In recent years, China's proactive approach to regional integration and free trade agreements in Asia-Pacific has helped it to acquire a leadership role widely praised within the region. This analysis tries to underscore the possible political and strategic motivations behind Beijing's policy-making regarding economic integration across the Pacific Ocean. The starting point for this study is the assumption that China is using its economic might as a means to enhance and expand its traditional sphere of influence in the region, and it is doing so by achieving different kinds of regional...