Nationalism, Social Influences, and Chinese Foreign Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Peter Gries
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Peer Socialization ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
First World ◽  
Different Parts

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.

More than Peripheral: How Provinces Influence China's Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 735-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrye Wong
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
International Relations ◽  
South China ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Security Policies ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy

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.

scholarly journals The Struggle for Minds and Influence: The Chinese Communist Party's Global Outreach

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-733
Author(s):  
Christine Hackenesch ◽  
Julia Bader
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Transnational Relations ◽  
External Relations ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
New Research ◽  
Economic Modernization

Abstract This paper addresses a largely overlooked actor in China's foreign relations, the International Department of the Communist Party of China (ID-CPC). Using publicly available documentation, we systematically analyze the patterns of the CPC's external relations since the early 2000s. Building on an intense travel diplomacy, the ID-CPC maintains a widely stretched network to political elites across the globe. The ID-CPC's engagement is not new; but since Xi Jinping took office, the CPC has bolstered its efforts to reach out to other parties. We find that party relations not only serve as an additional channel to advance China's foreign policy interests. Since President Xi has come to power, party relations also emerged as a key instrument to promote China's vision for reforming the global order. Moreover, China increasingly uses the party channel as a vehicle of authoritarian learning by sharing experiences of its economic modernization and authoritarian one-party regime. The cross-regional analysis of the CPC's engagement with other parties helps us to better understand the role of the CPC in Chinese foreign policy-making, pointing to a new research agenda at the intersection of China's foreign relations, authoritarian diffusion, and transnational relations.

scholarly journals The Arctic and Africa in China’s Foreign Policy: How Different Are They and What Does This Tell Us?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (0) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Christer Pursiainen ◽  
Chris Alden ◽  
Rasmus Bertelsen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Chinese Investment ◽  
Regional Strategies ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
Power Role

The article discusses China’s policies in and towards the Arctic and Africa within a comparative perspective. To what extent is China’s policy adaptable to different conditions? What does this adaptability tell us about China’s ascendant great-power role in the world in general? What is the message to the Arctic and Africa respectively? The article concludes that China’s regional strategies aptly reflect the overall grand strategy of a country that is slowly but surely aiming at taking on the role of leading global superpower. In doing so, Chinese foreign policy has demonstrated flexibility and adaptive tactics, through a careful tailoring of its so-called core interests and foreign policy principles, and even identity politics, to regional conditions. This implies that regions seeking autonomy in the context of great power activism and contestation should develop their own strategies not only for benefiting from Chinese investment but also in terms of managing dependency on China and in relation to China and great power competition.

scholarly journals The Arctic as a “Strategic” and “Important” Chinese Foreign Policy Interest: Exploring the Role of Labels and Hierarchies in China’s Arctic Discourses

2021 ◽  
pp. 186810262110186
Author(s):  
Patrik Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Precise Understanding ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Political Priority

Research confirms that China is becoming more engaged in the Arctic. However, international relations scholarship often extrapolates from relatively few instances of activity to wide-ranging claims about Chinese priorities. Fortunately, Chinese political discourse is organised by labels that allow us to study how the Arctic is classified and ranked along China’s other foreign policy priorities. This article analyses two such classifications – “important maritime interest” and “strategic new frontier,” exploring how they have come about, what they mean, and how they add political priority to the Arctic. It argues that hierarchies are constructed in two ways: by adding gradients and by including/excluding categories of priority. It views categories as performative: they not only convey information about character and relative importance of interests but are also used for achieving different objectives. By focusing on foreign policy classifications, the article contributes to a more nuanced and precise understanding of China’s Arctic interests.

Speaking to the foreign audience: Chinese foreign policy concerns as expressed in China Daily, January 1989–June 1993

1994 ◽  
Vol 53 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Stone ◽  
Liu Binyan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Global Power ◽  
English Language Publication ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
International English ◽  
China Daily

This paper examines the foreign policy priorities and concerns of the People's Republic of China as expressed by that nation's official international, English language publication, China Daily. The paper argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the official Chinese press can be a useful tool in assessing Chinese foreign policy priorities as result of its propaganda function. Within this paradigm, it finds that China's primary foreign policy priorities are sovereignty and territorial integrity and that China considers itself primarily a regional rather than a global power. It concludes that China's foreign policy is driven by pragmatism rather than ideology because of China's domestic project of economic development.

Chinese Civilian Foreign Policy Research Institutes: Evolving Roles and Increasing Influence

2002 ◽  
Vol 171 ◽  
pp. 597-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie S. Glaser ◽  
Phillip C. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Policy Making Process

A more pragmatic Chinese foreign policy and a more bureaucratic policy-making process have increased the opportunities for China's civilian research institutes to affect foreign policy. Beijing's growing involvement in the international community has created increased demand for research and analysis to aid Chinese leaders in making informed decisions. A more pluralistic and competitive policy environment has given analysts at think tanks more influence, but has also created new competition from analysts and authors working outside the traditional research institute system. This article examines the evolving role of Chinese civilian foreign policy research institutes, their relationships to policy makers, and the pathways through which they provide input into Chinese foreign policy formulation. It provides an overview of the key civilian research institutes, identifies important trends affecting them, and examines the roles and functions they play. The article concludes with an assessment of sources of policy influence within the Chinese foreign policy process.

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