The Role of Energy Security in China's Foreign Policy: A Maritime Perspective

Author(s):  
Joshy M. Paul
2020 ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Peter Gries

This chapter assesses the domestic sources of contemporary China’s foreign policy. In particular, it examines the importance of national identities, China’s worldviews, the socialization of Chinese, and particularly the role of nationalism. The chapter begins by arguing that social influences matter: the CCP has inextricably linked itself, society, and foreign policy by staking its domestic right to rule upon its foreign policy performance. The chapter then turns to the thorny empirical question of what we know about Chinese feelings and attitudes toward different parts of the world, from China’s Asian neighbors, to the admired and resented Euro-American First World, to Russia, and the dark and backwards Third World of Africa and Latin America. It then turns to the causes/drivers of these worldviews, arguing that both demographics (e.g., age and location) and individual predispositions (e.g., nationalism and cosmopolitanism) matter, but that political and peer socialization has a powerful constraining effect on the international attitudes of the Chinese people.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Fajar Ajie Setiawan

<p class="Abstrak" align="center"> </p><p class="Abstrak" align="center"> </p><p class="Abstrak"><strong>Abstrak</strong></p><p class="Abstrak">Perkembangan pesat perekonomian Cina khususnya dalam dua dekade terakhir mendorong tingginya ketergantungan Cina akan impor minyak bumi melebihi kapasitas produksi domestiknya. Cina untuk pertama kalinya melewati Amerika Serikat sebagai importir minyak terbesar di dunia pada tahun 2015 dengan kawasan Afrika khususnya negara-negara ‘bermasalah’ seperti Sudan menjadi tujuannya. Investasi berbasis minyak Cina di Sudan kemudian menjadi perhatian dunia internasional karena kebijakan non-interferensi Cina dianggap tidak memedulikan permasalahan domestik Sudan. Penelitian ini berupaya untuk menjelaskan bagaimana investasi berbasis minyak Cina di Sudan dengan fokus analisis terhadap interaksi strategis antar negara yaitu Cina dengan Sudan yang dilanda konflik dengan menggunakan tiga variabel analisis yaitu kepentingan negara, spesifikasi setting strategis, dan perhatian terhadap faktor ketidakpastian. Hasil analisis memperlihatkan bahwa kebutuhan minyak sebagai penggerak pertumbuhan ekonomi Cina merupakan kepentingan krusial sehingga menjadi prioritas yang dijalankan oleh SOEs Cina sebagai instrumen strategis berdasarkan kebijakan “China First” yang permisif terhadap isu domestik.</p><p class="Abstrak"> <strong>Kata Kunci</strong>: investasi minyak; politik luar negeri cina; konflik sudan; ekonomi politik internasional</p><p class="Abstrak"><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p class="Abstrak" align="center"> </p><p class="Abstrak">The rapid economic development of PRC especially during the last two decades has prompted its dependence on oil imports exceeding its domestic production. China for the first time exceeded US as the biggest oil importer in 2015 with Africa particularly ‘troubled’ countries such as Sudan as its destination. China’s oil-based investment in Sudan later becomes international concern since China’s non-interference policy was perceived as ignoring Sudan’s domestic problems. This research attempts to explain China’s oil-based investment in Sudan with focus of analysis on China’s strategic interaction with conflict-troubled Sudan using three analytical variables: the identification of state interest, the specification of strategic setting, and the attention to the role of uncertainty. Analysis result shows that China’s need for oil to secure its economic growth is China’s vital interest as being prioritized by its SOEs as China’s strategic instrument based on ‘China First’ policy that is permissive towards Sudan’s domestic issue.</p><p class="Abstrak"><strong>Keywords</strong>: oil investment; china’s foreign policy; sudan conflict; IPE</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 735-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrye Wong

AbstractMost analyses of China's foreign and security policies treat China as a unitary actor, assuming a cohesive grand strategy articulated by Beijing. I challenge this conventional wisdom, showing how Chinese provinces can affect the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. This contributes to existing research on the role of subnational actors in China, which has focused on how they shape domestic and economic policies. Using Hainan and Yunnan as case studies, I identify three mechanisms of provincial influence – trailblazing, carpetbagging, and resisting – and illustrate them with examples of key provincial policies. This analysis provides a more nuanced argument than is commonly found in international relations for the motivations behind evolving and increasingly activist Chinese foreign policy. It also has important policy implications for understanding and responding to Chinese behaviour, in the South China Sea and beyond.


