ED IT ED B YDANI E L J OH A N SON , J IE L I A N D TS U N GH A N W U

New Perspectives on
China’s Relations with
the World
National, Transnational and International

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iii

New Perspectives
on China’s
Relations with theWorld
National, Transnational andInternational
ED IT ED BYDA N IE L J OH A N S ON , J IE L I & TS U N GH A N W U

iv

E-International Relations
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vi

About the Editors
Daniel Johanson received his PhD from King’s College, London. His
research focuses on how Chinese foreign policy has evolved and adapted toaddress issues of international concern, specifically on China’s interactions
with Sudan, Iran, and North Korea.
Jie Li received his PhD in History at the University of Edinburgh. His doctoral
project (Sovietology in Post-Mao China, 1980–1999) examined the Chinese
official and intellectual evolving perceptions of Soviet socialism in the 1980s
and 1990s. He has published a number of commentaries on contemporary
Chinese affairs as well as book reviews and papers on a variety of historicalscholarship. He is currently teaching Chinese language and culture in Hong
Kong.
Tsunghan Wu is a PhD candidate at the Lau China Institute, King’s College
London. His research interests focus on international relations, nationalism,
ethnic conflicts and the Tibetan issue. His PhD deals with the politics ofChina’s nation-building in Tibet in the post-1949 era.

vii

Abstract
As China’s role and influence throughout the world continues to grow,understanding this evolution becomes ever more important. This book is
dedicated to exploring new trends and themes in Chinese foreign policy, withthe aim of adding new insights to the existing literature and opening up
opportunities for further specialised research. The book is divided into to
three sections: National, touching on issues within China and its periphery;Transnational, looking at how concepts and people influence power; andfinally, International, examining China’s interactions with the other regions andnations. The chapters work together to offer a sweeping overview of amultitude of new perspectives on China’s interactions and activities
throughout the world.

viii

Contributors
Ilaria Carrozza is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the London
School of Economics and Political Science, working on Sino-African security
relations and foreign policy analysis. She was the editor of Millennium:
Journal of International Studies, Vol. 45, and has previously worked as aconsultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asiaand the Pacific (UNESCAP).
Benjamin Creutzfeldt is a Resident Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars. Prior to this he was the Resident
Postdoctoral Fellow for Sino-Latin American-US Affairs at the SAIS Foreign
Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. He earned adegree in Chinese Studies from the University of Durham (UK) and earned
his MA from SOAS, whereupon he joined Christie’s as an auctioneer andexpert for Chinese porcelain and works of art. He has studied and worked
extensively in China and co-founded multiple start-up companies. He
received his PhD in 2015 for research on China’s foreign policy towards Latin
America.
Nori Katagiri is Associate Professor of Political Science at Saint Louis
University. He is also Visiting Research Fellow, Air Staff College, Japan Air
Self-Defence Force and Fellow Cohort 4 of the Mansfield Foundation’s USJapan Network for the Future. Prior to Saint Louis University, he taught at Air
War College, a graduate degree program for senior military officers andofficials of the US government and foreign nations. He is the author of
Adapting to Win: How Insurgents Fight and Defeat Foreign States in War(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). He received his PhD degree in
Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Neville Chi Hang Li is a Teaching Assistant at the University of Bath. His
previous appointment was at City University of Hong Kong, serving as a
Senior Research Associate. He received his PhD in Politics, Languages andInternational Studies from the University of Bath. His research interests focus
on Politics and International Relations in Asia-Pacific, Critical Security
Studies, Political Demography and New Media and Political Communication.
His PhD dissertation entitled Securitization of Population Dynamics in the
People’s Republic of China, examines the ideational relationship between
security and demography with both the Copenhagen School and the Paris
School approaches.
Tony Tai-Ting Liu is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced
Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo, and a Research Fellow at the Centerfor Contemporary China Studies, National Chung Hsing University. He held

ix

previous research positions at the Australian Catholic University and Universityof Tubingen. His research interests include International Relations Theory,
International Political Economy, East Asia international relations, and Chinese
foreign policy.
Gustav Sundqvist is a PhD student at Åbo Akademi University. He specialises
in Chinese politics and his doctoral work focuses on the roles of civil society,diffusion and ideology in democratisation processes.
Casper Wits is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Faculty of Asianand Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is a historianof modern East Asia and his research focuses on diplomatic and international
history during the Cold War, especially Sino-Japanese relations in this period.
At Cambridge he is associated with the ERC research project “The Dissolutionof the Japanese Empire and the Struggle for Legitimacy in Postwar East Asia,
1945–1965” – http://warcrimesandempire.com.
Shu Liang (Karl) Yan is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University ofToronto. Karl’s research focuses on the effects of China’s grand strategy on its
economic statecraft. Karl is currently investigating the reform and ‘going out’ of
the Chinese railway sector along Belt and Road countries.
Claudia Zanardi is a PhD candidate in the War Studies Department of King’s
College, London where she researches French, British and German foreign andsecurity policies towards China and China’s military modernisation. Previously,
she worked at the European Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and theAssembly of the West European Union (WEU), and she produced research
for the OECD-GOV Directorate and the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International (Paris Office). She was part of the European China Resource
Advise Network (ECRAN), a Taiwan Fellow researcher of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Republic of China (ROC) in 2015, and since 2017 a Global Royster
Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

xContents
INTRODUCTIONCHINA’S RELATIONS WITH THE WORLD: CHANGING AGENDA, NEW
ISSUES, AND ONGOING DEBATES

Daniel Johanson, Jie Li & Tsunghan Wu

1PART ONE - NATIONAL
1.

SWITCHING BETWEEN ACCOMMODATION AND SUPPRESSION:CHINA’S NATION-BUILDING STRATEGIES AND UNITED FRONT WORKFOR TIBETAN LEADERSHIP
Tsunghan Wu
8

2.

THE CHANGING SECURITY DIMENSION OF CHINA’S RELATIONS WITH
XINJIANG
Claudia Zanardi
24

3.

MECHANISMS BEHIND DIFFUSION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE PEARLRIVER DELTA REGION
Gustav Sundqvist
43

4.

“ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS” UNDER SIEGE: RIVAL SECURITISINGATTEMPTS IN THE DEMOCRATISATION OF HONG KONG
Neville Chi Hang Li
60

PART TWO - TRANSNATIONAL
5.
6.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: CHINA’S NEWEST CHARM OFFENSIVE
Tony Tai-Ting Liu77

CAN CHINA LINK THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE BY RAIL?
Shu Liang (Karl) Yan

87

7.

THE TRANSNATIONAL IN CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY: THE CASE OF
SINO-JAPANESE RELATIONS
Casper Wits
104

8.

SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY IN THE EARLY 1980S: A VIEW FROMCHINESE SOVIETOLOGY
Jie Li115

xi

PART THREE - INTERNATIONAL
9.

OVERCOMING THE GREATEST DISTANCE: CHINA IN LATIN AMERICA
Benjamin Creutzfeldt
134

10. CHINA’S MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY IN AFRICA: CONSTRUCTING THE
SECURITY-DEVELOPMENT NEXUS
Ilaria Carrozza142
11. BECOMING A ‘RESPONSIBLE POWER’?: CHINA’S NEW ROLE DURING
THE JCPOA NEGOTIATIONS
Daniel Johanson
159
12. THE EVOLUTION OF SINO-JAPANESE RELATIONS: IMPLICATIONS FORNORTHEAST ASIA AND BEYOND
Nori Katagiri
174
NOTE ON INDEXING						

184China’s Relations with the World: Changing Agenda, New Issues, and Ongoing Debates

1

China’s Relations with theWorld: Changing Agenda, New
Issues, and Ongoing Debates
DA N IE L J OH A N S ON , J IE L I & TS U N GH A N W U

In the late fall of 2016, the editors of this volume met and discussed concepts
for what would later become this book. At the time we agreed that a newcollection of research dedicated to exploring new trends and themes in
Chinese Foreign Policy would be an essential addition to the existing
literature and would allow for further specialised exploration into new andexciting topics. As China’s role and influence throughout the world continues
to grow, understanding this evolution is ever more important. Having an ideaof how China’s policies and strategies have adapted – be it on concepts ofpower, China’s internal politics, regional actors, bilateral relations, orinternational actors – will enable us to further comprehend Chinese actions
and priorities.
Quickly we settled on a framework for the book based around three key
areas: Firstly, national – touching on issues within China and its periphery.
Secondly, transnational – looking more at how concepts and people influence
power. And, finally, international – examining China’s interactions with otherregions and nations. The breadth of research in the book presents a multitudeof new perspectives on China’s interactions and activities throughout theworld. From China’s periphery to global issues and how policies are
influenced, the chapters work together to further define Chinese foreign policy
and inform us on how it has developed.
National
The National section of this book consists of four chapters. The authors ofthese chapters have focused on ethnic minorities (Tibetans and Uyghurs),
democratic development in the Pearl River Delta region, and the issue ofHong Kong. In their discussions, these chapters engage with themes

2

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

concerning China’s security, and the means by which the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) utilises and manages domestic tensions. With thecomprehensive social transformation brought about by modernisation and thepolitico-economic reforms of recent decades, China has not only enjoyedsuccess on the global stage, but Beijing has also acknowledged, albeit
cautiously, the emergence of potential challenges. Indeed, these chaptersprovide analysts with exploratory insight into the Chinese government’s
actions and reactions to these new challenges.
The first two chapters focus on China’s periphery – looking at Beijing’s
approach to Tibet and Xinjiang, respectively. Both authors delineate a precise
picture by examining a wide and varied range of documents concerning the
CCP’s practice in ethnic minority regions. First, Tsunghan Wu outlines China’s
commitment to constructing a unitary multi-ethnic state and a combined
united front, aligned to the former, for the Tibetan ethnic minority. Crucially, hedistinguishes two distinct strategies: accommodation and suppression, thatthe ruling Chinese Communist Party has employed towards the traditional
Tibetan ‘upper strata’. Given a social elite feature, this group of ‘upper strata’enjoys significant influence throughout all levels of local society. As such, the
CCP endeavours to bring their power and influence under their control. As
argued by Wu, the CCP’s flexible uses of accommodation and suppression
have effectively integrated Tibet into the PRC state as a whole. Wu argues
that while the strategy of accommodation was implemented during the 1950s
and 1980s, Beijing now relies on the strategy of suppression. An ‘apparent’social order could be achieved from governmental view – however, thedynamics of ethnic conflict have evolved, both publicly and locally, which has
conversely eroded the socio-politico-economic inducement policies that
Beijing offered the Tibetans. At present, Tibet still poses a threat to China’s
nation-building.
In the second chapter Claudia Zanardi depicts the evolution that the Chinese
periphery has experienced since 1949. Through a multi-layer examination,
Zanardi argues that the issue of Xinjiang is strongly related to Beijing’s
Uyghur policies and the Uyghur’s embedment in both the pan-TurkicSpeaking nationalist and pan-Islamist networks in differing eras. In both
networks, the Uyghurs are perceived as disloyal and a security threat toChina’s territorial integrity. As a consequence, the CCP adopted a repressive
policy – though a certain degree of tolerance was evident in the 1980s.
However, there is some similarity to the situation in Tibet whereby Beijing’s
policies fan Uyghur discontent and threaten a potential eruption of protest.
Inequality, due to the uneven distribution of economic development along
ethnic lines further exacerbates the conflict.

China’s Relations with the World: Changing Agenda, New Issues, and Ongoing Debates

3

The next two chapters move on to assess the situation in other majority-Han
regions in mainland China. Gustav Sundqvist first shifts our attention to thePearl River Delta region, focusing on a vital topic when considering modern
China – democratisation. In his chapter he investigates the impact of Hong
Kong and Taiwan with regard to local democratisation development (aprocess termed as democratic diffusion). The author conducted this researchmainly through interviews with twenty respondents from labour nongovernmental organisations (LNGOs) based in Hong Kong and Guangdong
province in southern China. His findings identify four mechanisms: consulting,financing, provision of free space and provision of international networks
through which democracy diffuse in the region. Questions regarding theexistence of a Chinese civil society and the suitability of democracy for
Chinese society have long been important topics of debate. Sundqvist’s work
enhances this discussion and broadens our horizon concerning groups oflabour organisation in mainland China. They not only have a strong desire fordemocratisation while living in a political system distinct from Hong Kong andTaiwan, but they also perceive both as sources of inspiration. A line ofdemocratic diffusion is developing and expanding on a grassroots level
through these identified mechanisms. In this sense, Sundqvist has set up a
distinct landmark for follow-up studies.
The final chapter in this section by Neville Chi Hang Li shifts our attention to
Hong Kong, where several anti-Beijing and pro-democracy demonstrations
have occurred in recent years. The author analyses the political framework of‘one country, two systems’, that Deng Xiaoping put in place to deal with any
potentially problematic contradictions between the capitalist and socialist
systems. Li refers to this as a ‘political buffer’ and suggests that its role is indanger. Referring to the concept of security developed by Barry Buzan and
the Copenhagen School, Li contends that increasing conflict from both the
pro-self-determination and the pro-establishment camps contribute to this.
This chapter clarifies the basic viewpoints of these two groups and traces theorigins of their distinct arguments. Specifically, the pro-self-determinists
regard Hong Kong as the only referent object and thus seek full democracy
and independence. On the other hand, the followers of the pro-establishment
camp regard the entire state, i.e. the PRC, as the referent object. In this way,
they avoid confrontation against the central government of Beijing. Clearly,
these two stances are incompatible. Given the fact that both sides aim tosecuritise their referent objects, such an irreconcilable relationship of security
competition can only lead to a growing sense of insecurity.
Transnational
The transnational section also consists of four chapters, each dealing with a

4

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

unique aspect of Chinese foreign policy. Tony Tai-Ting Liu’s investigation into
China’s public diplomacy looks at how ‘telling a good story of China’ and theconcept of ‘China Dream’ have been utilised to cope with the widespread‘China threat theory’ and improve China’s status and image. The author also
discusses the contributions of the Confucius Institutes and the China Cultural
Centres with regard to China’s public diplomacy endeavours. He concludes
that by making such efforts, China seeks to move away from the popular
image of ‘China threat’ to a more cordial image of China as a friendly andpeace-loving nation.
Following on from this, Shu Liang Yan utilises a case study of China’s HighSpeed Railway project to illustrate that an infrastructural initiative such as thisnot only has a place on an economic agenda, but also aims to reshape theinternational political order in China’s favour. In Yan’s view, both the Belt andRoad Initiative and the worldwide deployment of Chinese-made high-speed
railways are concerted efforts launched by the Chinese government. The
author argues that the common objective of both projects is building China’s
alliances through infrastructural construction. Both projects are served toconnect continental Asia, change the regional power dynamic, forge acounter-hegemonic force against the Western liberal system and ultimately
establish new international institutions that are in China’s interest. However,Yan questions if the implementation of these public projects can adapt todifferent political institutions and business cultures as well as deal withcountries with profoundly different domestic power dynamics.
Casper Wits argues that the achievement of Sino-Japanese diplomatic
normalisation in 1972 and the Peace and Friendship Treaty in 1978, were theresult of an intense process of bridge-building and (nominally) nongovernmental contacts spanning decades. Central to these efforts was atransnational network involving people from both countries – to which theauthor refers as People’s diplomacy (renmin waijiao) or People-to-People
diplomacy (minjian waijiao). China and Japan both appear to look to the past
to learn from the mechanisms that have contributed to the many
achievements in post-war Sino-Japanese relations. This seems to beparticularly true today as present bilateral relations are tense. People-toPeople diplomacy offers a potential way to counteract the current downward
spiral in bilateral relations. Such examples can provide us with a uniqueperspective for analysing modern China’s relationship with Japan and theworld in a broader twentieth century transnational history context. Wits’s
account shows that grass-roots transnational networks can be utilised toachieve political goals. History has shown us how civic action across borders
changed seemingly rigid political realities throughout the Cold War.

