The New Face of Multilateralism: The Case of “Chinese” Forums

Abstract

The phenomenon of “Chinese” Forums emerged in the early 2000s. These forums are frameworks that have become an important cog of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s diplomacy. They are recognized internationally, and more than dozens of sovereign nations are either members or are represented in such forums. Using a comparative analysis, this chapter seeks to understand these forums from a multilateral perspective and in terms of paradiplomacy, soft power, and people-to-people exchanges. Based on a qualitative methodology and drawing on extensive literature examination and documentation analysis, this study identifies similarities and differences between forums, and demonstrates how they contribute to China’s foreign policy. The international mechanisms initiated and/or led by the PRC that this study has chosen to examine are: the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (a.k.a. China–CELAC Forum, or CCF), the BOAO Forum for Asia (BFA), the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao), the China–Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF), and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF). This research finds that these mechanisms are unique and adaptable to specific geographic locations and purposes, that the forums’ decision-making processes are predominantly multilateral, and that their role in the PRC’s foreign policy is wide-ranging and significant.