research hypothesis was formulated that Chinese engagement behind the polar circle (as well as its emanation of the white book) is a testimony to Beijing’s growing global ambitions of worldwide power. The research showed that the reasons for the Chinese Arctic interest are mainly of a military and economic nature, while the Chinese Arctic white paper performs the following functions: it indicates China’s interest in this area and also tries to tone down the potential reaction of the international community that may result from this involvement. Moreover the white book has an important internal function in the form of awakening the national pride of the Chinese people.