China’s Relations with the World: Changing Agenda, New Issues, and Ongoing Debates

5

The final chapter in this section by Jie Li focuses on how the changes in
China’s foreign policymaking combined with the shift in Sino-Soviet relationsin the early 1980s affected the writing and thinking of Chinese scholars on theSoviet Union at that time. In the early 1980s, Chinese scholarly research into
Soviet hegemony (baquan zhuyi), Soviet-Yugoslavian conflicts and SovietThird World relations all reflected Beijing’s ambitions of challenging theorthodox Soviet model of economic development in the socialist world. Thiswas in order to compete with the Kremlin for leadership amongst developing
countries and to project a more benevolent image of Chinese socialism vis-àvis Moscow. This chapter presents a picture of how Chinese scholars
attempted to adjust their analyses to align with China’s vision of itself and theworld through their research on the formation and evolution of Soviet foreign
policy. In the author’s view, Chinese Soviet-watchers were not able to remain
outside the confines of Chinese politics. The Party guideposts always
transcended impartial academic research.
International
In the first chapter of this final section, Benjamin Creutzfeldt offers an
overview of the history of the interaction between China and Latin America –
tracing the historical roots from the Qing dynasty until the establishment of
the People’s Republic of China. The development of the relationship between
China and Latin American countries has at times been slow, especially incomparison to other parts of the world. Since Jiang Zemin visited the regionin 2001, however, relations and trade quickly grew. Creutzfeldt notes thatwhat makes the relationship most interesting for observers of Chinese foreign
policy is where the region fits into China’s strategy. On the one hand, it
provides necessary raw materials for China’s growth. On the other, it offers
potential support for ‘a new global framework’ where China’s involvement
could either end up supporting the existing elites, or enabling change.
The next chapter in this section by Ilaria Carrozza examines China’s role in
Africa, discussing China’s socialisation to the international order and its workto utilise regional forum diplomacy and venues like the Forum on China-Africa
Cooperation (FOCAC) as a means to socialise African leaders into a similar
security narrative. Carrozza notes that many studies of socialisation fail toaccount for a bias in favour of the Western liberal order and its associatednorms – and in the process neglect the give and take inherent in socialisation.
She views China’s use of FOCAC to have successfully created an accepted
Sino-African narrative. In particular this appears to be China’s reiteration thatit too is a developing state and will continue to assist fellow developing
countries in creating a shared future prosperity. Utilising this, China has beenable to bring African leaders into the dialogue and in the process allow for6

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

China to further help African development and play a more active role in
African peace and security.
Following on from this, Daniel Johanson examines how China’s role in the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) differs from its actions in earlier
stages of the Iranian nuclear issue. As one of Iran’s few remaining trading
partners, China’s role in the sanctions process that led to the agreement wasessential – but also understudied and not well understood. What is telling is
how China portrayed itself as ‘active’, ‘constructive’ and ‘responsible’. This
chapter shows that, at least in global issues that are not a core interest,
China’s actions will work within the system – for now at least.
The final chapter in this section, and of the book, is Nori Katagiri’s
examination of China’s relationship with Japan and what it means for theregion. Katagiri highlights two key factors that play a role in the relationship –the interpretation by each nation of the current state of their balance of power
and the impact that the external environment plays. There is a mistrust
between the two nations on security and military issues, stemming from anumber of historical and modern issues. However, the increase insocioeconomic cooperation highlights a path for a better relationship. There
are, of course, flashpoints that could cause things to change for better orworse: territorial disputes, North Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and theuncertainty inherent in American foreign policy are mentioned in particular.
–
China undeniably plays a greater role in international affairs, and as thiscontinues it is important to understand grand overarching questions like what
its policies are, why they are, where change is occurring, and how they arechanging. In the chapters that follow, we will see an excellent overview of thelatest new perspectives in the study of Chinese foreign policy. The work inthis volume not only updates our understanding of Chinese foreign policy, butalso enables scholars to further this research and build upon it. The broad
scope in themes and content should provide a wide overview of the study ofChinese foreign policy and the factors that influence it across the board. As
you will see in the chapters that follow, these influences are many and eachauthor brings their own unique perspective in analysing the issues at hand.

Part One

National

8

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World1
Switching between
Accommodation andSuppression: China’s NationBuilding Strategies and United
Front Work for Tibetan
LeadershipT S U N GH A N W UThis chapter investigates the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) nationbuilding practice in Tibet over the past six decades and relates it to theevolving united front work employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
towards Tibetan traditional elites. The chapter argues that the Chinese Partystate aims to construct a united multi-ethnic state which contains a superior
Chinese national identity, whilst allowing the co-existence of plural ethnic
identities. In line with this, the CCP strives to balance uniting the ‘ethnic upper
strata’ with empowering autonomy for these ethnic elites. Specifically, in thisway, the central regime had developed and switched its positions between
deliberatively accommodating and collaborating with the Tibetan traditional
elites, and suppressing them within this process. This chapter suggests thatthe former is applicable to the decades of the 1950s and 1980s, and the latter
relates to the more recent era. The transiting dynamics have more to do withthe state’s perceptions to these traditional elites. The chapter observes thatas the ruling authority regarded Tibetan behaviours and demands withdynamics threating to the construction of Chinese nationhood, the authority
tightened its control, which, however, reversely undermined the effects ofexisting inducement policies on economic and cultural developments

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression

9

designed for Tibetans. Furthermore, such political control intensified
international disputes over the CCP’s statecraft.
In this chapter, I adopt a hybrid concept of nation-building. In other words, I
do not further distinguish the concepts of state-building and nation-building,as some researchers may do in the previous literature. In most cases, theformer refers to the degree of development of state institutions and relevant
apparatus, whereas the latter focuses on the creation of national identity amid
the population in a state (Call 2008, 5; Paris and Sisk 2009, 15). This chapter
admits the usefulness of such a conceptual separation when analysing
specific aspects, however, it favours a hybrid approach, for better understanding the operational process of nation-building. Moreover, a hybrid approachis in line with a fact that most policy makers and journalists do not further
make distinctions in their daily practices (Call 2008, 5). Given these academic
and practical merits, as a result, this hybrid position seems to be appropriate
in examining Chinese nation-building in Tibet.
United front work is an important theme yet paid not enough attention in theexisting researches. In this chapter it refers to a Chinese Communists’ flexible
strategy that is employed to build alliance containing as many collaborators(regardless targets’ class, ethnicity, party backgrounds etc.) as possible, inorder to achieve an ultimate goal (Van Ness 1970, 61; Qunpei 2008, 296). In
its association to China’s nation-building, as such, the united front work
serves as a key political tool accessing to the targets and managing them.
The primary English and Chinese language sources utilised in this study
include declassified archives and official documents over ethnic minority
affairs and Tibetan policies. The author also reviewed historical records,
selected works and speeches by PRC leaders on Tibetan affairs published by
the China Tibetology Publishing House, CCP Party History Press and Central
Party Literature Press. The quotes are translated by the author. By analysingthese materials this chapter attempts to accurately gauge Chineseperceptions.
The chapter begins with an introduction to the PRC’s nation-building
regarding the national narrative. It then presents the Chinese government’smeans of operation in Tibet, in which the united front work for the ethnic
upper strata occupies a key position. Two strategies: the united front ofaccommodation and the united front of suppression are summarised. Finally,
the chapter presents an overview of China’s operation over the past six
decades. It concludes by suggesting that the CCP should reflect its strategies
to overcome conflictual dynamics that have occurred in the process of nationbuilding.

10

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Configuring China as a United Multiethnic State
Since the establishment of the PRC in 1949, the ruling Chinese Communist
Party has upheld a nationalist narrative constructing China as a unitedmultiethnic state (Fei 1989; Li 1980). The ethnic Han constitutes a clear
majority with 92%, and the remaining 8% is composed of 55 ethnic minorities.
Such a pluralistic and united configuration is claimed by the regime as ahistorical landmark. This narrative was derived from the Party’s adaptions andcompounds of the Stalinist theory of the ‘nationality issue’, which recognised
the equal rights of all nationalities/ethnic groups in the world (Stalin 2012),
and the Republican Chinese regime’s linear narrative stating that all China’s
ethnic groups shared a common bloodline and history (Leibold 2007). The
CCP sinicised the Soviet Model, and meanwhile, it aimed to balance
ethnocultural diversity and national integration. As a result, for one thing, theCommunist authority insisted on the indispensability of all ethnic groups
within the state territory and their contributions to the modern Chinese nation.
For another, the CCP denied ethnicities’ separatism rights and the adoption offederation, but instead promoted a nationalist sentiment of multiethnic unity,
to impose the socialist transformation on all areas of the state, and to designa regional ethnic autonomy system under the state’s unitary administration(Wu 2012, 344–76; 2016).
As a nation envisaged to be socio-politically and spatially integrated into
congruity (Gellner 1983), scholars have noticed the significance of a ‘national
narrative’ behind the nation-builder’s commitment. The narrative can beconceptualised as a blueprint, a value or a direction set by the nation-builders
to be imposed onto the ‘imagined community’ (Anderson 2006). In its
practices, the national narrative can reflect in constitution, laws, and official
statements. Functioning as the core principle, the narrative instructs theestablishments of most relevant policies and of institutions. In the case of
China, ‘a united multi-ethnic state’, is a term that can be used interchangeably
with the concept of ‘national integrity and ethnic consolidation’ (Guojia Tongyi
Minzu Tuanjie国家统一民族团结), which constitutes a national narrative and isembedded in the CCP’s nation-building operation at all levels.
‘National integrity and ethnic consolidation’ features a mutually reinforced
concept. It is contended that if consolidation amidst all ethnic groups were to
be achieved, national integrity would be complete; the Chinese nation, as awhole, would move towards common prosperity (Kim 2007, 462–465). In the
PRC’s official rhetoric, national integrity refers to three historical backgrounds.
Firstly, the concept of ‘big integrity’ of the Chinese nation has been built since
the Qin dynasty. Secondly, this integrity has been strengthened through interethnic interactions over thousands of years. Finally, Chinese society has

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression

11

completed their national unification through the process of fighting against
imperialists. In addition, ethnic consolidation signifies several aspects,
including the opposition of discrimination among ethnic groups and the inseparatism of the Chinese nation (Tuanzhongyang Minzu Diqu Gongzuo
Lingdao Xiaozu et al. 2013, 38–40).
Having played the role of a provisional constitution before the establishmentof the Constitution in 1954, the Common Program of the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative Conference (Zhongguo Renmin Zhengzhi Xieshang
Huiyi Gongtong Gangling中国人民政治协商会议共同纲领) of 1949, isregarded as one of the most important documents that feature this official
PRC narrative. With regard to the state’s stance on ethnicities, Chapter Six
explores an implication that aims to construct a homogenised loyalty towards
the party-state for all ethnicities, whilst allowing for the existence of ethnic
distinction. It contends:
Article 50: “All ethnicities within the boundaries of the People’s
Republic of China are equal. They shall unite and mutually
help each other, and they shall oppose imperialism and theirown public enemies, so that the People’s Republic of China
will become a big fraternal and co-operative family composedof all its ethnicities. Greater Nationalism [chauvinism] andLocal Nationalism [ethno-nationalism] shall be opposed. Acts
involving discrimination, oppression and splitting of the unity ofthe various ethnicities shall be prohibited” (Zhongyang
Wenxian Yanjiushi 2005, 3).
Article 51: “Regional autonomy shall be exercised in areas
where ethnic minorities are concentrated and various kinds ofautonomy organizations of the different ethnicities shall beestablished according to the size of the respective populations
and regions…” (Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi 2005, 3).
Moreover, an implication that the state should endeavour to impose interethnic cohesion through politico-economic means is evident, as can be seenin Article 53:
All ethnic minorities shall have freedom to develop theirlanguages, to preserve or reform their traditions, customs andreligious beliefs. The People’s Government shall assist themasses of the people of all ethnic minorities to develop theirpolitical, economic, cultural and educational construction work
(Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi 2005, 3).

12

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Upon the establishment of the Common Program, the CCP could initiate
relevant projects, including the creation of the Ethnic Identification Project(Minzu Shibie民族识别), the fostering of ethnic Party cadres and the
beginning of preparations for setting up the ethnic autonomous regions. The
Program was also used as a guideline for the CCP to tackle ethnicity/
nationality issues in China’s peripheral areas in the early 1950s, as a
scenario of the liberation of Tibet showed. The Party composed the principleof the Program to the ‘17-Point Agreement’ to negotiate with the governmentof the Dalai Lama during the liberation process. Then, once the Constitution
was founded, containing major aspects of the Program, corresponding laws
and policies were designed in the following decades. With years ofenforcement, amendment and supplementation, China had institutionalised a
sophisticated system, framing inter-ethnic relationships and means of national
integration. The PRC nation-building narrative had also shaped and reshaped
its propaganda and agenda within a certain scope.1
Nation-building, The United Front Work of Upper Strata, and Tibet
From the outset, the CCP applied its national narrative nationwide. Flexibly,
the Party implemented its nation-building practice along with socialist
transformation, depending upon local conditions, drawing a distinction
between the Han and the ethnic minority areas (Wang 2017, 153–57).
Comparatively, it adopted a much more cautious attitude when imposing
reforms on the latter regions. In the process, the CCP projected that themeans of imposition should not violate the socialist doctrine that vindicatedthe principle of popular voluntarism. Rather, works should be conducted
through the CCP’s ‘active persuasion’ and collaboration with the traditional
elites, termed as the ‘patriotic ethnicity upper strata’. It does not matter in
specific cases the authorities of these elites were based on the sacred or
secular sources, even though the Communists advocated atheism. These
actions were necessary, because as a new regime, the Communist’s power
had not yet penetrated down to a localised level. Therefore, the traditional
figures, with their established connections, became important agents andmust be united for the CCP.
While the Han makes up a majority in the CCP, the Party leadershipendeavoured to avoid an impression that the nation-building manifested as a
Han nationalist movement against the ethnic minorities. As such, the role ofthe ‘patriotic’ ethnicity upper strata was emphasised and they were, and stillare, central to the CCP’s united front work related to the ethnic minorities. Of
all the ethnic minority areas, Tibet featured a typical and controversial case.
1
For example, in the Central Ethnic Work Conference, the notion of national
integrity and ethnic consolidation was every time proclaimed. See Kim 2007, 445–7.

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression

13

Until Chairman Mao launched the liberation of Tibet in 1950, this vast area
had been under the rule of the Dalai Lama and his cabinet (Kashag) and hadpreserved their ‘de facto independence’ from the Chinese central authority
since the collapse of the Qing Empire (Goldstein 1997, 30–36; Crowe 2013,
1104–1108). Although its sovereign status was never recognised by any
foreign country, factors including demographic isolation/mono-ethnicity,
limited external aid (mainly from the British Raj) and the Chinese
government’s long-term struggles with domestic warlords and Japaneseinvasion, contributed to Tibet’s self-rule (Sperling 2004, 22–23).
The sending of a commercial delegation to the West (Sperling 2004, 23) andthe exclusion of all officials of the Republican Chinese government on the eveof the establishment of the PRC demonstrated Tibet’s attempt to achieve agreater degree of independence (Shakya 1999, 7–11). Perceiving thisbehaviour as a threat to China’s sovereign and territorial integrity, the CCP
employed a comprehensive policy combining united front appeal and militaryattack for the Tibetans. Considering their unique ethno-religious characteristics, Mao instructed at a largest degree befriending the Dalai Lama andthe Panchen Lama as well as other Tibetan traditional elites, given theirinfluence on local society (Mao 2001, 1; 16). During the process of signingthe ‘17-Point Agreement’, the Chinese also promised that ‘current societal
system would be maintained’ as long as the Tibetans accepted that Tibet waspart of China (Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi 2005, 43–44). The CCP
continued this stance until 1959 when the ‘Lhasa uprising’ took place. Prior tothis, the Communists had paid special treatment to the Tibetan elites on manyoccasions. Not only were both the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lamaappointed to symbolic senior positions at the first meeting of the National
People’s Congress in 1954, but they were also deemed as leaders in the
Preparatory Committee for the Autonomy Region of Tibet, established in
1956. According to the Chinese government, half of the 6,000 people of theupper strata were designated to various official institutes (Xizang Tongshi
Bianweihui 2015, 123). Moreover, the Central government organised tours tovisit Tibet, which explained the CCP’s perspective to the local elites in an
attempt to convince them of their intent. Alternatively, the authorities also
invited these elites to visit the inland provinces (Xizang Tongshi Bianweihui
2015, 120–21; Jiefang Xizangshi Bianweihui 2008, 229–30).
While it is true that the flight of the Dalai Lama to India provoked the CCP’s
adaption of new policies and tougher control, broadly the implication of theunited front work remained to a certain extent, which can be proven by the
Party’s collaboration with the left leadership. The following scenarios justified
the CCP’s lasting commitment, constructing China into a multi-ethnic state via
uniting the upper strata. It is worth noting that the united front work related toTibet is not only confined to the work by the United Front Work Department.

14

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Beyond that, it also involved the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and State
Administration for Religious Affairs. As can be seen, China’s Tibetan policies
have been mainly designed, instructed and practiced through these units. In
short, through the examination of evolvement of Tibetan policies in the past
six decades, this paper argues that the united front work of Tibetan elites
constituted a key part of China’s nation-building in Tibet. In addition, it has
been identified that the CCP regime developed a duo strategy ofaccommodation and suppression towards Tibet.
Two Strategies of the United Front for the Tibetan Upper Strata
The strategies of accommodation and suppression were mainly identified
based on the CCP’s interactions with the Tibetan upper strata in the 1950s
and the 1960s, respectively. With regard to accommodation, this paperargues that it refers to the commitment that the CCP aimed to conduct
China’s nation-building through increasingly inter-ethnic intimacy. During the1950s, the CCP leadership offered a high degree of autonomy for the
Tibetans. Also, many of the upper strata were appointed to senior positions
within the government and public institutes, such as the Dalai Lama andPanchen Lama as mentioned in the last section. Most traditional Tibetan
leadership accepted this way of arrangement because conversely they
thought they could influence the policy-making process related to Tibet. On
the other hand, the suppression strategy is referred to the CCP’s tightening ofcontrol over the Tibetan elites while still claiming that efforts were made tomaintain unity. The scope of autonomy granted to the upper strata turned
conditional and aligned to what was fundamentally reliant to the edicts andinterpretations of the Party-state. In specific cases the CCP’s implementationof policies varies, but this paper contends that the types of these two
strategies identified outlined the CCP’s actions. In particular, the 1950s and1980s represented periods of accommodation, while all other time periods
experienced suppression.
Relevant questions may then be raised here: why and under what conditions
would the CCP adjust its strategy? Inspired by the previous literaturecompleted by Goldstein (1997), Han (2013), and Topgyal (2013; 2016), thispaper attributes the influences of China’s perception of ethno-nationalist
sentiment to its Tibetan policies. As a primary argument, this paper forwards
the idea that the transiting dynamics between two strategies were related to
the CCP’s perception of the commitments of these Tibetan traditional elites.
This paper observes that when the ruling authority perceived the demands
made by traditional elites to be detrimental to the Chinese national identity,
while reinforcing Tibetan ethno-nationalist sentiment, the Party would adopt a
strategy of suppression.

