maryam derakhshandeh lazarjani

The rise of China as a major power is one of the most significant developments in global politics in the 21st century. As a result, this has sparked concerns from the United States and Southeast Asian countries. In response, Washington has implemented its grand strategy to enhance deterrence and maintain the balance of power in Asia through the "Pivot to Asia" and "Indo-Pacific" strategies. Chinese leadership, on the other hand, views these American strategies as intensifying the security dilemma in the region, which not only increases the likelihood of direct confrontation, but also poses a serious challenge to China's growth trajectory.Given the current situation and China's desire for economic development and strategic engagement with Washington, the question is “What strategy should Beijing adopt to avoid being harmed by pressure from the United States and its allies in Southeast Asia?” China's actions suggest that it has adopted what is known as a "hedging" strategy to secure its strategic interests while avoiding confrontation with the US. Indeed, it seeks to foster its development by leveraging its strategic engagement with the US. In other words, Beijing has endeavored to respond decisively but with strategic caution, to avoid conflict with the US, prevent anti-balancing coalitions (by Southeast Asian countries), and ensure the continuation of its power growth.The hedging strategy is a thoughtful approach that manifests as a cautious response to risks in a constructive, peaceful, and non-confrontational manner. It closely aligns with Beijing's peaceful diplomacy in the region, aimed at maximizing benefits and minimizing threats. In general, China's hedging strategy is based on two pillars: first, reassuring its surrounding environment (Southeast Asia) regarding the benign consequences of Beijing's growing power; and second, indirectly balancing the US through soft competition.

The article's hypothesis is examined through a descriptive-analytical method and involves two main variables: First, the independent variable, which includes the "Pivot to Asia" strategy—a form of rebalancing by the United States against China—and the "Indo-Pacific" strategy, which represents an aggressive policy by the United States towards China. Second, the dependent variable is China's hedging strategy.

The relationship between China and the United States, as two major powers, has ranged from cooperation to competition over the past two decades. Throughout this period, Chinese political leaders (from the second generation of leadership to the present) have sought to secure their interests and respond to threats by addressing structural and domestic factors. In essence, China's foreign policy has been based on economic growth aimed at peaceful development and strategic caution in the face of security risks. This approach has enabled Beijing to take steady steps towards continued economic growth and, in parallel, enhance and stabilize its power in the region as it entered the new millennium.In the meantime, China's increasing role in Asia and its high potential to become a hegemon prompted the United States to operationalize its strategy to enhance deterrence and contain Beijing through the "Pivot to Asia" and "Indo-Pacific" strategies. In response, Beijing adopted the hedging strategy as its Asian policy.

Beijing's hedging strategy is structured in two layers. The initial layer itself has two dimensions. The first pertains to the mutual dependency between Beijing and the United States, which China seeks to maintain and exploit to sustain its power growth. The second relates to China's growing security concerns regarding threats from the US, which may lead to a confrontation. These considerations have driven China to manage its relations carefully and avoid geopolitical competition with the US. The subsequent layer concerns Beijing's response to US actions in its surrounding environment, namely Southeast Asia. In this regard, Beijing has attempted to overcome challenges posed by the US by adopting a "reassurance approach" to weaken any coalitions against China.

US-China relations are the most important and at the same time the most complicated relations in Asia. Given China's rapid growth and US efforts to maintain its power in the region, the two countries are in an increasing struggle to gain more power and influence in Asia, and are experiencing different levels of interaction and competition against each other. The question is, considering the importance of Asia in the macro strategies of the United States, what strategy does Washington follow against the rise of Beijing in the region? The hypothesis of the research, which has been investigated in a descriptive-analytical way, is that Washington is worried about the unpredictable consequences of competition with China, which may lead to a military conflict between the two countries; It has tried to put a range of hedging strategies (positive to negative) in accordance with this country's assessment of the impact of China's rise on American hegemony, in order to restrain China and avoid direct confrontation with this country. Findings show that the United States has used a variety of strategies in dealing with competitors intelligently in accordance with the geopolitical conditions of the region and the international public space.

The present era in the world of communication and the move towards global civilization has made cultural diplomacy a special manifestation of the elements and components of foreign policy and the effective and sustained engagement in today's world. One of the requirements of this diplomacy is a multilateralist approach to foreign policy that is rooted in the theory of constructivism aimed at building friendly and lasting relationships through an approach of cooperating mechanisms between governments and inviting their communities to learn from each other in constructing cultural attitudes. The article answers the question of how the multicultural approach to cultural foreign policy in the international arena promotes the Iranian mobility? Within the framework of the analytical-descriptive approach to the hypothesis that the paper seeks to test is multilateral cultural foreign policy through the promotion of the dynamics of material and spiritual structures based on the dialectical synthesis of Iranian, Islamic and modern identity layers within the context of a super-discourse. An identity in the name of the Islamic Revolution, as well as an interactive-understanding view of cultural complementarity and synergy within the framework of international institutions, fosters the promotion of Iranian mobility on the international scene.

Ukraine crisis occurred in November 2013¡ when President Victor Yankuvich decided not to sign economic agreement with European Union. Due to this decision¡ civil strife started. The United States¡ Russia and western European countries intervention made the crisis widespread¡ thus the regional and international security was influenced by this event. In this paper¡ emphasis is placed on the on the pattern of amity and enmity¡ countries typology¡ and the influence of great powers as the factors determining the Ukraine crisis and its impact on the general security of Black Sea and the region. Russia¡ as a mighty and the dominant state of the region¡ considers the region as its sphere of influence thus any outside intervention in the political affairs of the region perceived as threat to its security and dominance. This paper¡ by employing descriptive- analytical approach as its tool of investigation¡ has reached the conclusion that Ukraine crisis has various dimensions to it including Geopolitical¡ Geo-Economics and the question of national identity.