China’s Eurasian Forums: Initiatives Before and Beyond the Belt-and-Road

After Xi Jinping assumed supreme power as the Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in late 2012 and the State Chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in early 2013, he began to champion fenfa youwei, or "striving for achievement" in foreign affairs, thus signaling a more assertive foreign policy stance for China. A key facet of this "striving" foreign policy, which has manifested a more ambitious international agenda, involved directing effort toward "Eurasian engagement." This engagement focuses on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC or "17+1") forum, both of which are multilateral arrangements largely initiated and led by China in Eurasia that became essential components largely initiated and led by China in Eurasia that became essential components of Xi's Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI).