Contemporary Chinese Foreign Policy Research Articles

Reconceptualizing International Order: Contemporary Chinese Theories and Their Contributions to Global IR

Abstract Recent years have witnessed the theorizing of international order from a global, rather than purely Western, perspective. We contribute to this approach by reviewing recent book-length theorizations by four prominent contemporary Chinese scholars. We outline how these conceptions of international order converge and diverge, identify their contributions and limitations, and compare them with Western paradigms of international order, such as realism and liberalism. We then demonstrate how insights from these Chinese approaches enrich existing international relations debates and shed light on contemporary Chinese foreign policy.

The Peril of Peaking Powers: Economic Slowdowns and Implications for China's Next Decade

Abstract From ancient times to the present, rising powers have taken up arms to reorder the world. Yet such violent revisionism poses a puzzle: If a rising power is profiting from the existing order, why would it disrupt that progress with a reckless fit of expansion? One reason is slowing economic growth. Over the past 150 years, peaking powers, meaning rising powers whose economic booms have slowed but not yet stopped, have been the most dangerous kind of country. An extended period of rapid growth equipped them with the means to shake up the world, and then a protracted growth slowdown motivated them to move aggressively to try to rekindle their rise. Peaking power dynamics help explain some of the most consequential geopolitical events in modern history, including the surge of U.S. imperialism in the late nineteenth century, the outbreak of World War II, and Russia's 2014 aggression against Ukraine. These findings amend classic theories of great power conflict and have ominous implications for contemporary Chinese foreign policy.

Format 17+1 jako przykład chińskiego rozumienia i praktyki polityki zagranicznej

The main purpose of the article is to show the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China from a different than western analytical perspective. According to author, not including in analysis of Pekin’s politic it’s different experience and view in international relations is the reason of their too western/European approach. In the result the picture is distorted by the western conceptual grid which makes it difficult to properly read and predict PRC moves in the international arena. In the article main concepts visible in the Chinese political culture, are talked over. As their roots reach to the classical philosophy and political practice of Middle Kingdom, they are also visible in contemporary Chinese foreign policy. Mentioned concepts are tianxia (all under heaven), ba (hegemony), shi (practically almost impossible to translate in one word) and guanxi (interpersonal connections). In the article all of them were defined and discussed, to show the reader China’s different approach to the international relations. Additionally, in the article author makes a bid to analyze Pekin’s international organization – 17+1 under the presence of above concepts. As it is shown, all of them can be found in it. 17+1 itself may be therefore an example of a universalism of Chinese foreign policy. Independently of the country toward which it is aimed, it is always formed by the concepts described in an article.

The Application of Confucianism in Contemporary Chinese Foreign Policy

Confucianism is a splendid treasure in Chinese traditional culture. It has an important influence on the unique spirit and thinking of the Chinese nation, and also has a certain degree of influence on China's foreign policy. This paper studies the application and manifestation of Confucianism in contemporary China's foreign policy from three aspects of Confucianism:" Great Harmony under Heaven" " Good Neighborhood and Friendship", and" Nature and humanity" , and explores how to improve and strengthen foreign policy, correct remote.

China's Post-Cold War Economic Statecraft: A Periodization

This article focuses on one of the most fascinating features of contemporary Chinese foreign policy, namely the use of economics as a tool of national power. This article seeks to provide a foundational context for the study of China's economic statecraft. The first portion of this article builds upon existing work to frame the phenomenon of China's post-Cold War economic statecraft. I then offer a rough periodization of this post-Cold War era highlighting key events and strategic turning points for China. I distinguish three major periods: integration into the global economic system following the post-Tiananmen isolation (1989–1997), a decade of win-win diplomacy (1998–2008), and emerging great power economic statecraft (2008–2017). The piece concludes with a proposition that we may be witnessing the early stages of a fourth phase as well as some considerations for the future study of Chinese economic statecraft.

