CHINA AND THE USA, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21 ST CENTURY: THE CONCEPT OF “NEW RELATION BETWEEN THE GREAT POWERS” (XINXING DAGUO GUANXI)

In the relations between China and the USA, former adversaries during the Cold War, the 21st century poses a challenge as great as the challenge generated by the creation of the three original European Communities: this time, it is not a matter of regional integration, but a matter of peaceful coexistence; however, it is the same post- realist paradigm, in which to great powers, which have been rivals, in the recent history, have the capacity to develop a peaceful, harmonious relationship, for the mutual benefit of the entire international system. This visionary concept is meant to be a concept of countering and overcoming the opposite perspective, the perspective of the realist current, seeing the rise of China as a “serious threat for the stability of the contemporary international system”, in the relations between the great powers (daguo