Abstract
Chinese government representatives and scholars have attempted to ameliorate fears about China’s rise by portraying China as a new and friendlier kind of great power. It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of self-other relations and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity. This article takes such claims as a point of departure, and analyses them with focus on the explicit discussions of friendship in international relations theory. Paying attention to current Chinese thinking which emphasises guanxi relationships, friendship can contribute to the development of genuinely relational international relations thinking and move beyond a focus on ossified forms of friendship and enmity centred on the anxious self. The vantage point of friendship suggests a way out of the dangers of theorising Self in contrast to Other, and re-opens the possibility to conceptualise Self with Other.
Highlights
Chinese policymakers, scholars, and pundits have attempted to ameliorate fears about China’s rise by portraying China as a new and friendlier kind of great power
It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of Self–Other relations and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity
It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of Self–Other relations, and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity
Summary
Scholars, and pundits have attempted to ameliorate fears about China’s rise by portraying China as a new and friendlier kind of great power. It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of Self–Other relations, and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity Claims along such lines can be seen in President Xi Jinping’s official discourse, which portrays the Chinese nation as culturally predisposed to friendly, peaceful and harmonious behaviour abroad, and which lists friendship as one of 12 key terms for his socialist ‘core value system’ at home (People’s Daily Online, 2014; Xi, 2014). Rather than merely denoting a personal and private relationship, friendship denotes a way of thinking about the co-constitution of Self with Other, and theorizes the dynamics of such co-foundation Such a concern is as pressing for states as it is for individuals, as much a Reintroducing friendship to international relations 371 matter for the political as for the personal. It makes a contribution to the ontology of IR, and offers a resource for understanding the complex phenomena that form the focus of its discussions and concerns
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
