Greater China: Powerhouse of East Asian regional cooperation

At the beginning of modernization, China has developed the policy of opening up towards foreign investment via Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and the opening of coastal cities and delta areas to get geo-economic and social-cultural advantages in Asia. China has appealed to Greater China, namely Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao as well as overseas Chinese, for investment in China's market. The vertical division of labor among Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and China has been gradually formed; this in turn shaped Greater China as a sub-regional economic zone in East Asia. After the end of the Cold War, the new wave of regional cooperation in East Asia, which is based on open regionalism and led by the nations from within, is shaping a new division of power in this region. As a regional internal power, China per se pushes a strategy of regional cooperation in East Asia, i.e., China drives Greater China via the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and the Pan Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation and Development Forum (PPRD, 9+2) as core of the strategy, and then via Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -China (ASEAN+1), ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) and Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) to lead the regional cooperation in East Asia. Last but not least, China aims to zouxiang shijie (go globally).