China’s emerging global role: dissatisfied responsible great power

China has (re)emerged as a great power in a world not of its own making. The distribution of power in major organisations and the dominant norms of international interactions are deemed to unfairly favour the existing Western powers, and at times obstruct China’s ability to meet national development goals. Nevertheless, engaging the global economy has been a key source of economic growth (thus helping to maintain regime stability), and establishing China’s credentials as a responsible global actor is seen as a means of ensuring continued access to what China needs. As an emerging great power that is also still in many respects a developing country, China’s challenge is to change the global order in ways that do not cause global instability or generate crises that would damage China’s own ability to generate economic growth and ensure political stability

China\u27s hegemonic intentions and trajectory: Will it opt for benevolent, coercive, or Dutch‐style hegemony?

China\u27s unprecedented economic growth led some scholars to conclude that it will replace the United States as the future global hegemon. However, China\u27s intentions in exercising future global leadership are yet unknown and difficult to extrapolate from its often contradictory behaviour. A preliminary overview of China\u27s island building in the South China Sea reveals its potentially coercive intentions. This inference is consistent with the analysis of those who prognosticate China\u27s violent rise. Conversely and simultaneously, China\u27s participation in peacekeeping operations and its global investments evince its benevolent hegemonic intentions, which are congruent with the argument of those who predict China\u27s peaceful hegemonic ascent. Confronted with these divergent tendencies in China\u27s recent international relations, and assuming its continued rise, it is, thus, essential to examine China\u27s strategic intentions and how these may ultimately project its violent or peaceful hegemonic rise. This article argues that the “Third Way” or “Dutch‐style” hegemony is highly instructive in this context and, thus, should be examined and added to the existing debate on China\u27s rise as either a benevolent or coercive hegemon. We argue that Dutch‐style hegemony may be the most viable way for China to proceed in its global hegemonic ascendancy