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression

15

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression
The 1950s
Having liberated Tibet, the CCP leadership prioritised a notion of ‘expansion
and consolidation of the united front with the upper strata’ above all missions
with regard to the Tibetan affairs (Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi 2005, 8081). The purpose behind this commitment was to build and enhancefriendship with the traditional Tibetan elites, through which the Party believed,
it would be able to improve the inter-ethnic relationship and then persuade
the elites themselves to act as facilitators for socialist transformation. Under
the terms of the 17-Point Agreement, the CCP maintained the existing sociopolitico-economic status of the upper class. Besides, Tibet was able toexempt itself from various socialist campaigns that had been launched inother regions of China in the 1950s. Finally, when knowing about the Dalai
Lama’s concerns over socialist reform, Mao immediately compromised topostpone the agenda until ‘the Tibetans were ready’ (Mao 2001, 154–55).
These empirical cases reflected the CCP’s allowance of a high degree ofaccommodation for social elites during that period. However, mutual
coexistence between Beijing and Tibet would not push forward the expected
positive integration in the passage of time. Rather, tensions continually
escalated until the revolt in 1959. Afterwards, the Chinese authorities
imposed a new strategy of suppression on the area, where it continued tocollaborate with the remaining Panchen Lama.
The factors which have triggered the bilateral conflicts were multiple, but a
key one was that Beijing perceived the Tibetan leadership’s firm unwillingness
to conduct socialist transformation as a plot to deny Central authority andeven facilitate Tibet’s independence movement (Zhongyang Wenxian
Yanjiushi 2005, 217–220). Relatively, the Kashag’s inactivity and tolerance of
the Tibetan guerrillas stems from other ethnic Tibetan regions of China
spreading to Tibet (and their receipt of US military aid) (Jiefang Xizangshi
Bianweihui 2008, 339–52; Knaus 2003, 68–69), which furthermore raised
Beijing’s doubt (Han 2013, 135). As a consequence, the Chinese negatedtheir previous strategy. Following the dissolution of the Kashag, Beijing
purged a large number of the upper strata, who were suspected ofengagement in the revolt.
The 1960s to the mid-1970s
The 1960s witnessed waves of far-leftist crusades represented by the
Democratic Reform, the Socialist Reform, and then the Cultural Revolution,
which continued until 1976 when Chairman Mao passed away. During this16

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

short period, Tibet experienced tremendous changes to its society’s
economic, cultural and value systems (Shakya, 1999, 287–88; Wang 2002,
94–96). The wealth and land redistribution to previously deprived serfs had
improved their material conditions and reshaped the landscape of Tibet.
However, under the Maoist notions of class-struggle and criticism of the FourOlds, (old customs, old culture, old habits and old thought) the Tibetan
tradition - given its feudal and religious legacies - faced extreme distortionand destruction. Thousands of monasteries and temples were forced to close,ruined, or converted for alternative use (Woeser 2016). In this context, manyof the remaining Tibetan upper strata, including the Panchen Lama, also
experienced antagonism from the anti-religious and anti-traditional activists.
Moreover, those who showed sympathy for the Tibetan traditional actors
tended to be tagged as ethno-nationalists. The role of the Tibetan upper class
was still nominally significant. In practice, however, their agency was very
limited and illusory. In 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region was established.
While being described as ‘autonomous’, the implication was that Beijing had
further institutionalised its incorporation of Tibet into the PRC state apparatus
and centralised its power (China Report 1966, 28–32; Shakya 1999, 302–03).
The late-1970s to the 1980s
The rise of Deng Xiaoping in the post-Mao era was marked by the adoption of
Reform and Opening Up announced at the Third Plenum of the 11th CCP
Central Committee. Along with this came a revival of the strategy ofaccommodation towards the Tibetan upper strata by the CCP leadership. To
portray a friendly and tolerant gesture, they released groups of Tibetan
prisoners and removed labels from more than 6000 people who either took
part in the 1959 rebellion or were considered to be related to ‘reactionary’ or‘counter-revolutionary’ involvement before the end of the Cultural Revolution(Zhonggong Xizang Zizhiqu Weiyuanhui Dangshi Yanjiushi 2005, 312). Agroup of upper strata, including the Panchen Lama himself, had now beenrehabilitated and reappointed to senior positions within the government.
In the 1980s, Hu Yaobang, then General Secretary of the Party, hosted the
Tibet Work Forum twice, where the rehabilitated Tibetan upper strata
attended. Having proclaimed the specialties of Tibet on these occasions, Huhighly valued the advice and perspectives from these traditional figures. The
implication of strengthening inter-ethnic unity through these traditional elites
was evident. In relation to this intent, the Chinese government proposed toincrease the number of Tibetan cadres, provided funds to support the
rejuvenation of Tibetan Buddhism and restoration of a number of monasteries
and temples, as well as heralding religious practices in public. The Tibetan
language was also claimed to be widely used in all official institutions in the

Switching between Accommodation and Suppression

17

TAR (Wang 2011, 108–09). Moreover, the Party Central redefined the scopeof the ‘upper class people’ to not only the former and incumbent political andreligious leaders, but also the exiles and their families dwelling in China(Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe and Zhonggong Xizang Zizhiqu Weiyuanhui
2005, 365–66). The key reason for this enhancement of united work was that
the CCP presumed that these upper-class people could help to promote theParty’s policies to the masses more effectively than other Communists fromdifferent ethnic backgrounds. Adopting a liberalist stance, the central
government emphasised that ‘loving the country was the only measure’, andsought to unite these leaders as much as possible (Sung 2011, 301; Wang2011, 110–12).
The CCP presumed that its accommodating strategy could acquire greater
support and loyalty from the Tibetans, but in reality, this did not occur. Firstly,
more than 21 demonstrations and riots, led by monks, occurred between
1987 and 1989 (Karmel 1996, 491). It was also reported that 138 incidents
took place during the period between 1987 and 1992 (Schwartz 1994, 186).
Initially Beijing regarded the protests as the result of the government’s
insufficient appraisal of power. However, the increase in disturbances, as well
as slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence,caused the central government to view the situation as a crisis. Beijing soon
faced higher pressure from the successful inter-nationalisation of the Tibetan
issues by the exiled Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan government that drew
the attention of the world inside and outside of China. This resulted in thepolitical conservatives in the CCP leadership dominating the Tibetan policymaking process once more. Hu’s withdrawal from his position is believed tohave been connected with the instability of Tibet.
The aftermath of the Panchen Lama’s death witnessed a new wave of monk
demonstrations in March 1989. In his response, Hu Jintao, the former
Chinese president who served as the party secretary of the TAR at that time,
imposed martial law. The law itself was lifted one year later, but the
implication was that the government again switched its strategy towards theupper strata to a hard-line approach.
The post-1990 era
While the strategy Beijing adopted towards the Tibetan upper strata returned
to suppression, its commitment has been far more sophisticated than the preReform and Opening Up era. Since the 1990s, under a notion of ‘graspingwith both hands’, the CCP government has dually embarked upon politicalauthoritarianism and economic developmentalism, which have contained agreat investment in infra-structure and modernisation projects in Tibet on an

18

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

unprecedentedly large scale (Fisher 2009). In its association, the government
provided generous funds to the development of Tibetan Buddhism. By doing
this, however, the CCP has attempted to stifle the political freedom of the
population, the clergy in particular, to ensure the stability and implementationof the Party-led nation-building agenda. Various inducement policies for
economic interests and crusades for regulation were also put into practice atthe same time (Mukherjee 2010, 476–78; Topgyal 2016, 51–66).
On the occasion of the National United Front Work Forum, launched in 1993,
then-President Jiang Zemin, introduced a term known as the ‘co-adaption ofreligion and socialism’. Having been called ‘co-adaption’, it essentially meantthat religion in China must obey the guidance of the Party-state, and religion
was not allowed to interfere with issues defined as political (Zhu 2014, 307).
However, religion can be utilised for facilitating China’s integrity and ethnic
consolidation. In his speech at the Third Tibet Work Forum of 1994, Jiang
stated clearly:
Tibet is a place where the population believe Tibetan
Buddhism…[we] must comprehensively and correctly
implement the Party’s religious policy, guarantee theappropriate religious activities, and strengthen monastic
management according to law and the principle of separationof church and state. Religion is not allowed to intervene inpolitical and social affairs…[we] should strengthen the
education and management of the monks, uniting them forsafeguarding national integrity and ethnic consolidation…With
regard to ethnicity and religious work, the patriotic upper strata
should play a positive role… (Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi
2005, 461–462).
Moreover, deliberate regulations have been employed to the areas ofmonastery and temple management – interfering with affairs regarding
worship and reincarnation. The patriotic education campaign was also
launched in 1996 (Zhao 2004, 236), targeting monasteries and temples
throughout Tibet. It has become a governmental tool to control monastic
activities and their education curricula to subordinate the state’s confinementof religion. The campaign calling for discrediting the Dalai Lama took place
amongst the clergy. The dispute over the search for the 11th Panchen Lamain the mid-1990s and the flight of the 17th Karmapa to India in 2000 represent
important cases that revealed the CCP’s commitments towards Tibetan
Buddhism. The publication of ‘Measures on the Management of theReincarnation of Living Buddhas’ in 2007, a policy that requires all Tibetanlamas wishing to reincarnate to obtain prior approval by the government, isSwitching between Accommodation and Suppression

19

another recent case confirming that the state wants to guarantee its futurecontrol over the selection process of Tibetan lamas (Arpi 2013, 547;
Dumbaugh 2008, 7).
Conclusion
This chapter contributes to the literature with several new aspects. Firstly, itreveals a relationship that the CCP regime’s united front strategies for the
Tibetan upper strata were framed by China’s nation-building politics. In
addition, these strategies showed dynamics of flexibility relying on thesituations. This argument is against a horizon that many of the Tibetanstudies claim the rigidness of China’s policies. Thirdly, this chapter offers avivid example of Beijing’s dilemmas in its ethnic minority areas. On the one
hand, the authority remained in doubt whether the provision ofaccommodation led to the growing of Tibetan ethno-national identity by the
traditional elites. On the other, a strategy of suppression, adopted to stabilise
Tibet, did not lead to a smoother route for nation-building. The occurrences of
the 14 March Incident in 2008 and the occasional, yet endless wave ofTibetan self-immolations since 2009, in both of which religious groups
constituted an important role, marked the fact that the government’s current
commitment resulted in widespread discontent. It is without doubt that suchdiscontent undermined the authority’s efforts to reconstruct Tibet with aconsiderable amount of resources over the years. Therefore, the Chinese
government has always been covered by a sense of insecurity. Revisiting its
strategies and exploring alternative and appropriate means will be necessary
in order to successfully attain national integration and the unification of amulti-ethnic China.
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2The Changing Security
Dimension of China’s Relations
with Xinjiang
C L A U D IA Z A N A R D I

The main purpose of this paper is to show how the security dimension of thePeople’s Republic of China’s relations with Xinjiang, has been changing. With
22 million residents in 2010, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)
is China’s largest and westernmost region rich in natural resources such asoil, gas and uranium. It is also a connectivity hub across Eurasia, and crucial
to the renewal of the ancient Silk Road. The region encourages the development of China’s new Silk Road Economic Belt, which is part of the Belt andRoad Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing has
attempted to incorporate Xinjiang into the Chinese state through land reform
and the building of infrastructure. The overarching argument of this article isthat Xinjiang’s security increasingly shifted from a domestic to a regional
issue that required securitising trade with the Central Asian Republics(Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). The
Chinese focus on economic development and repressive policies towards
Turkic-speaking Muslims in Xinjiang became a radicalising factor causing the
Uyghur’s growing embeddedness in international terrorist networks.
The concept of security that China applies to Xinjiang mirrors a realist
definition of national security as the preservation of China’s national territory
and institutions. The region constitutes a security concern for the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) because its independence would likely trigger the
independence of other regions, such as Tibet. Hence, ethnic and religious
dimensions become subordinate to national unity. The use of violence isThe Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

25

required to repress any opposition to a unified China based on Han
nationalism, and the economic dimension has become a major tool in the
repressive measures.
The Communist Making of Xinjiang as a Chinese Territory
Although other Muslim minorities live in Xinjiang, the Uyghur issue dominates
regional security concerns because Uyghurs are the largest minority. Despite
being Muslim, Turkic-speaking people in Xinjiang have fragmented ‘oasis
identities’ (Rudelson 1997): for instance, Uyghur and Hui have conflictual
relations. More sinicised and better integrated, the Hui enjoy greater freedom.
Since it is not possible in this short chapter to consider the differences among
these minorities, the focus will be on the Uyghur who represent Xinjiang’s
main Muslim community.
The Communists’ ‘peaceful liberation’ (heping jiefang) of Xinjiang prompted
thousands of Uyghur to flee China. The PRC approved a plan for transferring
Han from coastal regions to Xinjiang (Joniak-Lüthi 2013) and encouraged
migration as a ‘patriotic duty’ (Dillon 2004, 25). The national land reform had
an anti-pan-Islam/Turkish connotation in Xinjiang since it redistributed theland owned by mosques and religious organisations ‘to break down the
traditional social structure and religious authority’ (Dillon 2004, 35).
China also set up the Xinjiang Production Construction Company (XPCC), a
civilian-military organisation, to reclaim land through agriculture and construction, which included demobilised Communists, former KMT soldiers andHan settlers and became a part of ‘a four-in-one system of joint-defence
linking the PLA, the Armed Police, the XPCC and ordinary people, playing an
irreplaceable special role’ (Xinhua 2003). In the aftermath of the Sino-Soviet
split (1960) it also served to counter the Soviet influence.
In 1954, a pan-Turkic revolt supported by exiled Uyghurs in Turkey tried toestablish a Muslim state in Xinjiang. Its failure pushed other Uyghurs to flee
China. One year later, and according to Mao Zedong’s desire to show how
minorities lived peacefully together within the PRC, Xinjiang became anautonomous region, XUAR. However, it remained tightly controlled by militarycommander of Xinjiang General Wang Zhen and the Party Chief in Xinjiang
Lieutenant General Wang Enmao, both Han. During the Great Leap Forward(1958–62), which was paralleled by the Sino-Soviet Split, China’s repressionof Soviet sympathisers in Xinjiang brought the closure of Islamicorganisations and caused the migration of further waves of Turkic-speaking
Muslims to the USSR, especially in 1962. The Uyghuristan People’s Party,
which sought independence from the PRC and became the East Turkistan

26

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People’s Revolutionary Party (ETPRP) open to all Turkic-speaking Muslims in
Xinjiang, asked for military and political help to organise a revolt against
Beijing, but its plot was discovered in 1969.
The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) brought havoc in the XUAR. For
instance, the powerful Party Chief Wang Enmao resigned, and the PLA had tointervene in 1971 to restore order. The Cultural Revolution also saw theresettlement of thousands of Han from coastal provinces, particularly from
Shanghai, to Xinjiang to work at the XPCC. After the break with Moscow, theUS became a secondary threat as the USSR’s proximity to China made it
Beijing’s major threat (Nathan 2012, 89). This is corroborated by the
expansion of the Lanzhou military region, which in 1985 incorporated the
Urumqi’s military command to counter the Soviet threat (Shichor 2004, 130).
Since during the Cultural Revolution many clerics were killed or fled Xinjiang,
when Deng Xiaoping’s reforms revived the Islamic culture and religion in the
1980s there were no longer Imams to teach Islam in Xinjiang. Subsequently,
authorized and underground Koranic schools (madrassas) flourished withconnections to Salafists (Castest 2017).
The 1980s tolerance towards Muslim culture and religion within China aimed
at gaining the favour of Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and, thus,increase bilateral economic ties. The Secretary General of China’s
Communist Party (CCP) Hu Yaobang proposed more autonomy and reforms
for Xinjiang because at that time Muslims were perceived as less dangerous
than Tibetans: they lacked both a unified leader and international support(Dillon, 2004, 37). The backside of this favourable policy toward Islamic
culture and traditions was an increasing influence of Saudi Salafism among
Muslim Chinese, who traditionally followed another tradition of Islam: Sufism(Dillon 2004, 15). Madrassas often had connections with the Salafists(Castest 2017) and taught fundamentalist Islam to Uyghur such as Hasan
Mahsum (Acharya Arabinda 2010, 54).
The revival of Islam and Uyghur’s culture also triggered anti-Chinese
sentiments. In 1981, the Eastern Turkistan Prairie Fire Party was promptly
repressed for preaching the use of force to create a Turkistan Islamic
Republic in Xinjiang. From 1985 to Tiananmen (1989), Uyghur students in
Xinjiang demonstrated and Uyghur’s discontent re-emerged as more nationalistic. When the Party’s conservative faction side-lined Hu, protests wererepressed, several madrassas closed and Pan-Turkish authors and religious
leaders who hold divergent views from official historiography were censoredor imprisoned. As a result, enhanced censorship, policing, and political andreligious control sparked rebellions; Hasan Mahsum established the East
Turkish Islamic Party (ETIP/ETIM) inspired by two short-lived historical

The Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

27

precedents: the 1st Turkic-Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkestan (TIRET),
from 1933 to 1934, and the 2nd East Turkistan Republic (ETR), from 1944 to1949 (Forbes 1986, 169). The ETIP’s goal was to establish an Islamic
Republic under the sharia law, but Mahsum’s planned insurrection was
discovered (1990). Consequently, the central government’s approach to the
Uyghur issue changed radically in the 1990s: religious leaders had to beappointed by the government and respect the Party’s line, official institutions
were created to teach the authorised version of Islam, and the entire society
was put under tight surveillance.
Securitising Trade with New Central Asian (CA) Republics
In the 1980s, China’s western regions, and thus Xinjiang, started looking for
trading opportunities with the Middle East. Delegations of Islamic and Middle
Eastern organisations went to northwest China (Yu 1989) to discuss trade,investment and labour opportunities in the Middle East, and Turkey and Saudi
Arabia financed religious projects (Dillon 2004, 44). In 1985, Xinjiang sentdelegations to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The outcome was their funding of
religious and cultural programmes: for instance, the Islamic Development
Bank founded projects for $4,060,000 in China’s western regions, such as at
the Ningxia Academy, the Ningxia Tongxin Arabic Language School, and the
Xinjiang and Beijing Islamic Academies (Dillon 2004, 44).
In 1992, Central Document N.4 instructed opening the northwest to trade withCA through Turkic-speaking communities. New infrastructure andtelecommunications facilitated its integration with CA and the rest of China
and the exploitation of Xinjiang’s natural resources, particularly oil. Although
Beijing initially relied on the Uyghur diaspora, by the mid-1990s ties between
Xinjiang’s Uyghur and the diaspora were restricted as potentially dangerous:
opportunities for small traders, mainly Uyghur shrunk since they no longer
could find Han or CA partners (Laruelle 2012, 118,120). Consequently, crossborder trade became increasingly monopolised by State Owned Enterprises(SOEs).
China also feared the negative impact of the Chechnyan wars of 1994–5 and
1999–2009 (Oresman 2003). In 1995, a demonstration by 50,000 claiming theincorporation of Ghulja (Yining in Chinese) to Kazakhstan was neutralised by
the PAP and the PLA (Dillon 2004, 69). Since China forecasted massive
social and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang, in 1996 the Standing Committee of the
Politburo issued Central Document N.7 (caccfreedomsherald.org s.d.), restricting religious activities, and strengthening military and security readiness.
At the same time, China’s counter-insurgency relied less upon the PLA and28

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increasingly on paramilitary forces, the local police, and the militia. Althoughsurveillance shifted to society and the PLA increasingly operated in support of
the PAP, demonstrations continued. The killings of local party members,
bureaucrats and official imams, and the sabotage of communications
infrastructure culminated in the Ghulja uprising (1997) known as ‘beating,smashing and looting’ (Xu 1999). Xinjiang’s government created ‘special
guard units from the XPCC’ to control infrastructures. Bomb attacks in
Xinjiang and Beijing were traced back to Turkey and Chinese authorities
spoke about building a ‘steel wall’ to securitise Xinjiang (Shichor 2004).
Since China equates separatism with criminals, the following ‘Strike Hard’
campaign (1996–7) targeted activists as criminals and relied heavily on
XPCC’s Public Security Department (Dillon 2004, 88). In 1997, the Uyghur
demonstrated against the Strike Hard campaign, the growing religious andcultural restrictions, and the increasing migration of Han. They called for
Beijing to respect their autonomy, but China’s security forces crashed down
the protests, triggering three days of rioting: thousands of Uyghur werearrested, some were shot, and several mosques and schools were closed(Freund Larus 2012, 242). Consequently, new policies were adopted that
focused on religion as a source of opposition.
Furthermore, religious leaders were replaced by loyal Han, and Uyghurleaders had to back official positions. Heavy surveillance was completed bygrass roots control through residential street committees, Party members,
neighbours, working groups, and local associations. The authorities clamped
down on unofficial religious activities, madrassas and mosques (Dillon 2004,
105–6) and in 1996 any Islamic-related material required official authorisation(Dillon 2004, 85). The XPCC’s Discipline Inspection Commission andSupervisory Committee increased its informants, and police pressured
Uyghur and their neighbours to report suspicious activities (Wayne 2008, 22).
In 2001, residents received new ID cards, reporters needed new press cards,
and restrictive regulations were issued (e.g. foreign or unauthorised Uyghur
Imams were banned) (Dillon 2004, 72–3). The following year, China pushedforward its ‘development of the West’ (Lai 2002).
Importing Security Challenge from Central Asia
The Soviet collapse saw the establishment of independent republics throughcoloured revolutions that China feared as a potential source of instability. The
CA republics resumed their relations with China and its Uyghur population.
When CA Uyghur lost Soviet support, many Uyghur migrated to Europe andNorth America (Kamalov 2009, 130) where they established the World Uyghur
Congress (WUC) in 2004. Current president Rebiya Kadeer is a former

The Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

29

Uyghur businesswoman who traded with CA (Kazakhstan) and was a symbolof China’s successful minority policy. A member of the National Committee of
the People’s Political Consultative Committee, she lost her seat when she
refused to denounce her husband for plotting against China (Kadeer 2009).
Imprisoned for ‘passing on classified information to foreigners’ (Dillon 2004,
82), her sentence brought for the first time worldwide attention to the Uyghur
issue, whilst China wanted to prevent any internationalisation of its domestic
problem (Clarke 2010).
Under Soviet rule, Moscow often mobilised its Uyghur communities against
China. For instance, it allowed the publication of the anti-Chinese ‘Voice ofEast Turkestan’ calling for the UN to address the Uyghur’s issue (Kamalov
2009, 125). In the 1990s, renewed ties between CA Uyghur and their Chinese
cousins strengthened the support to Xinjiang’s Uyghur. For instance, a CISInternational Uyghur Union was set up in 1992 in Kazakhstan to support
Uyghur’ self-determination and Human Rights in Xinjiang.
China considers pan-Islamist and pan-Turkic movements as destabilisingforces and wants to avoid a sanctuary for independentist Uyghur in CA.
Despite this, CA governments do not support Xinjiang’s independence – theircondescending policy towards their Uyghur communities worried Beijing. A
1999 census put the number of Uyghur in Kazakhstan at 210,300, the largest
diaspora in CA (Kamalov 2009, 121), which has an estimated 300,000 Uyghur(Laruelle 2012, 20-21). At the beginning of the 1990s, Kazakhstan saw amushrooming of Uyghur pro-independence organisations such as the United
Revolutionary Front of East Turkistan (URFET), the Uyghur Liberation Organisation (ULO), the International Uyghur Union (IUU) promoting democracy,
Human Rights, and self-determination for Uyghur in Xinjiang (Smith 1996,20). Consequently, the Friendship Declaration between Kazakhstan and
China (1995) included the common goal of fighting separatism.
China’s trade policy towards the new CA republics required first thesettlement of the borders. Beijing’s self-restraint in negotiating a bilateral
settlement and long-term economic prospects gave it more leverage over CA
governments. China also boosted its stance against the ‘three evils’(separatism, extremism, and fundamentalism) by initiating the Group of Five
(1996), later institutionalised in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO, 2001), which includes a Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS, 2004)(Debata 2007, 206-7). Beijing cultivates bilateral relations with Muslim
countries to obtain their public support for its policy in Xinjiang and to deter
them from supporting the Uyghur’s cause (Brynjar 2013, 247) (Kondapalli
2010, 245-6). It also combined political pressure on CA countries to dissolve
anti-Chinese groups with indirect practices to buy political elites. Since

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Xinjiang’s stability is crucial to CA governments, due to proximity reasons andtheir Uyghur communities, they continuously balance complacency towards
Beijing with the need to prevent discontent among their majoritarian Muslim
populations.
Uyghur’s Growing Embedment in International Terrorist Networks
The current insurgency in Xinjiang is linked to the Afghan resistance to theSoviet occupation. In the 1980s, anti-Soviet forces in Pakistan alreadyreferred to Central Asia and Xinjiang as ‘Temporary occupied Muslim Territory’(Scheuer 2002, 21). Some Uyghur were also trained as jihadi soldiers andMoscow’s defeat by Islamist guerrilla renewed the Uyghur’s hope forindependence (Wayne 2008, 23).
When China started restricting Uyghur’s cultural freedom and Islamic
education, many Uyghur fled to Afghanistan which had no extradition treaty
with the PRC. In 2002, China identified 400 Uyghur fighting in Afghanistan(Fuller 2004, 342) and later asserted that 1,000 Uyghur had been trained
there and posed a threat to China (Wayne 2008, 10). For instance, the Baren
revolt (1990) was organised through a network of mosques, foreign fightersreportedly came from Afghanistan (Wayne 2008, 7), and China traced
insurgents’ weapons to Mujahidin in Afghanistan. In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Pakistani consulates gave visas for Uyghur to study in fundamentalist
madrassas, and some fought in Pakistan’s Kashmir (R. Gunaratna 2002, 51).
Indian intelligence also reported that Pakistan trained Uyghur, and Pakistanipan-Islamic jihad groups instructed Uyghur in Baluchistan: fundamentalist
groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamaat-e-Tablighi, and Lashkar-e-Toiba
helped Uyghur insurgents (R. Gunaratna 2002, 145).
With connections to Bin Laden, Hasan Mahsum established ETIP in 1990
(Schmidt 2013, 269). It became operational in 1997 when he brought its
headquarters to the Taliban’s stronghold in Afghanistan (R. a. Gunaratna
2015, 244). It trained Uyghur recruited at mosques to launch an unsuccessful
jihad to create an East Turkistan Republic in Xinjiang (Dillon 2004, 63). The
ISAF’s bombing killed Mahsum (2003) and weakened the organisation thatmoved to Waziristan under Abdul Haq where he strengthened ties with Al
Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). However, Uyghurfighters were not numerous (Brynjar 2013, 247) and disagreement between
nationalists and conservative Islamists within the ETIP undermined theorganisation. Finally, its allegiance to the leader of the Taliban Mullah Omar
limited its action: the Taliban courted Beijing to counterbalance the US andforbade the ETIP from targeting China (Brynjar 2013, 248).

The Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

31

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Beijing cooperated with
Washington. It subsidised mules and $200–400 million worth of weapons to
the Mujahidin (Crile 2003, 268–9) and the PLA had facilities in Peshawar andnear the Pakistani border with Afghanistan where it employed 300 militaryadvisers. In 1985, the PLA opened military camps in Xinjiang to train the
Mujahidin with ‘Chinese weapons, explosives, combat tactics’, etc. (Shichor
2004). Later, China also had diplomatic ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan,where Chinese telecoms built infrastructure in exchange for cooperation on
the Uyghur’s diaspora. Consequently, the Taliban handed two Uyghur fighters
to China (Palmer 2004, 4).
In the aftermath of 9/11, Jiang Zemin launched another strike hard campaign(2001–2002) domestically while rushing to declare China’s support for the US
after Washington initiated the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Jiang Zemin
offered to tackle terrorism in Xinjiang. Subsequently, Washington opened an
FBI office in Beijing, helped China build signals intelligence (SIGINT) in
Xinjiang, and Beijing obtained more room to manoeuvre with covert
operations against Uyghur militants abroad (Wayne 2008, 87). Since China’s
priority was to keep Xinjiang a domestic issue, its contribution to GWOT
remained limited. Furthermore, Beijing perceived the presence of American
military bases in CA in the framework of the GWOT as a destabilisingdevelopment in its periphery since they provided the US with a potential
platform for hostile actions against China. In fact, Washington has regularly
been accused of implementing direct and indirect actions to undermine theChinese government through supporting Human Rights and democratic
development in Xinjiang, and also Tibet. Beijing believes that the colour
revolutions in the former USSR were fomented by the US, and aimed for
regime change in China too (Nathan 2012, 92).
Beijing used the threat of terrorism to justify repressive policies at homebecause it considered everybody ‘fighting for an independent state in thenorth-western province of Xinjiang’ to be a terrorist (Chung 2002). This is thereason why, although the US included the East Turkestan Islamic Party(ETIP) in the Department of State’s Terrorist Exclusion List (State 2004), it
refused to include the WUC, the East Turkestan Liberation Organization, andthe East Turkestan Information Centre. Actually, Washington supports the
WUC through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded by theCongress. Traditionally, the NED provides funding to the Uyghur American
Association that promotes religious freedom and Human Rights in Xinjiang(Mackerras 2011, 26-7). Despite the Chinese pressure, Washington also
refused to repatriate 22 Uyghurs in Guantanamo, two of whom were
supposedly members of the ETIP (Jankoviak 2004, 318).

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Economic Development and Repressive Policy towards Turkic-Speaking
Muslims as Radicalising Factors
Although China’s constitution states that ethnic groups are equal, China
maintains quite a paternalistic attitude towards its minorities. The Constitution
also guarantees their freedom of religion; however, religions must accommodate (Saunders 2017) socialism because Beijing fears their interference
and requires religious organisations to register with the Religious Affairs
Bureau. Since religion equals ignorance, Uyghur are also considered to beprimitive, thieves and increasingly as terrorists (Kantian 2007, 64, 73), while
those Uyghur who receive Chinese education are criticised by other Uyghurfor sacrificing their culture (Kantian 2007, 17) in exchange for better economic
opportunities.
As in Tibet, China’s policy towards Xinjiang is increasingly based on both
repression and ‘forced’ economic development. It is not by accident that in2016 China nominated Chen Quanguo, former governor of Tibet, as the Party
Secretary of Xinjiang. Furthermore, that same year the ongoing major militaryreform reduced the military regions from seven to five theatres (Saunders
2017): the incorporation of the Chengdu and Lanzhou MR in a broader
Western Area Command including Tibet and Xinjiang highlights the CPC’s
increasingly unified vision of security in these two autonomous regions andtheir connections to neighbouring areas.
Beijing equates prosperity with long-term stability and identifies Chinese
nationalism with Han nationalism on which the Chinese dream is based(Meyer 2016). Oasis towns near the southern border of the Taklimakan desert
are the bastions of Uyghur culture, as well as China’s poorest areas. Althoughseparatist and Islamist movements have been flourishing in those areas(Dillon 2004, 5–6), deprivation is not the only root of terrorism; rich Muslims
also embrace terrorism and there is evidence that Hui are slowly radicalising(Acharya Arabinda 2010). Over the last decade, Xinjiang has been developing
fast, but such economic development has disproportionally benefited the Han
settlers whilst subjecting the Uyghur on their own land (Bovingdon 2010). As
a result, Uyghur’s socio-economic marginalisation/discrimination undermines
societal stability and China’s policies towards the Uyghur may facilitate theinterpretation of ‘Islam as an ideology of national liberation’ (Laruelle 2012,180) and increase inter-ethnic conflict.
In fact, the riots in 2009 were the deadliest ethnic clashes in decades (around200 casualties) and demonstrated the failure of China’s approach to Xinjiang.
In 2010, when the first Xinjiang Work Forum was held, Xinjiang’s security
budget doubled (Cui 2010), and Wang Lequan was replaced by a member ofThe Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

33

the Politburo, Zhang Chunxian (Simpson 2010), as Xinjiang’s Party Secretary.
Whilst Muslim countries kept a low profile (Mackerras 2011, 37) terrorist
organisations called for reprisal. For instance, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb
threatened Chinese expatriates and investment; Al Qaeda’s top leader Abu
Yahya al-Libi, called for the Uyghur to fight China, and the TIP’s leader, Abdul
Haq al-Turkistani, incited Muslims to target Chinese interests abroad(Mackerras 2011, 38; Stratfor 2009).
Thanks to connections with Al Qaeda, the ETIP reappeared in the mid-2000s
as TIP, and currently operates in Syria with around 200 fighters, and during
the Arab Spring (2010-12) encouraged Uyghur to fight for Sunni Muslims.
Turkey facilitated Uyghur’s travelling to fight in Syria through an association
for cultural education founded in Turkey in 2016. China discovered thatpeople working in the Turkish Embassy in China were illegally distributing
passports to Uyghur to help them reach Syria (BBC 2015). In addition to CA,
South East Asia (SEA) also became a route for reaching Turkey and Syria: in
2016, Thailand repatriated 109 Uyghur out of 400 who were smuggled into
camps. Therefore, there is growing concern about terrorism in SEA (Pantucci2017). Furthermore, since those Uyghur illegally leaving Xinjiang have to rely
on locals for protection, they often become easy targets for criminal groups.
Within the PRC, the car bombing in Tiananmen Square (2013) and the knife
attack at Kunming rail station (2014) signalled the dangerous spreading of the
Uyghur issue outside Xinjiang. Hence, in 2014 XUAR’s security budget
doubled again and the second Central Work Forum on Xinjiang recognisedthat ‘Xinjiang’s most sustained problem is the problem of ethnic unity’ (Leibold
2014, 4). Nevertheless, this indirect admission that economic development is
all that is needed is inadequate, and more efforts should focus on reducing
ethnic differences through better ethnic integration (e.g. improving labour
opportunities, bilingual education, and economic conditions especially in thesouth) remains a rebranding of hanification.
China’s counterterrorist actions remain limited by its view of separatism ascriminal activity. This blurs the distinction between criminal and politicaloffences (Dillon 2004, 112) and responds to China’s attempt to criminalise
terrorism per se, notwithstanding the political motives of the perpetrators(Clarke 2010) For instance, in 2002 for the first time an official document
addressed the terrorist threat in Xinjiang claiming that ETIP had a dozenbases in the region (Wayne 2008, 44), and in 2003 a pilot-anti-terror squad
was set up in Beijing (Lam 2003) and later replicated it in 36 cities, even if
they were anti-riot squads (Wayne 2008, 78). Although China has become
more prominent on UN global counter-terrorism, passed its first anti-terror act(2015), and now holds regular counterterrorism exercises, it still lacks

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counter-terrorism experience and capability. Beijing’s increasing disillusion
with the SCO in dealing with terrorism, explains the creation of the‘Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism’ (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty 2016) between China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan
where China runs military camps to help train Afghan police (Snow 2017). In
fact, the deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Afghanistan is a
growing source of worry for Beijing. For instance, in 2017 the State
Commissioner for counterterrorism and security, Cheng Guoping, questioned
whether Afghanistan would become another haven for terrorists (Reuters2017).
Overall, the Uyghur issue is gaining increased importance within Al Qaeda
and domestic and international dimensions are increasingly entangled. For
instance, in 2016 Al Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri acknowledged Hasan Mahsum
as a jihadi leader and praised the jihad against the Han ‘atheist colonisers’(Joschelyn 2016). In 2017, a video of Isis showed some Uyghur fighting in
Iraq and threatened China to cause ‘rivers of blood’ (Hincks 2017). Thishighlights China’s increasing need to protect its citizens and economic
interests abroad due to the fact that terrorist attacks on Chinese expatriates
are increasing. For example, in 2015 a terrorist attack in Mali killed Chinese
executives of China Railway Construction Corporation, ISIS executed a
Chinese citizen, in 2016 the Chinese embassy in Bishkek was targeted by a
Uyghur network operating in CA (Dzyunbenko 2016), and in 2017 ISIS killed
two Chinese citizens in Pakistan (Rasmussen 2017). This increase in security
threats to Chinese businesses and citizens in CA underlines the security
challenge of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is a pillar of China’s
economic expansion through internationalisation.
Conclusion
China acknowledges separatism as the main threat to Xinjiang’s stability andblames hostile foreign forces, mainly the US, for backing Human Rights,
minority rights, the spreading of democratic values, and the insurgency inXinjiang (e.g. through the Uyghur World Congress). However, rioters are
traditionally indigenous, though increasingly embedded in global jihad
networks. Beijing fears an independent Xinjiang because it would likely
threaten the territorial integrity of the PRC by triggering other autonomous
regions, such as Tibet, to push for independence. Therefore, China
implements a pervasive surveillance system, the increasing militarisation of
the region, repressive policies towards Uyghur, and ‘forced Hanicisation’(Laruelle 2012, 179) of Xinjiang, which made the ratio of Turkic-speaking
Muslims drop from around 90% at the end of the 1940s (Forbes 1986, 6), toroughly half of the population in the 2010s (Han and Paik 2017, 39).

The Changing Security Dimension of China’s Relations with Xinjiang

35

China uses a carrot and stick approach including intense security crackdowns
and forced economic development. On the one hand, Strike Hard campaigns
address political unrest, criminal activities and religious movements under thesame banner. In 2017, the provincial government expanded a 2015 regulation
forbidding Muslim names as ‘overly religious’ (Feng 2017). Passports havebeen seized (Hornby 2016), Muslim dress codes forbidden, and long beards
banned (Reuters 2017). In 2017, the Hotan/Hetian prefecture issued adirective outlawing the teaching of Uyghur language at school, including insecondary school (Sulaiman 2017), and the XUAR Working Guidelines on the
Accurate Registration and Verification of Population introduced biometriccollection scheme for Xinjiang’s residents, from ‘DNA samples, fingerprints,
iris scans and blood types’ (Haas 2017).
On the other hand, despite Xinjiang’s economy improving, economic
opportunities benefit Han residents disproportionally, and favourable policies
to attract Han enhance competition for land and water. Xinjiang per capita
income remains behind the national average and the growing wealth gap
between Han settlers concentrated in towns and Uyghur concentrated inunderdeveloped rural areas, exacerbate social tensions. The WUC argues
that development policies such as the opening of the Northwest to trade with
CA, the development of the Western regions, the adoption of Fora in Xinjiang,
and more recently the Belt and Road Initiative all result in the marginalisationof the Uyghurs (WUC 2016, 2).
China’s repression of Uyghur culture and religion breeds resentment. The
prohibition of formal religious education under the age of 18 and of informal
religious education even if given privately by parents (Wayne 2008, 105), did
not eradicate fundamentalism. Rather, these measures increased Uyghur’srancour. Cultural and religious constraint triggers violent protests (Purbrick
2017, 241), and Uyghur reach the Middle East or Turkey to study and/or fightfor Islam. Though China’s strategic partnership with Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and Iran does not stop trade with Muslim countries, it does complicate
China’s relations with these countries. Therefore, by fearing the support ofMuslim countries for Uyghur separatists, Beijing plays down ‘proliferation
concerns and supplies arms and problematic technology to them at generous
prices’ (Horner 2002, 44).
While China pushes for economic development in Xinjiang, tight media
control and cyber-surveillance constrain the region’s economic growth:access to the Internet is pervasive and control exceptionally extensive.
Although security measures and censorship made it difficult to have reports
on Xinjiang unrest, officers admit there are incidents (Pantucci 2017). This
explains why Xi Jinping called again for setting up a ‘Great Wall of Steel’ in36

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Xinjiang (Reuters 2017). The militarisation of Xinjiang is increased by the useof new technology such as the use of drones. In 2013, the regional government ordered China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation drones
for targeting terrorists. It requested drone pilots after 100 people were killed inviolence that erupted in Xinjiang in 2014 when Muslims reacted against the
security measures during the Ramadan (Tatlow 2014).
Uyghurs perceive these measures as undermining their identity. Furthermore,counter-terrorist efforts include the use of drones and tracking devices on
vehicles based on China’s Beidou navigation satellite system (Phillips 2017).
Hence, China’s security policy towards Xinjiang will push regional development further as well as push further repressive policies, and there is no real
alternative for Uyghurs to the dilemma of either resisting or sinicising.

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Castest, Rémi, Paris, 8 June 2017
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Mechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

43

3
Mechanisms behind Diffusionof Democracy in the Pearl River
Delta Region
GU S TAV SU N D QVIS T

Since the early 2000s, scholars of democratisation have been increasinglyinterested in how democracy spreads from one political unit to the next in aprocess often called diffusion of democracy (Brinks and Coppedge 2006, 464;
Gleditsch and Ward 2006, 917; Wejnert 2005, 55). Many have noted that the
PRC government threatens democracy in Greater China by weakening Hong
Kong’s democratic institutions (Pepper 2008, 300; Sing 2004, 221; Wu 2015,290) and threatening to annex Taiwan (Jacques 2009, 304; Schubert 2012,66). Less attention has been paid to how Hong Kong and Taiwan contribute todemocratic development in the mainland. Despite their limited resources,
promoters of democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwan may still have a
democratising impact on some sections of Mainland China’s society. This
chapter addresses this issue by studying the relationship between labour
non-governmental organisations (LNGOs) in the Pearl River Delta (PRD)
region of Southern China. The research question is ‘How do LNGOs in Hong
Kong contribute to democratic diffusion in the PRD?’
Democracy, Civil Society, and Diffusion
More maximalist definitions of democracy include not only free elections but
also the rule of law (Weale 2007, 203), the protection of political and civil
freedoms (Dahl 1998, 86), and the presence of intermediaries through whom
citizens can influence politics between elections (Schmitter and Karl 1991,
78). These components of democracy are often channelled through the social
sphere not belonging to the state or the market, termed civil society (Diamond
1999, 222). The main object of this study, labour-oriented civil society, is

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

viewed here as a potentially democratising force. The study is restricted to
LNGOs, because labour groups have historically played a prominent role indemocratisation, especially in communist states.1 Labour movements inauthoritarian societies tend to focus on democracy-related issues such as
institutions for class representation, freedom of association, and fair
application of labour legislation (O’Donnell and Schmitter 1986, 53). Labourgroups can have a strong influence on national politics since they can often
mobilise protesters and disrupt the economy through strikes (Valenzuela
1989, 447). Because of their officially pro-worker ideology, the legitimacy ofcommunist regimes is particularly sensitive to criticism from organised labour(Beetham 1991, 183; Shambaugh 2009, 50). Labour movements thus playeda decisive role in the transition from communist dictatorships in Eastern
Europe, particularly in Poland, where the trade union Solidarity was especially
important (Grugel 2002, 105). LNGOs were also prominent actors in Asian
democracy movements, such as the anti-Guomindang movement in Taiwan
during the 1980s (Chan and Chiu 2015, 168). Based on historicalexperiences, there is reason to believe that organised labour may play amajor role in any potential liberalisation of politics in China.
Although civil society and labour movements have historically been prominent
actors in transitions from authoritarianism, it must be noted that not all civilsociety groups have a democratising impact. Although the number of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in the PRC has increased dramatically,
from 5,000 in 1990 to 500,000 in 2014 (Teets 2014, 11), most of these groups
have a relatively non-political agenda and they generally do not aim tochallenge the government (Foster 2001, 102; He and Huang 2015, 12; Hsu
and Hasmath 2014, 533). Diamond (1999, 228) provides a proper analyticaltool, based on five features, for measuring the democratising potential of civilsociety groups.2 In this study, I developed an analytical tool inspired by
Diamond’s, adjusted to more efficiently assess the democratising capacity ofthe small and pressured civil society groups in the PRC. The features
1
Note that LNGOs should be distinguished from member-based trade unions.
In state-corporatist systems such as the PRC or pre-democracy Taiwan, representationof important social groups is monopolised by the state. In Mainland China, there is thus
no legal trade union except the party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions(ACFTU). Any new workplace trade unions must be permitted by the higher levels of
ACFTU. LNGOs often engage in activities traditionally performed by trade unions such asproviding legal consultation. However, unlike ACFTU, most LNGOs’ activities take placeoutside of the workplace and these groups are usually not allowed to visit factories. For a
discussion on the difference between the official trade union and LNGOs see Chan andChiu 2015, 157–165.
2
Diamond uses five features to assess the democratising capacity of civil societies: (1) self-government, (2) goals and methods, (3) organisational institutionalisation, (4)pluralism, and (5) density.

Mechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

45

employed are self-government, goals, methods, institutionalisation, anddensity. The first feature addresses the extent to which civil society groups
practice internal democracy; the second and third, the goals and methods ofcivil society groups in relation to democracy; the fourth, whether the internalmanagement of civil society groups is efficient and institutionalised; and thefifth, whether civil society groups are able to survive and grow.
Diffusion can be defined as ‘the spread of a practice within a social system,
where the spread denotes flow or movement from a source to an adopter
typically via communication, role modelling, and/or coercion’ (Wejnert 2014,35). Diffusion generally involves at least two actors, a source and a potential
adopter, a communication channel linking them together, and an innovation(Rogers 1995, 18). In the case of China studied here, the innovation isdemocracy.
Although previous studies quite convincingly show that some kind of
democratic diffusion effect exists, most of this work is based on large-N
analyses of cross-state data (Brinks and Coppedge 2006, 464; Doorenspleet
2004, 322; Gleditsch and Ward 2006, 921; Kopstein and Reilly 2000, 17;
Starr and Lindborg 2003, 495). Some theories on the diffusion mechanisms
have been elaborated, but the understanding of how democratic diffusion
actually works is still relatively underdeveloped (Yilmaz 2009, 95). According
to existing theories, democracy can be diffused through two different
mechanisms: imposition or emulation (Teorell 2010, 86). Imposition is
described as an attempt to influence others towards democracy througheither coercive or cooperative means (Levitsky and Way 2005, 21). Powerfuland high-status actors are generally more able to influence weak and lowstatus actors than vice-versa (Fordham and Asal 2007, 32). Emulation occurs
when one actor, due to changing external conditions or new information,
decides to adopt a more democratic stance (Brinks and Coppedge 2006, 466;
Elkins and Simmons, 2005, 39). In the latter case, an adopter of democracy
such as a democratic polity or a democracy-promoting organisation provides
information (intentionally or not) on conditions associated with moving
towards democracy (Elkins and Simmons 2005, 42). Democracies on theborders and movements towards democracy elsewhere can remind people inauthoritarian societies that democracy is achievable (Ambrosio 2007, 235;
Huntington 1991, 100).
A problem of previous theories on the mechanisms of democratic diffusion isreliance on overly broad concepts. More detailed theories are thus needed tobetter understand how democracy is diffused at the grassroots level in
different social and geographical contexts. This chapter aims to contribute tofilling this gap in the research.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

Method and Material
From a democratic diffusion perspective, the PRD can be seen as a criticalcase. The region includes two important political units: the semi-democratic
former British colony of Hong Kong and the southern parts of the much moreauthoritarian Guangdong province, both under the supreme authority of thecentral PRC government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Becauseof more freedom of speech and assembly in Hong Kong, civil society insensitive fields such as labour and democracy promotion has much morepolitical space there than in Guangdong (Collins and Cottey 2012, 59; Lo
2013, 943). In this study Hong Kong LNGOs (H-LNGOs) are treated as themain sources of diffusing democracy and Guangdong LNGOs (G-LNGOs) as
the main potential adopters. Although some studies have discussed how
H-LNGOs influence G-LNGOs (Chan 2013, 9; He and Huang 2015, 15; Xu
2013, 246) the democratising aspect of this relationship has so far received
little attention.
The primary material in this study is 18 interviews with 20 respondents andsome fieldwork notes. All interviews were conducted during three fieldwork
trips in the PRD in 2015, 2016, and 2017. All but one of the interviews withrespondents from H-LNGOs was conducted in English and all interviews with
G-LNGO respondents were conducted in Mandarin. I transcribed the English
material myself and had the Chinese material transcribed by a trusted
Chinese research assistant. Responses have been further edited for clarity,
but the original transcripts are available by request. The interviews weresemi-structured, and respondents were asked relatively broad questions
about their organisations’ activities and cooperation networks. Eight
H-LNGOs and five G-LNGOs were covered. According to respondents fromfour of the Hong Kong groups, 12 H-LNGOs focused on mainland issues in2017. The material thus involves a large sample of the H-LNGOs and may begeneralisable to the whole community of these groups. Due to the state’s
suppression of mainland labour groups, there is no certain knowledge of theexact number of G-LNGOs, but estimates vary between 30 and 50(Franceschini 2014, 480; Fu 2017, 448; Xu 2013, 246). The sample of thesegroups is thus hardly generalisable. Still, the information provided by
G-LNGOs can be compared with that from H-LNGOs to deepen our understanding of how strategies to influence actors in the mainland are received.
Following Xu (2013, 246), the organisations are identified by codes to protect
their confidentiality (H1, H2, H3, G1, G2, G3, etc.). Information on the codingof the LNGOs are provided on my webpage under the ‘research’ tab.3 A
confidential version of the transcribed interviews can be provided on demand
to readers qualified not to misuse the information.
3

http://www.gustavsundqvist.com

Mechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

47

Analysis
In this section, I argue that H-LNGOs mainly use four different strategies: (1)consulting, (2) financing, (3) providing free space, and (4) providing
international networks to diffuse democracy in the PRD. The four categories
were developed inductively during the analysis of the material. In the final
discussion, I elaborate on the extent to which these strategies can also be
perceived as mechanisms through which democracy can be spread. The
appendix summarises how respondents from H-LNGOs described theirgroups’ most salient strategies and how respondents from G-LNGOs
described their groups’ responses to these strategies.
Consultation
Consultation seems to be an important strategy of H-LNGOs to promote
democratic diffusion in the PRD. Respondents from seven of the H-LNGOs
told me that their groups participated in training sessions and workshops inGuangdong, and all the Hong Kong groups provided online, telephone, or
face-to-face consultation to their mainland partners. Regarding the content of
this consultancy, respondents from all but one of the H-LNGOs stated thatthey aimed to influence their cooperation partners to involve themselves inmethods and activities more related to democracy such as elections,collective action and advocacy. One respondent from H2 told me theorganisation used workshops to encourage G-LNGOs to become involved in
trade union activities, which is sensitive in Mainland China, where all unions
are supposed to be controlled by the state:
one content was to let them decide a goal and see what they
could do between the time span of one year in order toimprove working conditions. They decided that their goal wasto elect a trade union. When I returned in May, perhaps May
20, in the middle of May 2014, they started to take action, anddeclared they would elect a trade union.
Representatives from seven of the H-LNGOs also said that they consulted
with their Guangdong partners to encourage their institutionalisation. As one
respondent from H8 said, one aim was to raise the level of organisation
among often scattered activists:
we do believe in organisations, we do believe in organising, so
we stress that organising is possibly the most important aspect
for the sustainability of a labour movement, so we try to bringup this kind of messages, but, you know, whether others buy

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

this kind of messages or not, it is up to them.
Except respondents from G3, the Guangdong activists generally played down
the impact H-LNGOs had on the methods and institutionalisation ofGuangdong groups. However, most Guangdong respondents were in frequentcontact with H-LNGOs and some noted that their Hong Kong partners
provided some good advice in these fields. Respondents from five of the
H-LNGOs also told me that they used consultation to influence the goals of
Guangdong partners in a more democratic direction. As one representative ofH5 reported, their organisation promoted concepts related to democracy suchas freedom of speech and freedom of association:of course we would like to see democratic development in
China, yes. So, at the moment of course we would not say that
we are going to pull down the CCP openly, it would be politicalsuicide, yes. And, and, also we understand it is kind of hard tocall for just democracy with workers because they don’tnecessarily understand, firstly and secondly they won’t be able
to relate their own lives to that, their own well-being with that,
so we actually frame it in another way… We actually started totalk about that from the three basic labour rights, the right tostrike, the right to organise and the right to collective
bargaining, so it is more connected to workers’ consciousness,at the same time promoting some values of free society, likefor example freedom of association, freedom of speech andthe important value of deciding on your own life.
Respondents from three of the five G-LNGOs told me that interaction withactors overseas, especially organisations from Hong Kong and Taiwan,changed the Guangdong activists’ views on politics in a democratic direction.
However, the Guangdong activists usually emphasised that although theyreceived ideological inspiration from abroad, they still had to develop
indigenous strategies to achieve democracy, as demonstrated in the following
conversation with one respondent from G2:
Interviewer: ‘You still think that communication with people in
Taiwan and Hong Kong was meaningful?’
Respondent: ‘Yes… it opened our horizons… now, the wholebackground is clear for us.’Interviewer: ‘Did they also talk about like human rights anddemocracy?… Do you think this is meaningful?’
Respondent: ‘Yes, certainly… the work we do will eventually
end there.’Mechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

49

Interviewer: ‘… so foreign actors influence you a bit but notvery much and this influence is mostly in the ideological field?’
Respondent: ‘Yes, because usually I still believe that we must
rely on ourselves and explore our own road. Only then will weknow how to realise democracy here.’
There seems to have been great variety in how much Hong Kong groups
have influenced the ideology of particular mainland activists. One respondent
from G3 noted that some mainland activists were especially influenced byideas from Hong Kong:
Interviewer: ‘Your colleague told me that you talk about how topractice democracy.’
Respondent: ‘Yes, we have studied this topic recently, but westill do not have any strong political ideas… but if you
compare, there are some colleagues who go abroad and thinkthat everything there is good… their political consciousness
has been enlightened.’
Representatives from four H-LNGOs also said that their groups usedconsultation to promote democratic self-government among G-LNGOs, as
demonstrated by this respondent from H2:during our trainings we may mention that they should electtheir workers’ representatives. During the bargaining process,they should elect workers’ representatives or workers’
representatives should take in all the demands from theworkers and see what they need. Then they should present
their demands to the management. This is perhaps a
performance of democracy.
One respondent from G3 also noted that interactions with H-LNGOs
influenced their organisation’s internal governance in a democratic direction:
we think that several Hong Kong groups have a relatively thickcultural atmosphere. They always say that things should bedone together, discussed together, and they talk relatively
democratically. I think that their atmosphere is a bit better than
it is here in the mainland. It is worth studying this, and referringto this… so, now when we do things, when we do things
together, then all of us first talk about it, we walk into the final
results together. If it is a huge decision, you cannot decide
about it by yourself.

