Diplomatic Links Research Articles

Gender, Collaboration, and Authorship in German Culture: Literary Joint Ventures, 1750–1850 ed. by Laura Deiulio, John B. Lyon

MLR, .,   creative aspects of Italian director Cottafavi’s intriguing apolitical approach to Lope’s Las famosas asturianas in I cento cavalleri (), which chose to read the Reconquest as an anti-historical tragicomic ‘fable’, are relinquished in order to concentrate on frictions with the Spanish censors arising from Franco’s contemporaneous attempts to open diplomatic links with Arab regimes. Likewise, the treatment of Miró’s irredeemably ‘light’ reading of El perro del hortelano, which excises all trace of Lope’s cynical satire of social mores—an approach Carmona conjectures was copied from Frid’s musical Sobaka na sene for Soviet TV (), ‘designed to transport its audience from an asphyxiating political reality (p. )— skirts the question of how far repackaging Lope as a writer of slushy Mills & Boon romance truly serves the cause of culture, history, or Golden Age drama. In this respect one may regret that the author chose not discuss what is by far the best screen rewriting of a Golden Age drama so far, Iborra’s La dama boba (), electing instead to devote her last chapter to superficial recent TV biopics of Lope. Nonetheless, the book fully realizes its aim: clear, concise, its muster of new facts both provoking and illuminating. It makes a worthy addition to Peter Lang’s new series, and le this reader eagerly looking forward to more. U  O J L Gender, Collaboration, and Authorship in German Culture: Literary Joint Ventures, –. Ed. by L D and J B. L. (New Directions in German Studies, ) New York and London: Bloomsbury Academic. . xiv+ pp. £ (ebk .). ISBN –––– (ebk ––– –). is volume considers twelve representative examples of same-sex or male–female partnerships ranging from spouses, lovers, and friends to teachers and students, charlatans and victims. Starting with the Francophile Gottscheds, a husband-andwife team whose translations, plays, and critical essays were the enduring offspring of the childless couple, the case studies extend as far as Bettina von Arnim’s Die Günderode, Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan, and beyond. Most chapters are of a respectable length, averaging around – pages apiece, accompanied by extensive bibliographies. Earlier scholarship tended to investigate direct influence, such as that of Herder on Goethe, while shying away from partnerships of equals, not least because the cult of the towering genius was fundamental to understandings of German culture in the wake of the Sturm und Drang. Despite male adulation of schöne Seelen and hyperbolic compliments (‘daß Sie [. . .] alle Dichter und Dichterinnen der ganzen Welt übertreffen’—Wieland to Sophie von La Roche, cited on page ), most women of the period were only too willing to submit their writings to masculine oversight. ere was little interest in the contributions made by wives and partners to their companions’ work, and it would have been thought downright heretical to salute them as equals. For Schopenhauer, woman was intellectually somewhere  Reviews halfway between the child and the adult man. e editors of this volume demonstrate that intergender collaboration was more frequent and more significant than is generally assumed, in line with what has been common knowledge since Roland Barthes unmasked the image of the solitary, godlike creator as a social construct. Not all collaborations were successful or equally productive. e Schumanns’ diaries, here examined by Brian Tucker, began with a commitment to equality of input, but eventually their gaps and imbalances came to reflect an uneven distribution of power within the family. Elisa von der Recke’s entanglement with the notorious impostor ‘Count’ Cagliostro turned sour and led to a publication that was read by Goethe, Schiller, and Empress Catherine the Great, effectively ruining his phenomenal success as a Spiritualist. A positive note is struck by Adrian Daub in his assessment of Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel’s joint projects. In contrast to the conventional view that Dorothea faded into obscurity aer the publication of her novel Florentin, Daub shows that their relationship remained fruitful until and indeed beyond Friedrich’s death, when Dorothea ensured that her husband’s legacy would be preserved. Among the less obvious relationships is the ‘virtual collaboration’ (p. ) between erese Robinson (née von Jakob) and Goethe, here based not, as one might expect, on Robinson’s Volkslieder der...