Managing volatile asymmetry: China’s emergence from the Korean dilemma

Among the most complicated issues in contemporary Chinese foreign policy is that of the Korean Peninsula and North Korea in particular. Critics have long complained, often internally, that China dare not use, and did not know how to use, the leverage it possessed. Why was this the case given that the relationship with North Korea is an asymmetric one with China the much more powerful side? Has China managed this asymmetry better more recently, and why? This article tries to address these questions. The relationship changed significantly in recent years when the Xi Jinping leadership decided to take unprecedented measures. Those actions have been consequential. China has emerged from being embarrassed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile development to re-establishing itself as central to Korean and Northeast Asian security.

Historical–Geopolitical Contexts and the Transformation of Chinese Foreign Policy

Abstract In the past few years, China has made dramatic foreign policy decisions that have changed both the global landscape and the behaviour of other states. To understand fully the possibilities and limitations of China’s foreign policy, it is important to see its occurrences within geopolitical contexts. The main argument of this article is that geopolitical context must be theorised in order to understand the decisions of states. We define a political geography perspective within a world-systems analysis that creates a Space–Time matrix of context based on the core–periphery hierarchy of the capitalist world economy and economic and hegemonic cycles. Inspired by Chinese scholars and policymakers’ periodisations of Chinese diplomacy, we develop a new periodisation of Chinese diplomatic cycles from 1840 to 2039. Using this new periodisation of Chinese diplomacy, we situate the changing nature of Chinese foreign policy within our Space–Time matrix. We then evaluate the possibilities and challenges of China’s current foreign policy, with emphasis on the Belt and Road Initiative, by illustrating features of the contemporary geopolitical context. Finally, we discuss the implications of this for contemporary Chinese foreign policy.

‘Stood Up, Grew Rich and Now Is Growing Strong’: An Introduction to the Historical Stages of China’s Foreign Policy

How can one describe China's current foreign policy? Is it entering a new period or is it a continuation of previous policies? In order to answer these questions, one must understand China’ Guiding Principles of Foreign Policy; since they refer to the main sources for understanding China's perception of the world, its identity and the concrete actions to be taken in face of such perceptions. By analysing primary documents, including speeches, white papers and secondary documents, this paper proposes that the contemporary Chinese foreign policy (since 1949) has undergone three distinct stages. Each stage is characterized by an overall view of the world context and China’s strategy to obtain its objectives given this context. The first stage, which covers the period in which Mao Zedong was in power, is characterized by an international activism but also by pure survival pragmatism with the goal of strengthening China. The second stage, which begins with Deng Xiaoping and ends with Hu Jintao, is defined as introverted period, reluctant to draw attention or pursuing leadership with the goal of economic growth. While the last stage which begins with Xi Jinping, it differentiates itself by a greater assertiveness, confidence and willingness to take leadership before the international system, however this period has carry on many of the same Guiding Principles adopted during the previous stage.

China's People-to-people Diplomacy and Its Importance to China-EU Relations: A Historical Institutionalism Perspective

People-to-people exchange has become a heated topic of the Chinese foreign policy. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, China has established people-to-people dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. In 2012, China and the EU established a high-level dialogue for people-to-people exchange, making people-to-people exchange the third pillar of China-EU relations. However, China is not a newcomer to people-to-people exchanges with Europe. Why does China launch the people-to-people diplomacy? Is it a plus or a must for China as well as for China-EU relations? The author reviews the history and current situation of China's people-to-people exchange and investigates China’s motivations behind the policy. Using the historical institutionalism as an approach, this paper argues that people-to-people diplomacy is a key component of the contemporary Chinese foreign policy towards Europe. China has long been an unequal counterpart to Europe since the 1840s. After the development of bilateral political and economic cooperation in the past four decades, people-to-people diplomacy is the last part that China needs to finish in order to regain equal status with Europe. In addition, it is also a step towards realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Chinese hegemony: grand strategy and international institutions in East Asian history

