隨著2012年中共「十八大」與2013 年「兩會」分別召開後，不僅習近平正式成為中共政權的「第五代領導人」，於此同時，一方面由於美國在伊拉克戰爭與金融海嘯壓力下，單邊主義政策大為動搖，世界格局亦持續朝權力分散特徵邁進，此種多極化發展加上近二十年來「中國崛起」的明顯態勢，既使中共面臨了一個有利於改善其國際地位的「機遇期」，也讓其對外政策認知悄悄產生質變。放眼未來，究竟中共下一階段的對外戰略走向為何，此種可能之新作為又將面臨何種挑戰？本文試圖從周邊環境與國際格局兩個角度，同時進行廣泛之觀察與分析。

After Xi Jin-Ping was named secretary general of the Communist Party ofChina and chairman of Central Military Commission, and elected as President of PRC in 2012 and 2013 separately, he is now the leader of the People’sRepublic’s fifth generation of leadership. In the same time, under the heavypressure from the long war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the global financialcrisis, the relative decline of US’s hegemony leads not only the change ofinternational system, from uni-polar to more multilaterally, but also thepossible turn of US’s foreign policy. Anyway, how will PRC use this strategicopportunity to improve its existing position? What challenges it would face inthe near future? What’s the possible influence if China changes its policy? I’llanalyze above important issues in this paper, and try to find some indicators forobserving continuously.