"The Peaceful Rise" of China: the Problem of Image and Perception in 2000-2019

The phenomenon of China’s Peaceful Rise has been attracting more and more attention, as the state has started to appear next possible world leader, this time both economic and political, however, whether China is going to craft the contemporary multipolar world into a unipolar one is yet to be discovered. What is the most striking about the issue, is how the process keeps evoking extremely opposite perceptions from other regional and nonregional influential actors. On the one hand, present-day China restores its lost Middle Kingdom’s historical heritage, while on the other, drives an evident balancing strategy on behalf of some other global players. Therefore, with the means of various qualitative methods the paper examines, whether the “China-threat” concept is fueled by China’s own non-peaceful means to obtain its lost glory, or it is just the matter of an emerging powerful competitor threatening the reputation of the existing masters of the poles, which adds a more aggressive shade to the rise process.