Abstract: The Concepts of “neighborhood”, “neighboring environment” and “neighvoring security environment” emerged around the end of the Cold War, gaining recognition and promotion in use by national leaders. The main driving force for these concepts’ integration into the policy system and the academic system lies at the interaction of national strategic objectives and regional order. Around the end of the Cold War, China accelerated its economic construction as a strategic objective, forcing the Chinese economy to have shown a development trend of Asianization. The economic and trade ties between China and its neighboring regions are much closer than those between China and developed countries. At the same time, by improving its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the light of changes in international situation, in its interaction with ASEAN, China has realized the importance of “ a neighboring environment ”which has multilateral connotations. Especially after the 1997 financial crisis, the concept of “neighboring security environment” has included the meaning of economic security. The concept of “neighborhood” reflects the evolution of China’s international political theory. As a level of analysis and diplomatic plate, the “neighborhood” has been promoted to an important position. It connotes the political and economic unity and the equal attention to both land and sea, which shows that China’s decision makers have adopted a more balanced perspective to look at the relationship between China and its neighboring countries.