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Financing
Financing also seems to be a prime strategy of H-LNGOs to diffusedemocracy in the PRD. Many respondents said that financing andconsultation were especially important in the past, as many G-LNGOs wereoriginally established by Hong Kong activists. According to one respondent,
who is also a prominent scholar on Chinese labour groups, at least ten of the
30 to 50 G-LNGOs were established by Hong Kong groups, most of themaround the turn of the millennium. Respondents from three of the Hong Konggroups told me their organisations had founded labour groups in Guangdong,and one respondent from G3 stated that her organisation was originallyestablished by H4: ‘one of their methods was to establish libraries. They
established libraries in industrial areas and used this method to give workers
service and to organise work, so at that time our colleagues from H4 went to
the mainland to search, for instance, for workers to train, and they also
contacted some social worker students and social worker professionals. So,
they found perhaps four people, workers and social worker students, and they
established G3, just like that.’
All five G-LNGOs seem to have received funding from Hong Kong partners,
either recently or further in the past. The Guangdong activists said that they
had no other choice but to rely upon funding from Hong Kong or foreigncountries to finance projects more related to democracy, since mainland
foundations usually only support charity projects. Respondents from two of
the H-LNGOs said they conditioned financing to steer their mainland partners
towards activities such as advocacy, collective action, and collective bargaining. As one employee from H2 said: ‘it sounds strange but the foundation of
our organisation is that we believe that collective bargaining is the way. So
then if they want to work with migrant kids, they are free but not with ourfunding.’ By providing funding, H-LNGOs seem to aim at influencing themethods of Guangdong partners working towards democracy and increasing
the density of G-LNGOs.
Due to tightening political control of foreign funding of NGOs, Guangdonggroups involved in sensitive activities face increasing hardship. The Foreign
NGO Management Law, which came into effect in 2017, requires the Public
Security Bureau to exert stricter control over the flow of financing between
Hong Kong and mainland NGOs. As a result, respondents from G2, G3, andG5 told me it was increasingly hard to receive legal founding for sensitive
activities. The director of G5 stated that he was prepared to lay off all his
employees and continue his activism on his own: ‘at least I can use my pencil
to carry out my work… and who would employ me anyway? Who would
employ a man who would just start a strike?’ One Hong Kong activist told me

Mechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

51

that the director of G1 also planned large staff cuts as a consequence of thedeteriorating political climate.
Provision of Free SpaceThe literature on social movements in authoritarian societies uses ‘free space’to refer to spatial or organisational loopholes that allow some administrative
freedom (Bedford 2009, 30; Johnston 2005, 111). Having more civil freedoms
than Mainland China, Hong Kong can be perceived as a relatively free spacein the PRC. It should, however, be noted that civil freedoms in Hong Kong
have deteriorated in recent years. According to the Freedom House Index(2017), civil liberties in Hong Kong have slowly decreased every year since2014. The Hong Kong activists I interviewed admitted that they were worried
about the city’s political trajectory. Nevertheless, as one activist from H1 said,
they usually still perceive the political climate in Hong Kong to be much freer
than that in the mainland: ‘even though the so-called freedom of expression isdeteriorating in Hong Kong, compared to the environment in the mainland, we
still have a relatively safe and open space to talk about things like this.’
One strategy used by H-LNGOs to facilitate democratic diffusion in the PRD
seems to be sharing Hong Kong’s free space with Guangdong partners byinviting mainland activists to participate in workshops on sensitive issues
organised in the city. Respondents from seven of the H-LNGOs told me they
regularly invited mainland partners to participate in activities held in Hong
Kong and five Guangdong respondents from three of the G-LNGOs said they
had participated in such events. Permanent residents in Guangdong usually
only must meet some minor formalities and pay a small fee to be permitted to
go to Hong Kong. Five of the respondents raised the advantages of arranging
activities in the city. As the director of H7 told me: they are coming up more[laughs] because we cannot organise meetings in [mainland] China
anymore… although some harassment also happens in Hong Kong, it is still
good. For them it is easier to come to Hong Kong, but if we organise somemeetings outside China [PRC], there would be more difficult, then they haveto get a visa.’4
As stated by a respondent from G3, workshops in Hong Kong were also
appreciated by G-LNGOs: ‘we often participate in their trainings and activities.
In addition, we often use their groups to contact Hong Kong workers andunderstand more about Hong Kong workers. We communicate with Hong
Kong workers and learn from them. We get some inspiration from them, we
4Note that the respondent, who spoke English during the interview, sometimes
uses the term China when she only refers to Mainland China, but sometimes also includes Hong Kong in the concept.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

learn and then we use it in the mainland.’ The director of H7 told me that theirgroup had even invited mainland workers involved in a legal conflict with alarge multinational company to come to Hong Kong and protest in front of thecompany’s office building. I also sometimes experienced Hong Kong as a freespace for mainland activists participating in protest activities. During the rally
in Hong Kong on 1 May 2017, I met the director of G5, who I had interviewed
a year earlier in the Guangdong city of Dongguan.
It should be mentioned that two respondents from Hong Kong and two from
Guangdong also mentioned disadvantages to organising activities formainland partners in Hong Kong. As reported by one employee at H8,
mainland activists entering Hong Kong face political risks: ‘after leaving thecountry they are always interrogated by the police, before and afterwards.
Instead of bringing them trouble, we prefer to go inside and meet them.’
International Networks
Finally, H-LNGOs seem to use their international networks to promote
democratic diffusion in the PRD. Because of the relatively free political spacein Hong Kong and the good English language skills of Hong Kong activists,
H-LNGOs have many cooperative ties with international actors. This probably
explains why H-LNGOs are better funded than G-LNGOs. Respondents fromsix of the H-LNGOs told me that their groups receive foreign funding, mostly
from labour unions, churches, and democracy-promoting agencies in Europe
and the USA. The funding H-LNGOs provide for groups in the mainland thus
generally has its origin in the West.
Respondents from seven of the H-LNGOs also used their international
networks to help their mainland partners put pressure on multinational companies involved in labour conflicts and legal disputes. One respondent from H3stated that they often used their contacts with Taiwan LNGOs to pressure
Taiwanese companies: ‘we have connections with the Taiwan groups, andthen sometimes if there are any cases or some workers’ struggles related to
Taiwanese-owned factories, then we contact them, to see if they can give any
support to the workers.’ This respondent also told me that the Taiwanesegroups usually respond by organising protests and by spreading information
about these cases through social media. The director of G1 also said it was
helpful to contact foreign media to put pressure on companies: ‘we advise
workers to first find media, of course, not domestic media but foreign media.
Because after foreign media enters, some local governments will put pressure
on companies.’
Finally, international networks are also used to pressure authorities inMechanisms behind Diffusion of Democracy in the Pearl River Delta Region

53

Mainland China to respect civil rights. The most prominent cases have been
when Chinese authorities have detained labour activists such as Wu Guijun(detained in May 2013, then released in May 2014), Zeng Feiyang (detainedin December 2015, then given a four-year suspended sentence), and Meng
Han (detained in December 2015, then sentenced to 21 months in prison).
Respondents from two of the H-LNGOs told me they were actively involved inthese campaigns, and seven of the eight Hong Kong groups also signed
online petitions protesting these cases. One respondent from H8 wasparticularly involved in the campaigns to free Zeng Feiyang and Meng Han:
‘we have written to international unions as well as NGOs, international NGO
platforms such as the Clean Clothes Campaign, etcetera, etcetera, in you
know, different campaigns that we all work on together in a coordinating kindof fashion in bringing this campaign possible.’ The respondent from H8argued that foreign labour unions had some leverage on the Chinese
government because the ACFTU depends upon the goodwill of foreign unions
to strengthen its role in international labour organisations.
Discussion
From the analysis, it seems clear that H-LNGOs have at least some potent
strategies for spreading aspects of democracy to their Guangdong partners.
Since the total population of H-LNGOs are limited and respondents from thegroups often mention the same strategies, it is plausible to see thesemethods as corner stones in the community’s attempts to contribute todemocratic diffusion in the PRD. In general, H-LNGOs seem to use
consultation, financing, sharing of free space, and international networks asmain strategies to influence their partners in a democratic direction. Whether
these strategies may be described as mechanisms through which democracy
spreads is more difficult to determine, not least because the study involved a
relatively limited number of G-LNGOs. There seems to be plenty of evidence
suggesting that financing from Hong Kong groups has been necessary forincreasing and sustaining the density of G-LNGOs involved in democracy
related activities. There are also interesting cases suggesting that
consultation from Hong Kong activists has inspired G-LNGOs to orient
themselves in a democratic direction, not least in the fields of goals and selfgovernment. The free space of Hong Kong also appears to increase some
G-LNGOs’ opportunities to receive information, and to provide theminspiration on how to develop their activities and ideas in a more democratic
direction. The international networks provided by H-LNGOs also seem toprovide G-LNGOs with some leverage against their adversaries. Thus, thesefour strategies at least seem to work as mechanisms in some cases.
However, more research is needed to gain a deeper understanding on thebreadth and impact of these mechanisms.

54

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the WorldIn interview studies, interest should be directed not only to what is said, butalso to what is left unsaid. One aspect of this study that deserves further
attention is that none of the G-LNGOs’ respondents expressed any ambition
to influence H-LNGOs in any direction. There was also no evidence
suggesting that Hong Kong activists perceived their organisations as under
the influence of mainland groups. It thus seems that the H-LNGOs exert
unilateral influence on G-LNGOs. One plausible explanation for thehierarchical structure of the LNGO network may be the disparity in resources,
knowledge, and freedom between H-LNGOs and G-LNGOs.
In the bigger picture, this study may be a first step in developing a better
understanding of how democratic diffusion works on a grassroots level.
Financing, consultation, and international networks may be perceived as
different dimensions of the imposition mechanism. Actors in a moredemocratic community can use these tools to strengthen civil society actors inauthoritarian societies, to influence them to orient themselves in a moredemocratic direction, and to increase the costs for regimes that aim tosupress them. Consultation and free space can be perceived as dimensionsof the emulation mechanism. By visiting democratic societies and receiving
advice from democratic actors, members of civil society groups from
authoritarian societies can gather information on the benefits and drawbacksof democracy and may also develop a better understanding of how
democracy should and could be achieved.
Abbreviations
PRC		
CCP		
LNGO		
H-LNGO		G-LNGO
PRD		

People’s Republic of China
Chinese Communist Party
Labour non-governmental organisation
Hong Kong based labour non-governmental organisation
Guangdong based labour non-governmental organisation
Pearl River Delta region

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Appendix
Tables 1 and 2 show how respondents from H-LNGOs described their groups’
most salient strategies and how respondents from G-LNGOs described theirgroups’ responses to these strategies.

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4“One Country, Two Systems”
Under Siege: Rival Securitising
Attempts in the Democratisationof Hong Kong
N EV IL L E C H I H AN G L I

The principle of “one country, two systems” is in grave political danger.
According to the Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong signed in
1984, and as later specified in Article 5 of the Basic Law, i.e. the miniconstitution of Hong Kong, the capitalist system and way of life in Hong Kong
should remain unchanged for 50 years. This promise not only settled the
doubts of the Hong Kong people in the 1980s, but also resolved theconfidence crisis of the international community due to the differences in thepolitical and economic systems between Hong Kong and the People’s
Republic of China (PRC). As stated in the record of a meeting between
Thatcher and Deng in 1982, the Prime Minister regarded the question ofHong Kong as an ‘immediate issue’ as ‘money and skill would immediately
begin to leave’ if such political differences were not addressed (Margaret
Thatcher Foundation 1982).
Although “one country, two systems” was designed as a political buffer toavoid a direct clash between two political units, this chapter argues that the
principle is politically threatened by two emerging securitising attempts
throughout the democratisation of Hong Kong. The pro-self-determination
camp (自決派) regards Hong Kong as the only referent object and suggests
referenda on political reform (from a liberal perspective) or on independence(from a nationalist perspective) as emergency measures to securitise thedemocratisation of the city-state. Their securitising moves hit the nerves ofthe pro-establishment camp (建制派). The Hong Kong government and pro-“One Country, Two Systems” Under Siege

61

Beijing lawmakers condemn the pro-self-determination camp as “separatists”– they seek to set up laws in Hong Kong to prohibit treason against the PRC.
Their counter-securitising moves have shifted the referent object from Hong
Kong to the PRC, blurring the political separation that has existed up until
now and endangering the organisational stability of both Hong Kong and the
PRC.
Background
The “one country, two systems” principle serves as the solution to prevent a
clash between two political units that have significant differences. Hong Kongowes its prosperity to a capitalist system, which it inherited during 156 yearsof British rule, while, since 1949, the PRC has been built upon socialism with
Chinese characteristics. In addition to political and ideological differences,both political units do not share the same language, currency, degree of
freedom and legal system. As a result, it would be politically irresponsible toforcefully put two political units together – this could bring catastrophic
political instability to both Hong Kong and the PRC.
The mini-constitution of Hong Kong has various articles that reflect the
principle of “one country, two systems.” For example, Article 2 grants Hong
Kong the right to ‘exercise a high degree of autonomy and enjoy executive,
legislative and independent judicial power.’ Further, Article 9 certifies English
as one of the official languages. A win-win situation was established; Hong
Kong operates on its own terms and Beijing also has Hong Kong back under
the umbrella of “one country, two systems” without causing a direct politicaland organisational collision – in addition to gaining economic prosperity fromthe Pearl of the Orient.
However, this political balance is being undermined due to the ambiguity of
the Basic Law. Article 15 promises the democratisation of Hong Kong statingthat ‘the ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive (CE) by universal
suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee
in accordance with democratic procedures.’ Nevertheless, on 31 August 2014
the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) issued
a white paper that interpreted the meaning of the “broadly representative
nominating committee” as a 1,200 member strong committee with a heavily
pro-Beijing bias (Flowerdew and Jones 2016, 520–521). It was such aninterpretation from Beijing that blurred the distinctions between Hong Kongand the PRC, hitting the nerves of Hongkongers and leading to the massive
Occupy Movement in 2014. The NPCSC decision is one of the greatest
political threats against various referent objects – such as Hongkongers’
identity, political autonomy and democratisation. Hongkongers occupied three

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major urban areas for 79 days, hoping to overturn the NPCSC’s decision. Theinternal and external legitimacy of both Hong Kong and the PRC has beeneroded, not only because of the NPCSC’s decision but also due to numerous
incidents of police misconduct in the suppression of peaceful protesters –such as the firing of 87 rounds of teargas and the clandestine beating of ahandcuffed protester (Bhatia 2016; Jones and Li 2016).
Undermining the “one country, two systems” disrupts the organisational
stability of all involved political units and their citizens’ well-being. In therhetorical construction of Hongkongers, not only is their autonomy being
existentially threatened, their way of life that has been guaranteed by the “onecountry, two systems” principle is also under siege. One of the central notionsof the Occupy Movement – “I want true universal suffrage” – was aimed atreclaiming the democratisation promised by the Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law (Li 2014). The array of incidents involving police misconduct also
demonstrates how Hong Kong’s law-enforcement system has been corrupted
due to political reasons. All these discourses are centred on the rhetoric thatHong Kong’s autonomy is politically threatened by influences from anotherpolitical unit that undermines the principle of “one country, two systems”.
During these securitising attempts, the discussion has moved towards
autonomy, self-determination and even independence. Pro-establishment
politicians and the Hong Kong government have attempted to countersecuritise the pro-democracy rhetoric by discursively framing the localism as“separatism” that threatens the PRC’s national security. They have raisedvarious emergency measures such as the legislation of Article 23 to prohibit
treason against the PRC. This chapter engages with both securitising
discourses and concludes that it does not matter which side successfully
securitises the political security of Hong Kong in the future – it will be a loselose situation for both political units. This is because the political equilibrium
established by the “one country, two systems” will inevitably be undermined.
Political Security and the Securitisation Framework
According to Buzan, political security refers to the organisational stability of apolitical unit, including its ideology, identity and institutions (Buzan 1991, 118).
It clearly advocates a state-centrist perspective; indeed, the referent object ofpolitical security is the political unit itself – not the individuals. States aredefined as organisations that ‘exercise clear priority in some aspects over allother organisations with substantial territories. The term therefore includes
city-states… and other forms of government….’ (Tilly 1990, 1–2). Buzan et al.
expand upon Tilly’s definition by arguing that organisations, such as churches, also take on a political capacity; therefore it would be more appropriate