Chinese Hegemony: Grand Strategy and International Institutions in East Asian History joins a rapidly growing body of important literature that combines history and International Relations theory to create new perspectives on East Asian political and strategic behavior. The book explores the strategic and institutional dynamics of international relations in East Asian history when imperial China was the undisputed regional hegemon, focusing in depth on two central aspects of Chinese hegemony at the time: the grand strategies China and its neighbors adopted in their strategic interactions, and the international institutions they engaged in to maintain regional order-including but not limited to the tribute system. Feng Zhang draws on both Chinese and Western intellectual traditions to develop a relational theory of grand strategy and fundamental institutions in regional relations. The theory is evaluated with three case studies of Sino-Korean, Sino-Japanese, and Sino-Mongol relations during China's early Ming dynasty-when a type of Confucian expressive strategy was an essential feature of regional relations. He then explores the policy implications of this relational model for understanding and analyzing contemporary China's rise and the changing East Asian order. The book suggests some historical lessons for understanding contemporary Chinese foreign policy and considers the possibility of a more relational and cooperative Chinese strategy in the future.

Confucian Foreign Policy Traditions in Chinese History

Can Confucianism enrich Chinese foreign policy? This article seeks to explore major traditions of Confucian foreign policy in imperial Chinese history and suggest their implications for contemporary Chinese foreign policy. The popular notion of Confucian pacifism is not a credible tradition of Confucian foreign policy, but a modern Chinese myth constructed in the early 20th century. Rather, Confucian foreign policy traditions were characterized by the contrasting ideas of inclusivism and exclusivism, neither of which renounced the use of force as a legitimate instrument of foreign policy. Both traditions were underpinned by a traditional Chinese theory of human nature. The adoption of inclusivism or exclusivism in foreign policy was a contingent outcome of relational interactions in China’s foreign relations. Confucianism’s inclusive humanism, reflected in the inclusive tradition, can provide a major intellectual inspiration for contemporary Chinese foreign policy. It can suggest a Confucian grand strategy of inclusive relationalism that significantly broadens the strategic vision of Chinese foreign policy. Chinese foreign policy discourse under President Xi Jinping already contains an important degree of inclusive relationalism. Putting this strategy more into practice will benefit both China and the world. Can Confucianism enrich modern Chinese foreign policy? This would have been an unthinkable and certainly ‘counterrevolutionary’ question in the revolutionary era of Mao Zedong (1949–1976), who took eradicating ‘feudal dregs’ such as Confucianism as one of the main missions of his continuous revolution. Yet for contemporary China it is no longer an idle or quixotic question. Reform-era (1978–present) Chinese leaders from Jiang Zemin onwards have occasionally invoked Confucian concepts in foreign policy statements. With President Xi Jinping, however, a significant shift has occurred: President Xi has made the use of ancient Chinese classics, including Confucian texts, one of the hallmarks of his VC The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Institute of Modern International Relations, Tsinghua University. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2015, 197–218 doi: 10.1093/cjip/pov004 Advance Access Publication Date: 13 April 2015

Contemplating Chinese Foreign Policy: Approaches to the Use of Historical Analysis

Many have contemplated Chinese foreign policy and its future direction, but few have queried how Chinese history might illuminate both. This is unfortunate since researchers have shown that history can influence foreign policy agendas, discourses, and national goals. Moreover, it provides an invaluable tool for comparative analysis. The purpose of this introduction is to provide historical background to the articles comprising this special issue, whose contributors employ historical analysis, with the period preceding and following the Xinhai Revolution as a basis, to illuminate contemporary Chinese foreign policy – e.g., China's interest in remaking the international order and its security norms – or to suggest differences between past and present – for example, in regards to China's Asia–Pacific posture. This introduction also hopes to stimulate further work on Chinese history and foreign policy by highlighting similarities and differences between past and present with respect to, inter alia, pressures against China's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence, the penetration of foreign actors and ideas into China, and domestic factors limiting China's efforts to filter external influences and to respond to them.

Myanmar in Contemporary Chinese Foreign Policy – Strengthening Common Ground, Managing Differences

This assessment first briefly examines recent features of China's approach to foreign affairs, and then examines in greater detail features in China's approach to relations with its neighbours, especially in Southeast Asia. It does so in order to discern prevailing patterns in Chinese foreign relations and to determine in the review of salient recent China–Myanmar developments in the concluding section how China's approach to Myanmar compares with Chinese relations with other regional countries and more broadly. The assessment shows that the strengths and weaknesses of China's recent relations with Myanmar are more or less consistent with the strengths and weaknesses of China's broader approach to Southeast Asia and international affairs more generally. On the one hand, China's approach to Myanmar, like its approach to most of the states around its periphery, has witnessed significant advances and growing interdependence in the post-Cold War period. On the other hand, mutual suspicions stemming from negative historical experiences and salient differences require attentive management by Chinese officials and appear unlikely to fade soon.