2018 ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Deych

The object of this paper is North Africa and Mediterranean. The subject of research is China’s policy towards North African countries during “Arab spring” and at the present historical stage. This article is devoted to the role of the North African and Mediterranean countries in contemporary China’s foreign policy and in new Chinese initiative “One Belt–One Road”(BRI). The methodological basis of research is comparative political approach. The fundamental China’s foreign policy principle is non – interference in internal affairs of other countries. The study shows, that “Arab awakening” has become a test for Beijings’ traditional commitment to this principle, composing it by measures for protection of Chinese citizens, business and financial investments abroad. At the same time, Beijing drew conclusions from the Libyan events. Together with Russia it has prevented the escalating of Syrian conflict under the Libyan scenario. In Beijing foreign policy strategy the new initiative BRI takes the leading place. The aim of this research is to show that the North African and Mediterranean countries, located at the crossroads of the land and sea Silk roads, play an important role in new Chinese project. Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are in focus of China’s interests. The implementation of Chinese initiative envisages infrastructure projects, which should cover all expanse of the Belt. These projects include the construction of railways and highways, aviation, energy, industrial parks, construction of ports in Turkey, Greece, Israel and other coastal countries. The author makes the conclusion: although China adheres to doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and avoids participation in armed confrontation, it aspires to play the role of influential player in North Africa and Mediterranean and to strengthen its economic, political and military influence in this important region.


Author(s):  
Courtney J. Fung

Chapter 2 uses an original dataset of Chinese-language sources to understand Chinese views on the connection between regime change and intervention, and unpacks why China finds regime change so problematic. Unlike intervention, which may be permissible under specific conditions, regime change is systematically dismissed. China’s controversies over regime change fall into five categories: defining which actor has the authority to impose regime change; critiques about the aftermath of regime change; misgivings about how regime change affects China’s overseas interests, the role of the United Nations in executing regime change, and how regime change presents challenges to China’s core interests. Most importantly, Chinese writings reflect concerns regarding cases of regime change setting a precedent for actions against China. This chapter adds to an emerging literature that discusses the issue of regime change for China’s foreign policy behavior.


2022 ◽  
pp. 223386592110729
Author(s):  
Attasit Pankaew ◽  
Suppawit Kaewkhunok

China's rising role in South Asia has contributed significantly to the changing geopolitics and geo-economics of the region. Nepal is one of the countries where relations with China have dramatically changed from 2015 till pre-pandemic. This study focuses on analyzing Nepal's foreign policy shifts towards neighboring China and India through a framework of neoclassical realism. It argues that Nepal's foreign policy against neighboring countries has changed since the India-Nepal conflict in 2015, where China has become a key option within Nepal's new foreign policy context. Changes in China's foreign policy and the victory of the Nepal Communist Party are among the key factors in enhancing relations between the two countries. However, it doesn't mean that Nepal took side with China and abandoned India. The article suggests that China's rise has a positive effect on Nepal as an option to balancing intra-regional power and opportunities for infrastructure development within the country.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-588
Author(s):  
Chia-yi Lee

AbstractDue to its rapid economic growth and increasing demand for energy, China has engaged in numerous efforts to sustain its energy supplies and enhance its energy security. While existing literature argues that access to energy is oftentimes the driving force behind Beijing's foreign policy behavior, little work has been done to systemically examine the bilateral relationship between China and energy-producing countries. This paper explores how China's foreign policy making is influenced by its energy security concern, focusing on three foreign policy instruments—partnerships, foreign aid, and leadership visits. Using a large-N, quantitative approach, this paper analyzes the effect of oil production on these three foreign policy indicators. The results show that Beijing is more likely to form partnerships with oil-producing countries. Top Chinese leaders are also more likely to travel to countries that produce a higher level of oil. China's aid allocation to Africa is driven by oil abundance as well, although the findings on aid are only valid in the cross-national analysis.


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