“One Country, Two Systems” Under Siege63

to use the term ‘political unit’ to represent ‘a collectivity that has gained aseparate existence distinct from its subjects’ (Buzan et al. 1998, 143).
In human security, the referent object of political security is regarded as theindividual – the goal is to protect human rights from political repression(United Nations Development Project 1994, 32–33). Regarding the difference
between the two approaches, Thomas and Tow pointed out that state-centricand people-centric securities are intertwined, and that political units can be a
critical determining factor to either human security or human insecurity(Thomas and Tow 2002, 380). At the heart of security studies the following
questions are continually asked: security for whom – for the general population? For state power itself? For dominant domestic constituencies?
(Chomsky 2015).
The Copenhagen School has forged its own approach to provide an answer
to these questions, namely the securitisation framework. The school argues
that, in order for an issue to be considered as a threat, it is necessary toundergo a process of threat construction – i.e. to frame a non-politicised issue
into a politicised one, and eventually a securitised one. To put it simply,
securitisation refers to the process whereby a public issue is constructed intoa threat (Buzan et al. 1998, 23–25). Non-politicised issues refer to mattersthat are not included in public discussion; therefore a state does not utilise its
capacity to deal with it. An issue is politicised when it is included as a part ofpublic policy. To successfully securitise an issue and construct it as a security
threat requires: 1) the declaration of an existential threat towards a particularreferent object; 2) the acceptance of relevant audiences; and 3) rights to be
granted by the public to the securitising actors stating that they are able tobreak normal political procedures and carry out emergency measures in orderto deal with the threat.
The Copenhagen School’s framework studies how various securitising actors
rhetorically present something as an existential threat towards a particularreferent object; this chapter examines two rival discursive securitisingattempts related to the democratisation of Hong Kong. On the one hand, thepro-self-determination camp has attempted to securitise Hong Kong as the
only referent object; on the other hand, the pro-establishment camp has
attempted to securitise PRC as the only referent object. Both securitisingattempts are endangering the “one country, two systems”; currently, Hong
Kong and the PRC are politically threatened, which will inevitably lead to alose-lose situation.
Prior to the discursive analysis of these rival securitising attempts in Hong
Kong, it is important to note that the securitisation framework is criticised by

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various scholars for its state-centric perspective (Eriksson 1999; Huysmans
1998; McSweeney 1996). In fact, Buzan et al. have specified political threats
as threats against: 1) the internal legitimacy of a political unit, and 2) external
legitimacy from other political units (Buzan et al. 1998, 144) – both are
undeniably state-centric. Waever addresses these criticisms by emphasising
how the analytical framework itself is open to various securitising actors to
rhetorically present something as an existential threat (Waever 1999, 335).
He further states that it is up to the relevant audiences to decide whether they
are convinced by the state-centric rhetoric or not. Therefore, the securitisation
framework is not inherently state-centric or people-centric; it is up to therelevant audiences to decide which security rhetoric they find mostconvincing. Indeed, it just so happens that, most of the time, states are themost influential securitising actors, which leads to a perception that the
securitisation framework is a state-centric one.
The same situation occurs in the case of Hong Kong – the rival securitising
actors do not start securitisation on a level playing field; for example, the proestablishment camp is in a more advantageous position as they are themajority in the legislative council (LegCo) in Hong Kong. They take a proBeijing stance along with the Hong Kong government. They have moreresources and propaganda channels to promote the securitising attempt tomake the PRC as the referent object in Hong Kong. In contrast, pandemocrats are the minority in the LegCo; compared to the pro-establishment,
they are in a less advantageous position to declare and convince the majorityof Hongkongers about an existential threat to Hong Kong’s autonomy and thatthe “one country, two systems” is being eroded. Although both camps areconcerned with political security, and each securitising rhetoric is mainly
about the organisational stability of a political unit, the major difference
between them is that the pro-establishment camp and the Hong Kong
government regard the PRC as the only referent object. In comparison, thepro-self-determination camp postulate that Hong Kong is the only referent
object. The struggle and the rivalry between these securitising actors will now
be examined.
From PRC Liberal to Hongkongers: Transformation of Securitising
Attempts in the Pro-democracy Camp
Political security is about dealing with ‘threats to the legitimacy or recognition
either of political units or of the essential patterns (structures, processes or
institution) among them’ (Buzan et al. 1998, 144). In the securitisation
framework, political units are regarded as the major referent object of thepolitical sector, yet there are two main questions in the case of Hong Kong:what is the referent object and who are the securitising actors?

“One Country, Two Systems” Under Siege

65

The government will usually be the securitising actor that presents theirsecurity argument when their organisational stability is being threatened.
Nonetheless, this is not the case in Hong Kong. From the perspective of
Hongkongers, the political insecurity that exists is due to the erosion of Hong
Kong’s autonomy. Conventionally, the Hong Kong government should declarethemselves politically threatened, as there will be organisational instability if
the issue is left unsettled. Yet, the Hong Kong government did not carry out
any securitising move in relation to its autonomy with regard to theintervention from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), such as the NPCSC’s
decision. This could be mainly due to the fact that the “one country, twosystems” policy expires in 2047; there is the high possibility that the Hong
Kong government will lose its autonomy and will eventually be controlled by
Beijing. The responsibility then falls to pan-democrats and ordinary Hongkongers; this is why 1.2 million people rallied and occupied the streets in2014. Indeed, their rhetoric in the occupy movement has been further
developed as the localist rhetoric that regards Hong Kong as the referent
object.
The development of security arguments among pro-democratic Hongkongers
has been through a transformation. It has changed from leveraging Hong
Kong’s democratisation as an emergency measure to securitise the PRC’s
political reform (or democratisation), to regarding Hong Kong as a referent
object and upholding the systemic referent object, i.e. “one country, twosystems”, in order to avoid political clashes. Despite progress, pro-selfdetermination politicians are not satisfied with the political equilibrium and“one country, two systems” theoretically means that Hong Kong is controlled
by the CCP. They radicalise the localist rhetoric by pushing it towards the
direction of self-determination and independence, constructing Hong Kong as
the only referent object and eroding the political equilibrium that has been
established by the “one country, two systems” policy.
Old Democrats: Leveraging the Democratisation of Hong Kong for China
While reviewing Hong Kong’s socio-political transformation, Flowerdew lists
Chris Patten’s promotional discourse on the British legacy to Hong Kong as:1) a capitalist economic system; 2) freedom of individuals; 3) independent
judicial system; and 4) democratic political institutions (Flowerdew 1998;
Flowerdew 2012). These elements serve as the ideological pillars that set
Hong Kong apart from the PRC; therefore, “one country, two systems” isnecessary to prevent clashes with regard to political ideology, politicalstructure, the economic system and the judicial system. Regretfully, there are
multiple incidents indicating that this political buffer is being eroded – the
NPCSC’s decision mentioned earlier serves as an example of this. Facing the

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erosion of the “one country, two systems” principle, Hongkongers keep
protesting; various scholars have argued that such political participation
contributes to building political awareness and localism within Hong Kong
(Kaeding 2011; Lee 2015). The securitising attempts, putting Hong Kong as
the referent object, are rooted within the development of localism in the citystate.
In fact, the securitising discourse that maintains Hong Kong as the referent
object, which is regarded as localism, could be traced back earlier in 2012,
when Hung noticed a British Hong Kong flag was raised during a protest for
the first time to signify the British legacy to Hong Kong (Hung 2014). He
further reviews the development of different rhetoric of local consciousness inHong Kong; under his categorisation, the pro-democracy rhetoric is divided
into ‘seeing Hong Kong as a PRC liberal’ and ‘seeing Hong Kong as a
Hongkonger.’ Old democrats (民主派) in Hong Kong consider themselves as
PRC liberals (not Hong Kong liberals) that regard China as the referent object
and attempt to use the democratisation of Hong Kong as an emergency
measure to leverage the democratisation of the PRC (Chan 2012). They
believe that Hong Kong has both a role and responsibility to promote the
PRC’s political reform; they argue that Hong Kong is the only place in the
PRC that could possibly have democracy due to the assurance of “onecountry, two systems”.
Interestingly, from the CCP regime’s perspective, leveraging Hong Kong’s
democratisation for PRC political reform is actually a political threat – not anattempt for political security. Old democrats failed to recognise the distinction
between state and government. Although their securitising moves declared
the Chinese nation as under threat and the government as requiring
democratisation, this is still considered a threat to the sovereignty of the PRC.
Indeed, Buzan argues that sovereignty grants the right for the political unit todecide the form of government – even if it adopts an authoritarian one (Buzan
et al. 1998, 152). These old democrats failed to realise that the PRC regards
their securitising moves a threat, rather than an attempt to achieve security
within the Chinese regime; this perspective will be discussed in the section
about the securitising attempt by the pro-Beijing camp. In relation to Hong
Kong, these old democrats view the PRC as the referent object of politicalthreat, whereas the democratisation of Hong Kong is simply an emergency
measure to leverage political reforms in China.
Localising Democratisation: Hong Kong and “One Country, Two Systems” as
the Referent Object
In contrast to ‘seeing Hong Kong as a PRC liberal,’ Chin has written a book

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67

called On Hong Kong as a City-State. It is regarded as the inspiration that has
ignited the rising localism in Hong Kong, in other words ‘seeing Hong Kong as
Hongkongers’ (Hung 2014). To put it simply, Chin argues that the rapid
integration of Hong Kong and the PRC poses a prominent threat as it erodes
the sociopolitical, economic and judicial system established during British rulein the city-state. Therefore, it is logical to declare Hong Kong as the major
referent object and, for the purposes of political stability, to uphold the fading“one country, two systems” principle. Chin declares Hong Kong’s ideology,
identity and institutions as under an existential threat due to increasing
Chinese interventions in the form of demographical, political, economic andcultural assimilation (Chin 2011). The emergency measure he suggests is todefend “one country, two systems” in order to draw a clear separation
between the two political units and to maintain the political equilibrium. The
major justification raised by Chin is that the PRC needs Hong Kong more thanHong Kong needs the PRC. His logic could be applied in various aspects –for example, Hong Kong as an international political unit can support the PRC
in international organisations like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank interms of funding and internationalising the Chinese currency. Therefore, itwould be both in Hong Kong’s and the PRC’s interest to maintain “onecountry, two systems”.
However, in order to sustain the interests of both political units, Hong Kong
needs to maintain its autonomy. This is so it can preserve the confidence of
the international community in the same manner the Joint Declaration helped
it do in the 1980s. Thus, for the sake of both Hongkongers and the Chinese,“one country, two systems” must be securitised. This new perspective, whichrefers to Hong Kong as the referent object, ignited the flame of localism inHong Kong. Simply put, the localisation of Hong Kong emerged by moving
away from treating the PRC as the referent object.
As stated above, securitising actors are not placed on a level playing field.
The rise of localism has motivated a new pro-democracy generation in thecity-state; the occupy movement in 2014 is certainly one of the blossoms. Yet,the movement was suppressed by the Hong Kong government and the hopeof upholding “one country, two systems” (and the democratisation of HongKong) was put into a deep freeze. In order to seize a more advantageous
position and to persuade the relevant audiences, Chin joined the 2016
election of the LegCo in Hong Kong with local activist organisations, i.e. theCivic Passion and Proletariat Political Institute. As the leader of this election
campaign, Wong Yeung-Tat raises the notion of a de facto referendum on
constitutional reform of the Basic Law. He and Chin share the same view inmaintaining Hong Kong as the major referent object and they argue that inorder to survive the surging political clashes between the two political units,
the only emergency measure is to launch a constitutional reform on the Basic

68

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the WorldLaw to sustain “one country, two systems” (Li 2016).
The manifesto for the localist election pact suggests reviewing various articles
in the Basic Law as the emergency measure to securitise Hong Kong politicalsecurity and the “one country, two systems”. One of the main focuses is areview of Article 5 as to whether the capitalist system and way of life in Hong
Kong should remain unchanged beyond 50 years. In line with Chin’sargument, Wong suggests that, in order to maintain the political stability ofHong Kong, it is crucial to sustain the political buffer (Leung 2016). As thissecuritising move is not initiated by the Hong Kong government, the localist
securitising actors attempted to get a mandate (support from the relevant
audiences) in order to successfully securitise the political security of HongKong. They have planned two steps to reflect the legitimisation from therelevant audiences to put Hong Kong as the referent object. The firstreflection is on all five of their candidates elected in all five electorates and,having cleared the first one, they can leverage their resignations in the LegCo
to initiate a by-election cum de facto referendum. The question is thenwhether the result will reveal whether the Hong Kong people will legitimise
the need for a constitutional reform as an emergency measure.
Disruption of ‘One country, Two systems’
Radicalising a Securitising Move: Hong Kong as the Only Referent Object
Regretfully, the localist election campaign only got about 154,000 votes andone seat in five electorates. This was mainly due to a new rising political force
that advocates the right to self-determination in Hong Kong and extinguishedthe localist rhetoric. Their notion of self-determination is widely shared among
various new political parties including Youngspiration, Demosistō and theHong Kong Lineup. In contrast to Chin and Wong’s view, these politicalparties regard Hong Kong as the only referent object. They criticise that “onecountry, two systems” gives room for the PRC to intervene in Hong Kong’s
internal affairs. They seek a referendum on political reform (from a liberal
perspective) or on independence (from a nationalist perspective). Yet, Hong
Kong does not have a referendum law; the CCP condemns this proposal andcalls it a violation of the Basic Law. The pro-self-determination camp regards
their securitising move to self-determination as more effective than the localist
rhetoric that attempts to sustain “one country, two systems”. It turns out theirradical rhetoric received more support from the people in Hong Kong than the
pro-self-determination force that won six seats, roughly 240,000 votes, in the
LegCo electoral college 2016.
Later, two legislators-elect of Youngspiration, Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-

“One Country, Two Systems” Under Siege

69

ching, raised a banner “Hong Kong is not China” during the oath-taking
process in the LegCo. They took the oath to safeguard the interests of “theHong Kong Nation” which explicitly put Hong Kong as the only referent object.
This is their securitising attempt that was legitimised by their voters. Their
securitising move not only offended both the pro-establishment and old prodemocracy Chinese (who see Hong Kong as a PRC liberal) but also led to thedisqualification of their seats in LegCo, as the court ruled their oath asdishonest (Haas 2017a). The incident also opened a hole in the dam; the
PRC reinterpreted the Basic Law and further disqualified four more prodemocracy legislators, claiming that their oaths were not “sincere andsolemn” (Lau and Chung 2017). The only localist lawmaker Cheng is also
being charged and facing the risk of disqualification. Regarding the serious
external intervention of the PRC, Chin and localist legislator Chengsuggested all pan-democracy legislators resign and boycott the LegCo.
However, both traditional pan-democracy and pro-self-determination camps
heavily criticised the suggestion and claimed that they wanted to be reelected in the LegCo – even though the PRC can disqualify legislators
according to this new interpretation of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
Localism in Hong Kong was initiated with the good will to maintain the politicalsecurity equilibrium and the enduring “one country, two systems” principle.
Yet, the rhetoric was radicalised by pro-self-determination politicians, which
led to even more direct interventions and disruptions. There will be byelections taking place in 2018. It could be an interesting future research piece
to analyse whether the rhetoric shifts after the disqualification. Further, it will
be intriguing to find out whether all the pan-democracy legislators will resign
and boycott the LegCo and their re-election in order to fight and uphold “onecountry, two systems”.
Pro-Beijing Camp: The PRC’s National Security as the Only Referent Object
In response to the rise of the pro-self-determination securitising attempt, bothHong Kong and the CCP government attempted to counter-securitise thelocalist and pro-self-determination rhetoric by declaring the PRC’s national
security as being threatened. The Chief of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong
Kong, Wang, remarked that “one country, two systems” could be removed if it
is leveraged to threaten the national security of the PRC (Radio Television
Hong Kong 2017). This reveals that, whether traditional pan-democrats
regard the democratisation of Hong Kong as a means to securitise China’s
political security, or pro-self-determination politicians attempt to detachthemselves from “one country, two systems”, both rhetorics are considered to
be political threats to the PRC. The middle path is the constitutional reform
proposed by Chin and Wong to sustain the “one country, two systems”

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principle in order to avoid clashes between the two political units. Yet, thissecuritising attempt did not receive sufficient endorsement from the Hong
Kong people, and the PRC continues to intrude upon Hong Kong’s internalbusiness. This is because the masses in Hong Kong did not show their will todefend the political buffer.
In just a few months after the Occupy Movement, a new National Security
Law of the PRC was passed in the NPCSC on 1 July 2015. There are multiple
articles that counter-securitise the rhetoric of putting Hong Kong as thereferent object. For example: Article 11 emphasises the preservation ofsovereignty and territorial integrity of the PRC as a ‘shared obligation of all
Chinese people, including compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan’;and Article 40 further specifies Hong Kong and Macao as having a
responsibility in preserving the national security of the PRC. It is clear that thecommunist regime regards the rhetoric of securitising Hong Kong’s politicalsecurity as a national security threat to its sovereignty, especially when there
are rising pro-independence politicians after the occupy movement (Loh2015).
Nevertheless, this national security threat would not erupt if the “one country,
two systems” principle was not violated multiple times by the communist
government. The Hong Kong government is also responsible as pro-Beijing
politicians utilise the city-state’s resources to speed up the integration of thetwo political units. This is due to the current “one country, two systems” only
lasting for 50 years; indeed, there is no guarantee it will continue after 2047
(Li 2016). Combined with the fact that Hong Kong has not yet been
democratised and the CE was elected in a pro-Beijing biased committee,
localists have attempted to seek constitutional reform to extend the “onecountry, two systems” in order to maintain the organisational stability of thecity-state. Indeed, as Article 15 of the National Security Law of the PRC
clearly states, the political unit must ‘persist in the leadership of CCP,
maintaining the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, developing
socialist democratic politics and completing socialist rule of law…’, all thesenotions collide with the political, economic and legal system in Hong Kong,
reminding us of the need to maintain “one country, two systems”.
In line with the PRC’s position, the pro-establishment politicians in Hong Kong
also follow the rhetoric and have attempted to securitise the PRC’s national
security by the legislation of Article 23 in Hong Kong that prohibits treason
against the communist government. The latest CE election in Hong Kong in2017 is the only election since 1997 where only pro-establishment candidates
have entered (mainly due to the pre-screening of the pro-Beijing nominationcommittee that the Occupy Movement protested against). Two strong