The Chinese Meaning of Just War and its Impact on the Foreign Policy of the People's Republic of China

The image of China’s peaceful rise, which the Chinese government is keen to enforce in the world, stands in contrast to the view of China’s ascent as a threat. China’s economic and military growth is perceived as a potential threat to the (East) Asian security structure and as a challenge to the preponderance of the United States. Even though the PRC is more active in international and regional organizations—and better integrated in the international community—than ever before, the ambiguity of China’s true political intentions is still dominant. The focus of this analysis is the Chinese tradition of Just War and its benefits for an enhanced understanding of contemporary Chinese foreign policy. The tradition of Just War has rarely been studied, but the search for an understanding of Just War in Chinese traditional thinking can, nevertheless, assist in the analysis of China’s current foreign policy. Whether China’s foreign policy is benign or malignant or whether China dominates Asia is, therefore, “profoundly uncertain.” With regard to foreign policy analysis, the differentiation between the regional and the international levels might help to transcend the predominant understanding of Chinese foreign policy in international relations theory. Das Bild vom friedlichen Aufstieg Chinas, das von der chinesischen Regierung verbreitet wird, steht im Gegensatz dazu, dass Chinas wirtschaftlicher und militarischer Aufstieg als mogliche Bedrohung fur die Sicherheitsstruktur (Ost-)Asiens und als Herausforderung der US-amerikanischen Vorherrschaft betrachtet wird. Obwohl die VR China noch nie so aktiv in der internationalen Gemeinschaft war wie heute, besteht Unsicherheit bezuglich ihrer wahren politischen Absichten. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die chinesische Tradition des gerechten Krieges, um ein erweitertes Verstandnis von der gegenwartigen chinesischen Ausenpolitik zu gewinnen. Die Vorstellung vom gerechten Krieg ist bisher nur selten untersucht worden, dennoch kann es die Analyse der gegenwartigen chinesischen Ausenpolitik bereichern, die bereits im alten China vorliegenden entsprechenden Ideen einzubeziehen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem chinesischen Verstandnis vom gerechten Krieg und mit dessen Anwendung auf Chinas Ausenpolitik sensibilisiert zudem dafur, zwischen verschiedenen Ebenen der Analyse zu unterscheiden. So kann die Differenzierung zwischen regionaler und internationaler Ebene helfen, das vorherrschende Verstandnis von der chinesischen Ausenpolitik in den internationalen Beziehungen zu transzendieren.

Government Leadership Change and International Negotiations

International negotiations rarely occur under conditions of perfect or completely symmetric information. In the course of pursuing foreign policy, states withhold certain information and intentionally communicate that which is false or misleading. A particularly common instance of incomplete information is that occurring after a change in leadership. When a new government takes office, the nation’s policy positions inevitably undergo a major transition. A change of leadership while a state is conducting prolonged negotiations over long-term issues is likely to change both their trajectory and outcome. The other party concerned in such negotiations is unfamiliar with the new government and its ways, yet historical interaction has made its own circumstances and preferences commonly known to both sides. This is a situation of asymmetric information. The leadership transition of one state frequently arouses suspicions and feelings of insecurity in others, because they have no way of comprehending the actual policy preferences and positions of the new government. Changes in government leadership have engendered several asymmetric information scenarios in the course of contemporary Chinese foreign policy. Around the time the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established, neither the Soviet Union (USSR) nor the major Western powers had any understanding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. They were suspicious and hesitant, often adopting a wait-and-see stance in their dealings with the new government. Following the Kuomintang (KMT) retreat to Guangzhou, for example, the USSR accordingly moved its Chinese embassy to the Guangdong capital, despite the ostensible bond of communism between the USSR and the Chinese communists. American ambassador to China, John Leighton Stuart is another example. Mao Zedong’s ‘leaning to one side’ concept notwithstanding, Stuart remained in Nanjing, and in August 1949 was prepared to visit the Chinese Communists in Beiping. The US knew too little about the Chinese communist leadership to be sure whether or not to broach a relationship with the new regime. It was in January, 1979, shortly after the Cultural Revolution and at the start of the open door policy, when the western world still knew little about the new generation of CCP leaders, that the Vice Premier of the State Council, Deng Xiaoping, and his wife Zhuo Lin accepted an invitation to a formal

