Why has China remained committed to global integration while simultaneously securitising interdependence and mobilising for technological competition? Applying a perceptual neoclassical realist framework to China’s economic-security foreign policy under Xi Jinping, this paper argues that Chinese leaders view the international system through a lens of strategic duality. On one side, the shift in global power is seen as creating opportunities for technological upgrading, national rejuvenation, and greater international influence. On the other, Chinese leaders perceive the same environment as exposing China to growing risks of containment and technological exclusion from rivals. This rationalist perceptual interpretation of systemic change serves as the transmission belt between structural pressure and foreign policy choice. Focusing on economic security, with technological competition as the empirical core, the paper explores how Beijing has responded through a dual-track approach: maintaining selective openness where integration supports development and influence, while securitising critical dependencies and accelerating technological self-strengthening.