CHINA'S INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE EVOLUTION OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS

Following the end of the Cold War and significant changes in the international community, Chinese leaders moved from a reluctant stand in United Nations (UN) activities to a position of active cooperation in UN peacekeeping. In fact, China became the biggest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations among the permanent members of the Security Council. Towards the mid-2000s, China was involved in all seven UN peacekeeping operations on the African continent. This dramatic surge in Chinese peacekeeping participation coincided with Beijing's efforts in the early 2000s to deliberately expand its economic and diplomatic influence globally through trade and diplomatic links, as well as through its participation in international organisations, including UN peacekeeping operations. However, there have always been limits to China's involvement in peacekeeping operations. Beijing's views on peacekeeping have consistently been based on a sound respect for state sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. In this context, this article points out that on the one hand, China is increasingly expected to concern itself with the global responsibilities of a great power,but as its strategic and material interests have become more integrated and entangled with the African continent, Beijing is more and more compelled to consider its national interest and to protect those interestsin Africa. Consequently, China's growing involvement in peacekeeping has become more difficult to reconcile with the country's commitment to non-interventionism, particularly as witnessed in the case of South Sudan.

“Like Ireland, Hungary Had Her Struggles for Freedom:” Cultural and Diplomatic Links between Interwar Ireland and Hungary

Abstract The interwar years in Ireland were marked by the widening of international relations following the newly independent Irish Free State’s entry to the League of Nations in 1923. This paper aims to provide insights into a lesser-known part of Irish diplomatic history, focusing on how, besides Geneva, Dublin also became significant as a meeting point with Central European small states from the mid-1920s. It will trace how the foundation of the Honorary Consulate of Hungary in Dublin demonstrated Irish interest in widening economic relations and furthering cultural connections with Central Europe, even if honorary consulates traditionally fulfilled primarily symbolic purposes. Based on so far unpublished archival materials and press records, this article will assess cultural and diplomatic links cultivated under the consulate of Hubert Briscoe, highlighting the significance of independence and Catholicism as a perceived connection between Irish and Hungarian national identities. Ultimately, this article argues that Irish images of East-Central Europe may add to our current understanding of Irish nationalism in the first decades of Irish independence.

Coastal civilization and maritime diplomacy in premodern Southeast Asia

This article explores maritime diplomacy as a relatively new field of research in the maritime history of Southeast Asia. It is argued that maritime diplomacy was an important element in the history of the region, whose natural character places the sea as a key factor in its historical evolution. The significant role of the sea in the past shaped coastal civilizations, which in turn preconditioned the development of maritime diplomatic links between political centres in Southeast Asia, leading to the integration of this region. During the premodern period, coastal civilizations were the means through which diplomatic negotiations between political powers were conducted in Southeast Asia. Although coloured by conflicts and competition, such diplomatic ties did not result in colonial relationships, as which occurred during the early modern era, when Europeans succeeded in gaining control of almost all of Southeast Asia’s political and economic centres.

China’s evolving role and approach to international peacekeeping: The cases of Mali and South Sudan

China's expanded involvement in post-Cold War United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations coincided with Beijing's efforts in the early 2000s to expand its economic and diplomatic influence globally through trade and diplomatic links. Towards the mid-2000s, China was involved in all seven UN peacekeeping operations on the African continent. At the same time, Beijing's views on peacekeeping have consistently been premised on state sovereignty and the associated principle of non-intervention and noninterference in the affairs of other states. However, as China's strategic and material interests have become more integrated with the African continent, Beijing has been compelled more and more to consider its national (economic) interests and to protect those interests. Consequently, China's growing involvement in peacekeeping has evolved and become increasingly more difficult to reconcile with the country's historical commitment to noninterventionism, as specifically evident in recent Chinese peacekeeping involvement in Mali and South Sudan. Furthermore, the sending of Chinese combat forces to Mali and South Sudan suggests that China has become more comfortable with UN combat operations under certain situations.

Blood transfusion in the Caribbean: a case study of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Caribbean islands form an archipelago connecting North and South America. They have all been colonised by European countries and share strong historical, social, economic and diplomatic links with North America. However, their blood transfusion services have evolved differently, using predominantly family/replacement rather than voluntary non-remunerated donors as has been the practice in England and America since 1926 and 1970, respectively. This article uses the case of Trinidad and Tobago to examine the history and current state of blood transfusion services in the Caribbean and to present early results of an initiative for improving blood safety and adequacy in the region.