Dragon or Dinosaur? Nuclear Weapons in a Modernizing China

Few leaders, if any, would make the decision to deploy nuclear weapons casually. Therefore, the fact that a country possesses such arms indicates that it has important uses for them. Nevertheless, analysts of contemporary Chinese foreign policy often dismiss the nuclear arsenal of the People's Republic of China (PRC) as insignificant in size and passively defensive in purpose. (1) Indeed, analysts of contemporary nuclear matters often fail to mention China at all. (2) This article aims to correct these omissions by arguing that Beijing has long-term aspirations to improve its position in world politics, and that nuclear weapons play a fundamental role in its plans. Whenever one discusses long-term planning in foreign policy, one must proceed with caution. Chance plays such a large role in international politics that it is difficult for any government to plan its foreign affairs in much detail. One must remain aware that a nation's domestic politics can overshadow its external intentions. lack of reliable information about such basic matters as the Beijing government's defense budget makes it all the more difficult to analyze China's foreign policy. With those caveats, however, one may observe that there are patterns in China's policies, media attitudes, and military thought. These patterns match those which an observer would expect to see in a country with China's known goals and China's known capabilities. These patterns have remained consistent for decades. Therefore, one may infer that the Chinese government is pursuing a coherent long-term policy, whether or not it has planned its future moves in detail. This article begins by discussing China's foreign policy aspirations. A second section covers China's ability to achieve those aspirations, and notes that its nuclear arsenal is its only reliable assurance of military supremacy. A third section discusses Chinese official and semi-official statements on nuclear doctrine. Beijing professes to maintain nuclear forces only to deter others from using nuclear weapons against it, but Chinese military writings suggest that the PRC's leadership understands that such arms have more uses than that. A final section discusses the PRC's capabilities. This section notes that, despite American assertions that the strategic environment has changed radically over the past 12 years, Chinese writers tend to stress the continuities in international affairs, and Chinese military developments appear to be following the same pattern they have been following since the 1980s. China's Military Requirements PRC has ambitious foreign policy goals, many of which bring it into conflict with other powers. To begin with, the PRC, like any self-respecting state, treasures its sovereignty. Official spokesmen speak passionately about the humiliation China suffered at the hands of European powers during the 19th century, and about their country's determination never to repeat the experience. Despite the fashion for modifying the principle of national independence to accommodate international organizations and global commerce, Chinese writers define sovereignty rigidly. (3) Chinese leaders appreciate that their country needs to trade and cooperate with other nations, and that this will often require them to compromise. For this reason, they wish to obtain as much international influence as they can, so as to settle as many disputes as possible on their own terms. In the words of Colonel Peng Guangqian of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), The development of modern China cannot be separated from the outside world, especially at a time when the world is growing smaller each day. (4) Accordingly, Peng concludes that China's development depends on a favorable international strategic situation. China's leaders also understand that the dominant powers in the contemporary world are, at best, lukewarm toward their regime. Although many observers suggest that the Chinese are relinquishing their belief in communist ideology, China's leaders continue to ground their political discourse in the precepts of Marx, Lenin, and Mao. …

Sino-African Relations: A Survey

Research Article| July 01 1965 Sino-African Relations: A Survey George T. Yu George T. Yu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Far Eastern Survey (1936) 5 (7): 321–332. https://doi.org/10.2307/2642291 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation George T. Yu; Sino-African Relations: A Survey. Far Eastern Survey 25 March 1936; 5 (7): 321–332. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2642291 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.