Since the emerging of liberal internationalist foreign policy during the era of the post-Cold War, Sphere of Influence has once again become an important issue in the discussion for the U.S. strategic community in recent years. In the discussion, the realists advocate to confront the change in the power balance, emphasizing a prudent use of force with a reduction of unnecessary costs and risks, taking an advantage of alliance to check the rivals and split the basis for their international cooperation. Liberals insist on the liberal internationalist diplomacy with a determinant resistance in the “expansion” of the international influence from China and Russia. An allover isolation and confrontation will be at ready if remolding cannot be attained. In the process of the discussion, the realists are on the offensive side while the liberals are on the defensive one. In the view of the professional background, the liberals have a high level of political and social influence, while in the respect of the significance of reality, both are aimed at the strategic competition against China and Russia.
In a historical view, this discussion has embodied the cyclical adjustments in the U.S. foreign policies with the changes in the power balance. Liberalism and realism have been the two major principles directing the U.S. foreign diplomatic policies with different types of the structural. Since having an absolute advantage, the U.S. prefers a liberal foreign policy. Conversely, as the advantage declines, a realist foreign policy will be preferred. The discussion in this round has been triggered at large in this orientation and the international conflicts and major events have intensified the relative discussion. Regardless of these considerations, the primary goal continues to be protecting the American overall realistic interests and its global dominance.
With the wind vane for the adjustment in the American diplomacy, the discussion has unfolded the change in the American diplomatic gravity and policy orientation toward China. The U.S. has seen the strategic contraction as a general tone for the American global strategy, constructing the alliance containment and alienation as the major way to compete against China and having comprehensive ideological attacks as the key hands.
In the respect of experience, Sphere of Influence mainly refers to the particular region in which a country has a dominating influence with the exclusion of other forces. However, China’s communication and interaction with other countries has been based on the respective independent interests with equality and mutual benefit through open cooperation with no exclusion of any third party. The positive response from the international society to China is sourced from China, but not a result from the Sphere of Influence. Faced with the pressure from the U.S., China should insist on equality and cooperation beyond its ideological discourse trap, openness and win-win strategy to break away from its alliance control and alienation, in its initiative to promote the reform of global governance.

The world is in a turbulent period with frequent geopolitical risks. The geopolitical risks are closely related to the political and economic security of relevant countries, regions and even the whole world, and geopolitical changes have attracted wide attention from various stakeholders. With the continuous expansion of the scale of overseas investments of the Chinese business community, the international situation and risks faced by enterprises are becoming increasingly complex and variable, and geopolitical risks have become a significant factor affecting the overseas interests of Chinese enterprises. By observing the interaction between political and economic factors with the international system, the analytical methods of international political economy can be used to comprehensively explore the political and economic risks of the Chinese overseas investments. Actually, the imbalance of structural power intensifies the effects of geopolitical risks. This paper holds that, from the perspective of structural power and its geopolitical risk mechanism, the protection of overseas interests of the Chinese business community is deeply influenced by the power game of major countries, and it is closely related to Chinese overseas strategic arrangements. Also, it is increasingly restricted by transnational rules. Thus, China should continue to strengthen the strategic capability of protecting the overseas interests in terms of the dimensions of security, production, finance and knowledge.