Dyplomacja oparta na religii – stosunki dyplomatyczne Chin z Watykanem wczoraj i dziś

China, after years of an international isolation, begins to play a more extensive role in the world. It becomes the main world player in every branch of a single nation’s activity, starting from economy through military to social and culture areas. One of the probes of the international rebirth of this great nation is its diplomatic relations with Vatican. The reason diplomatic relations with the state of Vatican were for some time out of discussion was the Chinese ideology. After it was abandoned, it appeared there are only two issues implicating those relations: Vatican’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan and the Chinese Catholic Church’s wish to remain independent from the Pope. The last few years show the meaningful change of the Chinese and Vatican’s approach to the problem: it appears that the, so called, border issues are defined. Vatican expects China to acknowledge the Pope as the head of the universal Church, whereas Vatican is supposed to revise its diplomatic relations with Taiwan – Vatican is now the only state in Europe to maintain the diplomatic links with Taiwan. In the research, the author has traced back the tangled relationship between the Holy See and the Middle Kingdom starting with the first footprints of Christianity in China to the current situation, when the significant thaw in bilateral relations takes place. Concluding, the article shows the signs of the real reestablishing of diplomatic relations between those two very specific states.

Rozwój gospodarki chińskiej w okresie realnego socjalizmu – analiza podstawowych wskaźników makroekonomicznych

China, after years of an international isolation, begins to play a more extensive role in the world. It becomes the main world player in every branch of a single nation’s activity, starting from economy through military to social and culture areas. One of the probes of the international rebirth of this great nation is its diplomatic relations with Vatican. The reason diplomatic relations with the state of Vatican were for some time out of discussion was the Chinese ideology. After it was abandoned, it appeared there are only two issues implicating those relations: Vatican’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan and the Chinese Catholic Church’s wish to remain independent from the Pope. The last few years show the meaningful change of the Chinese and Vatican’s approach to the problem: it appears that the, so called, border issues are defined. Vatican expects China to acknowledge the Pope as the head of the universal Church, whereas Vatican is supposed to revise its diplomatic relations with Taiwan – Vatican is now the only state in Europe to maintain the diplomatic links with Taiwan. In the research, the author has traced back the tangled relationship between the Holy See and the Middle Kingdom starting with the first footprints of Christianity in China to the current situation, when the significant thaw in bilateral relations takes place. Concluding, the article shows the signs of the real reestablishing of diplomatic relations between those two very specific states.

Russia's Foreign Policy Towards North Africa in the Wake of the Arab Spring

Since coming to power in 2000, Russian president Vladimir Putin has tried to construct a narrative of regaining Russia's status as a major global power. However, in practice the Kremlin has yet to create a coherent strategy or achieve a sense of a co-ordinated foreign policy. While North Africa has not been at the forefront of this narrative, recently Moscow has intensified its diplomatic links and cooperation with the regimes in the region. The Arab Spring presented Russian policy makers with a series of challenges regarding the uncertainty of the developments in the region, but also with renewed economic opportunities. This profile analyses Moscow's relationships with the countries in North Africa (Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) in the wake of the Arab Spring. In each case the Kremlin aimed to take advantage of the new opportunities without really being guided by an overarching strategy for the region. However, Russia increasingly seems to be keen to position itself in the region as an alternative to the EU or the US, not least in light of the current war in Ukraine.

Ecclesiastical Colony: China's Catholic Church and the French Religious Protectorate by Ernest P. Young

