With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, mainland China shifted its foreign policy focus from preparing for war on its northern border to looking southward to make friends. Consequently, it has had frequent interactions with ASEAN nations. Nevertheless, at first it refused several requests to try to peacefully resolve South China Sea territorial disputes with the six ASEAN members.
陳鴻瑜分析，自從 1990 年代初冷戰結束、蘇聯瓦解後，由於北方無戰事，中國的外交重心轉向南方近鄰，大打「睦鄰政策」，因而和東協互動頻繁，但是對於東協多次要求簽訂和平解決南海領土爭端（涉及東協 6 個成員國海域）的協議，中國卻遲遲不肯點頭。