Reviewed by: Ecclesiastical Colony: China's Catholic Church and the French Religious Protectorate by Ernest P. Young Joseph Tse-Hei Lee Young, Ernest P. Ecclesiastical Colony: China's Catholic Church and the French Religious Protectorate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 408 pp. $74.00 (cloth). Ecclesiastical Colony is a long-awaited book that reinterprets the history of Catholicism in modern China through a critical study of the French Religious Protectorate, a secular institution implemented by France to monopolize Catholic missionary affairs under the mid-nineteenth-century unequal treaties. By historicizing the religious protectorate in different temporal and spatial settings, Ernest P. Young elucidates how France used this diplomatic mechanism to reshape the Chinese Catholic landscape, how this top-down approach affected the local Catholic communities, and how rival European diplomats and missionaries devised innovative strategies to expand or constrain the French influence. This book makes significant contributions to our understanding of Chinese Catholicism. First, Young has consulted an impressive range of new evidence from Chinese and European archives to illustrate the operation of the French Religious Protectorate. He builds on the latest studies of Catholic movements by Anthony E. Clark, Henrietta Harrison, and Eugenio Menegon to address the diplomatic context of the Catholic missionary expansion into China. The religious protectorate was, in fact, more central to the advancement of France's colonial ambitions than to the evangelistic concerns of Catholic missions. But elevating the protectorate over individual missionaries and non-French Catholic enterprises was fraught with contradictions. Under the Third Republic (1870–1940), Léon Gambetta (1838–1882) notoriously announced that anticlericalism was not an article for export. While the French government marginalized the Catholic Church at home, it protected missionaries abroad in order to put the Church in service of its imperialistic ambitions. Nevertheless, the religious protectorate weakened due to rivalries with other foreign nations. This external factor not only influenced France's monopoly on Catholic affairs in China, but also enabled Chinese officials and Catholic believers to pit one foreign power against another. In 1885, hostilities between France and the Vatican prompted the Holy See to deliver a papal message to the Chinese emperor, and the occasion inspired Li Hongzhang (1823–1901) to pursue direct diplomatic links with the Vatican, with a view toward undermining the religious protectorate (pp. 56-59). By the early twentieth century, the foundation of this imperialistic system was shaken by the broken alliance between France and the Vatican in late 1904 (p. 89). The French consulates in China worried so much about the erosion of the religious protectorate that they employed coercive and co-optative measures to pressure the European Catholic missionaries to defend their imperialistic interests. In addition, the conflicts involving the French Catholic missions had a strong property dimension even though the ostensible reasons given were different. The indemnities following the Boxer Uprising (1900–1901) transformed the Catholic Church into a powerful economic institution. But well-endowed Catholic churches turned out to be a double-edged sword. One example was the extensive network of the Jesuit institutions in Shanghai. The more prestigious educational, medical, and welfare programs the French Jesuits offered, the more appealing Catholicism was to the Chinese. This huge mission empire prompted the Jesuits to rely on dubious revenues for support, including rental incomes collected from a Chinese-run brothel on Jesuit premises (p. 90). Equally important were the diverse Chinese responses towards the religious protectorate, ranging from suspicion and indifference to hostility and confrontation. Most of the late imperial district and sub-district officials bitterly opposed French intervention into local resource disputes involving Catholic missionaries and Chinese converts, but some ambitious community leaders joined the Church to employ French diplomatic influence against their opponents in rural politics. Young draws a complicated picture of the local management of Catholic affairs. European missionaries often lost control of their flocks and were dragged into endless intra-/inter-community conflicts. At least in Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Guangdong provinces, the projection of French power through its religious protectorate was neither a complete nor a unidirectional process. Native Catholic agents occasionally appropriated this mechanism for their own empowerment and survival. Methodologically, two interpretative frameworks have dominated the historiography of Catholicism in China...

Health diplomacy: a new approach to the Muslim world?

Three years ago, the Lancet’s frontispiece stated “Health is now the most important foreign policy issue of our time” and last year, the Director-General of WHO, Margaret Chan, in her opening address, to the Executive Board at its 132nd Session said “health diplomacy works”. The nascent field of health diplomacy provides a political framework which aims to deliver the dual goals of improved health in target populations and enhanced governmental relations between collaborating countries. Any government that offered tangible health improvement as a component of aid to a nation with whom they wished to develop stronger diplomatic links would have an advantage in developing a deeper relationship with its citizens.Here we suggest several different mechanisms through which such links could be developed or enhanced, including: provision of relevant health solutions, applied research, cultural alignment and the development of collaborative networks. The Islamic tradition promotes the practice of medicine as a service to humanity. Physical and spiritual wellbeing are intimately related in popular Muslim consciousness. Thoughtful Health Diplomacy therefore has the potential to bridge the perceived divides between Western and predominantly Muslim nations.

MATERIAL CULTURE OF POST-COLONIAL WILDLIFE TOURISM

Many independent nations with strong tourism economies have colonial pasts. In parts of Africa and Asia, former colonial powers have left post-colonial legacies of language, buildings, trade and diplomatic links, and government bureaucratic structures (Ashcroft et al., 2007, Sharp, 2009, Zein-Alabdin, 2009). There are also strong postcolonial influences on tourism (Carrigan, 2011, Hall and Tucker, 2004, Tucker and Abama, 2009). These range from large-scale factors such as key markets and land-use allocation (Akama et al., 2011, Nelson, 2010), to localised concerns such as the authenticity of performances (Martin, 2010). In nations such as India, the newly wealthy middle class may use tourism to sample former colonial lifestyles (Bandyopadhyay, 2012).

Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Matthew L. Harris and Jay H. Buckley

 Reviews Spanish exploration and empire, Robin Inglis and Iris Engstrand,have helped him bring this text to publication. Bodega’s expedition involved diplomacy, exploration, and scientific investigation. His ostensible remit was to proceed to Nootka Sound (on what is now Vancouver Island) to meet Vancouver and implement the first two articles of the Nootka Convention of 1790, which settled the diplomatic crisis between the two countries over commercial, navigation , and property rights on the West Coast of North America. The crisis was precipitated by the arrest of British fur traders by a Spanish naval officer at Nootka Sound in 1789, and Bodega was instructed to restore to the British “buildings and tracts of land”that the Spanish had supposedly confiscated there and nearby (p.15).He was also called on to survey the coast, extending the work of other Spanish explorers and helping Spain to clarify and consolidate its territorial interests in this vast yet patchily mapped region. His report chronicles his fivemonth stay at Nootka Sound, his encounters withvisitingBritishandAmericantraders(from whom he sought information about the 1789 imbroglio), and his diplomatic dealings and correspondence with Vancouver and Nootka’s NativeChief Maquinna.Tovellprovidesasuperlative sixty-page introduction (with historical background) to Bodega’s mission, and the volumehastwenty -sixblackandwhiteillustrations, manyof themreproductionsof raremanuscript maps, paintings, and drawings. Inhisforeword,thecurrentChief Maquinna suggests that the volume “affirm[s] the diplomatic links shared by our nations and communities ”(p.10).Indeed,the pages on Bodega’s meetings with Maquinna and Vancouver are fascinating. They afford detailed comparison with Vancouver’s own record of proceedings and perhaps unsurprisingly reveal significant differences among British,Spanish,and Native perceptions (see the 1984 Hakluyt Society edition of Vancouver’s Voyage). Bodega captures that with the observation that“one should not make any judgement from a single expression [of opinion]”(p.150).His report also attests to the significance of what Greg Dening termed “performances”(the role of language,rhetoric, bodily gesture, attire, and etiquette) in the shaping of contact relations between Europeans , as well as between Europeans and Native people. Bodega’s charisma shines through his report, as does the late-eighteenth-century language of international diplomacy expedited through the exchange of documents,greetings, and courtesies (letters,speeches,gifts,and dinners ) and characterized by a complex interplay of fact and rumor. This is an enthralling addition to Northwest Coast history,and theArthur H. Clark Company has done a superb job. Daniel Clayton University of St. Andrew Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Matthew L. Harris and Jay H. Buckley University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2012. Notes, bibliography, index. 256 pages. $29.95 cloth. Young Lt.Zebulon Pike played a critical role in a great national drama when Thomas Jefferson sought to expand the fledgling American nation into an empire during the early nineteenth century. Matthew Harris and Jay Buckley ’s enlightening collection of essays examines Pike’s expedition to the Southwest and his quest for honor, as well as other expeditions of the time, against the backdrop of European influence and Jefferson’s motives and policy decisions.The book also describes Pike’s sponsor — the conniving Gen. James Wilkinson. Between 1805 and 1813, brave Pike rendered remarkable service to the nation: heading major expeditions to the headwaters of the Mississippi River and the Southwest, commandingWest Florida troops during its separa-  OHQ vol. 114, no. 1 tion from Spain,and heroically leading his men to victory in the Battle of York during the War of 1812. He died shortly after the battle, where he was struck by flying debris. As a southern complement to Lewis and Clark’s epic journey, Pike’s critical expedition to the mountains of Colorado further defined the western boundaries of the new Louisiana Territory. As an explorer, Pike brought back a general understanding of the Arkansas River and its interplay with the Rio Grande. He correctly established the longitudinal position of the mountain spine of the continent when many believed the main chain of the Rocky Mountains was hundreds of miles farther west. There are great errors in his maps, however, particularly his positioning of the headwaters of the great western rivers — the Platte,Arkansas ,Rio Grande,and Colorado — hundreds...

Louis Fischer and Edgar Snow: Roosevelt's Emissaries in India, 1942

In the absence of direct diplomatic links with India because it was part of the British Empire, President Roosevelt of the United States found means to monitor the political situation there when the Cripps Mission to India of March–April 1942, which offered a small measure of reform, ended in failure as predicted. His ‘emissaries’ in India, Louis Fischer and Edgar Snow amongst others, uncovered a very different version of the failure of the Cripps Mission. Their articles, published from September 1942 onwards, let their American readers and Churchill's information bureaux know that British propaganda had been shown up for what it really was—a bid to retain British control of India.

The Formation of East-Asia culture and the Transition of Chosun-Ming diplomatic links in the late Koryo dynasty and early Chosun dynasty - Understand of the bacground and character of the 甲子上疏(Gabja Sang So) of 崔萬理(Chie man lie) -

The Formation of East-Asia culture and the Transition of Chosun-Ming diplomatic links in the late Koryo dynasty and early Chosun dynasty - Understand of the bacground and character of the 甲子上疏(Gabja Sang So) of 崔萬理(Chie man lie) -

Uma ou duas Chinas? A “questão de Taiwan” sob o ponto de vista de uma comunidade chinesa ultramar (Ciudad del Este, Paraguai)

The article deals with the “Taiwan Problem” and its dilemmas of being or not being a Nation-State. The data are based on an ethnographic research that was carried out in Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) among Taiwanese, Chinese and Paraguayans. Paraguay is one of the few countries in the world that has established diplomatic links with Taiwan, and this fact will be central in the building of “Chinese identities”. In the first part of this article, it is presented a wide view of the macro social question involving China, Taiwan and Paraguay. In the second half, the impact of policies set upon the daily life scope of both immigrants and natives is analyzed.

The consolidation of a new strategy in the relationship between the Crown of Aragon and Hafsid Maghreb: The agreement of 1403 and its mercantile prospects

The political situation in the Kingdom of Tunis had a decisive influence on the targets and failures of its diplomatic and commercial links with the European powers. After a long period marked by successive agreements, the old objectives of the Crown of Aragon concerning the tax system were to be recognized in the agreement achieved in 1360, although that agreement is not achieved in practice enforce that claim. The strengthening of the Hafsid authority during the last decades of 14th Century opened a period of veiled confrontation. The increasing of the pirate actions, which culminated with the punishment expeditions on seaports of Maghreb, were an evidence for this confrontation. The agreement of 1403 ended up the hostilities and opened a new political strategy within the relationship between Crown of Aragon and Hafsid Maghreb.

Onward, Christian Samurai! The Japanese Expeditions to Taiwan in 1609 and 1616

In 1593, 1609 and 1616 three very different attempts were made by the rulers of Japan to establish formal diplomatic and trade links with Taiwan. The 1593 approach consisted merely of a letter that proved impossible to deliver, while the others involved sending well-equipped fleets to the island. Both the latter expeditions were led by prominent Christians in efforts that ultimately came to nothing, in spite of being backed up by very meaningful threats of military intervention. This paper argues that it was largely the nature of Taiwan itself that frustrated Japan's schemes. Taiwan had no overall ruler who could participate, willingly or not, in the accepted modus operandi that had been applied to Korea in 1592 and Ryukyu in 1609. This was an approach based on the tributary model. Instead Taiwan's fragmentary structure of aboriginal tribes laid it open to a more western-style form of development involving the establishment of a military base and colonisation, a means that was to be exploited by the Dutch in Taiwan a decade later to the astonishment and rancour of the Japanese.

The Political Economy of China’s Incursion into the Caribbean and Pacific

This paper examines the recent incursion by China (meaning both Beijing and Taipei) into the Caribbean and Pacific. The general contours of Chinese trade and investment are discussed to provide a background context for a more specific exploration of Chinese aid, especially to small islands across the two regions. A review of recent literature primarily from Western sources reveals that the main strategic use of aid by Beijing (People’s Republic of China – PRC) has been to support the demands of its growing economy but secondarily to isolate Taiwan (Republic of China – ROC) diplomatically. This conclusion, illustrated with several case vignettes, is based on the focus of Chinese aid on those islands retaining diplomatic links with Taipei as well as on the political manoeuvreing this Cross-Strait rivalry has spawned. The paper further suggests that the types of projects Beijing and Taipei have funded, like those of their Western counterparts before them (Australia, Japan, United States), yield limited long-term island development gains.

Revolución y contrarrevolución en el Caribe: España, Trujillo y Fidel Castro en 1959

Soon after the Cuban Revolution it was found out that its own survival depended mostly on the dissemination of its message in the Caribbean area, and specially on the need to export its revolutionary experience to those territories which, as it was the case with the Dominican Republic, wished to get free from the last dictators in America, the most famous among the latter being Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. Spain's external position was peculiar in this regard. Within the general framework of its Latin American policy, aiming at the maintenance of diplomatic links in the area, Madrid endeavoured to keep good relationships both with Trujillo 's Dominican Republic and with revolutionary Cuba.