“One Country, Two Systems” Under Siege

71

potential candidates, Carrie Lam and John Tsang, both supported thelegislation of Article 23 ‘to enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason,
secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government’.
The proposed bill had led to half a million people protesting in 2003 due toserious concerns regarding freedom of speech. Perhaps unsurprisingly, thetraditional pan-democratic politicians backed this securitising attempt, as theyremained detached from the localisation of Hong Kong and continued to viewthe democratisation of Hong Kong as an emergency measure to securitisethe democratisation of the Chinese nation.
In the manifesto of Tsang, it states that Hong Kong has a constitutional
responsibility to enact local legislation to protect national security of the PRC
according to Article 23 of the Basic Law. He proposed to use a ‘white bill’ tokick off the legislation and start with less controversial issues; by having thislaw they can ‘ensure that the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kongare fully protected while safeguarding [the] national security [of the PRC].’
Tsang puts heavy emphasis on securitising the PRC’s national security; thissecuritising attempt shifts the referent object from Hong Kong to the PRC.
Another strong CE candidate, Carrie Lam, also expresses similar views on
the legislation of Article 23, putting the PRC as the only referent object. She
adopts the same rhetoric to convince the election committee of theconstitutional responsibility of this legislation, yet she also claimed that she
noticed this is a highly controversial issue and will act cautiously. When Carrie
Lam was elected by the 1,200 members of the election committee, Jasper
Tsang, former LegCo president, also urged her to restart the legislation assoon as possible. The legislation of Article 23 has been a prominent issue andhas been examined from legal and constitutional perspectives (Fu et al.
2005). It sparks questions such as whether it is reasonable for Hong Kong to
be fully democratised prior to the legislation, or how the legislation would
affect freedom and democratisation in Hong Kong. Yet, with the advantage ofmobilising the government and public resources, the securitising attempt of
the pro-Beijing camp to maintain the PRC as the referent object is clearlyoccupying an advantageous position. There is limited time for the people inHong Kong to reflect their will before “one country, two systems” is completely
undermined.
Conclusion
This chapter has engaged with the rival securitising attempts in Hong Kong.
While the localism of Hong Kong has been radicalised by pro-selfdetermination politicians who support a full departure from the one country,
two systems, pro-Beijing politicians are counter-securitising it by placing the
PRC as the only referent object and are attempting to legislate Article 23 to72

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suppress ‘separatism’ in Hong Kong. The rival securitising attempts havealready shaken international confidence in Hong Kong; this will eventuallyhurt both Hong Kong and the PRC’s national interests. The chairman of theCongressional-Executive Commission on China of America warns the new
CE, Carrie Lam, that if Hong Kong is to become just another Chinese city
under her leadership, America will reassess whether Hong Kong warrants
special status under American law (Congressional-Executive Commission on
China 2017). In line with concerns over the rapidly eroding autonomy,
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Hong Kong’s local and foreign
currency issuer rating from Aa1 to Aa2. This is specifically due to concerns
over the legal and institutional arrangements that will be in place when one
country, two systems expires (Moody’s Investors Service 2017).
The Hong Kong government has also recently announced a plan to lease partof its new high-speed railway station to the PRC and to allow the Chinese
Public Security to enforce Chinese laws, including national security laws andother laws that restrict freedom of speech (Haas 2017b). This would be aserious violation of the one country, two systems principle and brings politicalinstability to Hong Kong and the PRC. It appears that the political equilibrium
will inevitably be undermined; this will be a lose-lose situation for both politicalunits. Although localists like Cheng, Chin and Wong are continuously
deepening the securitising rhetoric of upholding one country, two systems tocounter-balance the pro-Beijing and pro-self-determination camps (Cheng
2016; Cheng and Kan 2017; Chin 2011), there is not much time left for
Hongkongers to make up their minds and decide which securitising rhetoric ismost convincing for them. The by-elections will take place soon and it iscritical for the public to urge all pan-democracy legislators to resign andboycott the LegCo and the re-election. This is the only way to take a firm
stance against the violation of the one country, two systems principle by the
PRC.

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Part Two

Transnational

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5
Public Diplomacy: China’s
Newest Charm Offensive
TON Y TA I-T IN G L IU

Since Joshua Kurlantzick (2007, 6) coined the term ‘charm offensive’ in 2007,
the term has stuck in the study of International Relations to refer to China’s
use of soft power to improve its global status and image. While the idea ofChina charming the world with its economic and cultural prowess has notchanged too much over the past decade, the ways Beijing has adopted tocharm other states have diversified since. In conjunction with suchdevelopments, in recent years, the term ‘public diplomacy’ has come toreplace charm offensive as China’s latest efforts to improve its status andimage through soft means.
As China’s first official public diplomacy report points out, in simple terms,
public diplomacy refers to various ways of conducting diplomacy or fosteringbilateral exchange with other countries beyond the state level (Zhao and Lei
2015, 4). In other words, besides traditional state to state diplomacy carriedout between governments, non-governmental organisations and individuals
occupy a central role in China’s latest foreign policy endeavour. Hinged on
the concept of people-to-people relations, China seeks to move away fromthe popular image of ‘China threat’ to a more cordial image of China as afriendly and peace-loving nation.
Noting China’s recent turn towards public diplomacy, this chapter seeks toaddress the topic in three sections. Part one examines the idea of public
diplomacy and corresponding developments that took place in China sinceformer President Hu Jintao’s emphasis on the concept in 2009. Part two looks
into the idea of ‘telling a good story of China’ – an important guiding principleof China’s public diplomacy – and corresponding efforts Beijing has made

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towards it. Part three discusses the Confucius Institute and China Cultural
Centres and their contributions towards the goals of ‘telling a good story’ andfostering people-to-people relations. This chapter concludes with someconsiderations on the challenges China may face in its public diplomacy
endeavour.
From Peaceful Rise to Public Diplomacy
Despite abundant discussions on ‘public diplomacy’ in the West, the concept
remains quite refreshing in the context of China. In 2009, speaking on theoccasion of the 11th Conference of Chinese Diplomatic Envoys Stationed
Abroad, Chinese President Hu Jintao expounded on the importance of public
diplomacy in Chinese foreign policy. In Hu’s words, ‘[China] should strengthen
public diplomacy and humanities diplomacy and commence various kinds ofcultural exchange activities in order to disseminate China’s great culture’ (The11th Conference of Chinese Diplomatic Envoys Stationed Abroad was held in
Beijing, 2009). Hu’s address was significant, as the statement marked the firsttime China has considered the concept of public diplomacy on the level ofnational policy.
Since then, public diplomacy gradually developed into a notable priority in the
succeeding Xi Jinping administration. In the party report of the 18th National
Congress of the CCP that was released in 2012 alongside the confirmation ofXi Jinping as China’s next president, Beijing clearly expressed the guidelineof ‘making good efforts to advance public diplomacy’ (Xinhua 2012). In 2013,
Xi Jinping followed up preceding calls for realising public diplomacy byintroducing the corresponding concept of ‘telling a good story of China anddisseminating the voice of China.’ ‘Telling a good story of China’ quickly
became the central tenet of China’s public diplomacy.
Under the state emphasis on public diplomacy, various public, private andacademic institutions and organisations were established to carry out thefunction of reshaping China’s global image. In terms of government, thePublic Diplomacy Office was established in 2009 as the main official body for
managing and coordinating tasks related to public diplomacy on the state anddepartmental levels. In the private sector, echoing Beijing’s call for public
diplomacy, a number of public diplomacy associations were subsequently
established. In December 2012, the China Public Diplomacy Association wasestablished in Beijing. The association serves as an informal channel for
China to communicate with the world; the participation of academics andretired officials gives functions hosted by the association a track two or semiofficial nature. On the regional level, 15 regional public diplomacy associations have been established across the nation in metropolitan centres suchPublic Diplomacy: China’s Newest Charm Offensive

79

as Shanghai, Tianjin, Nanjing and Guangzhou (Han 2014). Academically, atleast eight higher education and research institutes that focus on the study of
public diplomacy were established across the country, including the Centre for
Public Diplomacy at Tsinghua University (2011) and the School of International and Public Affairs at Jilin University (2013) among others.
Institutional establishment aside, it is important to recognise that public
diplomacy did not grow out of a vacuum in China but came about following aseries of adjustments in Chinese foreign policy to cope with the so called‘China threat theory’. In an essay in a 2005 issue of the influential Foreign
Affairs magazine, Vice President of China’s Central Party School Zheng Bijian
articulated in simple terms that China seeks a ‘peaceful rise’ and not otherwise (Zheng 2005, 20). Nonetheless, despite China’s peaceful intentions, as
the term ‘rise’ also suggests the possibility of a powerful China becoming
more assertive in international affairs, the term was eventually replaced with‘development’ to suggest a less negative connotation. In the context ofpeaceful development, the Hu Jintao administration subsequently introduced
the concept of ‘harmonious worldview’ and re-emphasised China’s goodneighbour policy (Tsai et al. 2011, 27–30). China’s peaceful development, inother words, is realised through its emphasis on harmony.
Public diplomacy as China’s new foreign policy emphasis came about in asimilar vein. Following leadership turnover in 2013, Xi Jinping proposed the‘China Dream’ as the new guiding concept for China in the near future. In Xi’s
words, ‘China Dream is the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ (Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China Party Literature Research Office2013). Unfortunately, Xi’s ideological calling provided little hints as to how
China seeks to realise its rejuvenation or re-occupation of the centre stage of
the world again. Such a void is perhaps covered by public diplomacy. In otherwords, in terms of the China Dream, part of how the Chinese nation will be
rejuvenated rests with how well China conducts its public diplomacy, or aneffort to improve China’s global image. In such a case, similar to related
concepts introduced in the Hu Jintao era, the China Dream and public
diplomacy are proposed as interconnected and mutually reinforcing concepts.
Under Xi Jinping, the China Dream is the grand ideological principle that will
guide China’s continued development in the near future while public
diplomacy – similar to the ‘good neighbour policy’ – is one of the ways that
Xi’s vision will be realised.
Telling a Good Story of China
The guiding principle for China’s public diplomacy drive is ‘telling a good storyof China’ (讲好中国故事 jianghao zhongguo gushi), a guideline that has been

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repeated publicly by current Chinese President Xi Jinping since the 18th
National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Noting thetendency of Chinese leaders since Jiang Zemin to pronounce their policy
ambitions in short captivating phrases, ‘telling a good story of China’ is one of
the latest notable phrases to follow in the string of announcements from theThree Represents to ‘scientific outlook on development’. While ‘telling a goodstory of China’ has attracted global attention in recent years; interestingly, theconcept is not entirely new. In 2010, John Naisbitt – a renowned futurist who
was well known for his earlier writings on Asia’s newly developed economies– together with Doris Naisbitt, published China’s Megatrends: The 8 Pillars ofa New Society, a volume that detailed China’s rapid political, economic andsocial changes over the past two decades. The alleged idea for the volume,
according to Naisbitt, came about through a conversation with ex-Chinesepresident Jiang Zemin in the 1990s, when Jiang invited him to tell a story of
China (Ma 2009).
Regardless of the reception of Naisbitt’s work, the idea of telling a good story
became a foreign policy priority under Xi Jinping that is to be realised throughvarious forms of public diplomacy. On 13 August 2013, in a speech given at
the National Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference, Xi stressed theimportance of establishing new forms of propaganda aimed at ‘telling a goodstory of China and disseminating the voice of China’ (Xi Jinping: Propaganda
Work is an Extremely Important Task of the CCP, 2013). The 8/13 speech
opened up the watershed for discussions on storytelling in China. While thepolitical nature of Xi’s call is easy to notice, the statement nonetheless paved
the way for various efforts towards defining and realising its content. Amongthe discussions, Wang Yiwei’s interpretation of telling a good story of China isworth noting:
As Party Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, the quest of the era
is to tell the story of China and the mission of the era is tellinga good story of China… first is to tell the development story of
China and the ideals that support China’s development…
telling a good story of China means telling a good story of
oneself and projecting the attraction of China through personal
appeal… the story of China is multifaceted; there is successand there is also failure. The key is to tell the Chinese way or
approach behind the story (Wang 2016).
Wang’s description highlights three components to China’s guideline thatwarrant attention. First, the story of China is about development, witheconomic development serving as the mainstay of the story. Second, thestory of China is about the individual; individual success stories help to shapePublic Diplomacy: China’s Newest Charm Offensive81

and project China’s global image. Third, the story of China is a mixed successstory; the Chinese experience or how China succeeded should be part of thestory. Realised through public diplomacy, China’s storytelling aspiration – aneffort to improve the Chinese image abroad – has notably taken several forms
since 2013.
In terms of development, not long after the 8/13 speech, Xi Jinping proposed
the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative, an ambitious geopolitical project thatseeks to integrate Asia, Europe and Africa into an intercontinental market andtransport network. Alongside the B&R, the Silk Road Fund (SRF) and the Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) were subsequently established tofinance the project. Jointly, the B&R, SRF and AIIB aim to improve trade andtransport routes – channels that are facilitated by infrastructural development– around the world. Based on the integration and investment initiatives, Xi
Jinping has expounded on the theme of development, most notably at the2016 G20 Summit in Hangzhou, where he delivered a speech titled ‘A New
Starting Point for China’s Development: A New Blueprint for Global Growth’(Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic ofChina, at the Opening Ceremony of the G20 Summit, 2016) and at the 2017
Belt and Road Summit in Beijing, where Xi referred to China’s historicalconnection with the Silk Road and elaborated on themes including economic,
infrastructure, innovation and green development (Full text of President Xi’s
speech at opening of Belt and Road Forum, 2017). In addition, the Chinese
government has invested great efforts in promoting the B&R through various
methods, which includes the publication of the B&R Public Diplomacy Report(2016), the production of a major documentary series on the B&R (2016), andthe release of a project theme song just ahead of the B&R Summit (2017).
On the other hand, regarding individuals, examples may be gleaned from thevariety of ways through which China and the Chinese are presented.
Concerning the B&R, such presentation can be observed from the frequent
reference by the state to Zhang Qian and Zheng He, historical figures in
China’s ancient past who are regarded as the trailblazers for what came to be
known as the Silk Road and China’s maritime trade route respectively.
Emphasis on the individual can also be observed from the B&R documentary
series produced by China Central Television (CCTV), China’s official
broadcasting service. Besides interviews with influential figures and experts,
the documentary is interwoven with the personal stories of some 60 common
individuals who dwell along the B&R (CCTV 2016). Finally, China isrepresented by its political and business elites, or individuals who receive
media attention internationally. Such an approach is exemplified by the socalled ‘head of state diplomacy’ that sees Chinese leaders promoting China’s
national image abroad. Since assuming the role of China’s top leader in 2013,
Xi Jinping has made official visits to more than a dozen states annually,

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consolidating China’s foreign relations while gathering international spotlighton China through wide media coverage and reporting.
Tools of Public Diplomacy: Confucius Institute and China Cultural
CentreAlthough public diplomacy did not begin to take the form of official policy until
2013, the Chinese leadership had similar ideas in mind nearly a decade
earlier. Under the Hu Jintao administration, the Confucius Institute, a state
sponsored institution with the objective of teaching and promoting thelearning of the Chinese language abroad, was established under Confucius
Institute Headquarters, also known as the Hanban, in 2004. The Hanban is
responsible for overseeing the operation of the global network of Confucius
Institutes across the world. Amidst incessant discussions on China rising onto
the world stage as a revisionist threat, the Confucius Institute was envisioned
by Beijing as a way to reduce the anxieties surrounding China while
promoting China’s image as a benevolent and peaceful power abroad. Softpower, a term coined by political scientist Joseph Nye (2005), was the
keyword associated with the Confucius Institute and China’s adoption of softmeans to improve its global image then.
Since the establishment of the first Confucius Institute in Korea in 2004, thenumber of China’s language teaching institution grew rapidly. By the end of
2016, China had established 512 Confucian Institutes and 1073 Confucian
Classrooms (programs established in high schools and primary schools) inmore than 140 countries around the world (Hanban 2017). While theConfucius Institute is primarily a language teaching institution, it is inevitablethat its curriculum and textbooks used in classrooms are infused with lessons
and stories on Chinese history and culture. In such a sense, the Confucius
Institute fits well with the guideline of ‘telling a good story of China’ and theobjectives of China’s public diplomacy. Meanwhile, through the organisationof cultural celebration events and language competitions, the Confucius
Institute also enhances people-to-people relations through the direct interaction between foreign and Chinese participants and organisers. The annual‘Chinese Bridge’ Chinese Proficiency Competition is a good example of the
Confucius Institute’s public diplomacy achievement. Through the organisationof language competitions across the world, China has not only provided a
motivation for foreign students to study Chinese but also sparked the interestof students to visit China (Hui and Wang 2015, 301). Such efforts are
expended in the hopes of fostering a future generation of individuals with an
improved image of China.
On the other hand, China has also established cultural centres across thePublic Diplomacy: China’s Newest Charm Offensive

83

world as a way to promote Chinese culture beyond classrooms. Since the firstestablishment of China Cultural Centres in Benin and Mauritius in 1988, morethan 20 cultural centres have been established in Asia, Africa, Europe,
Oceania and Central America, with most of the additional locations introduced
after 2000. China currently hosts 27 international cultural centres, with a large
number of the centres spread out across Asia and Europe. As described in its
online introduction, the China Cultural Centre organises cultural activities
such as performances, exhibitions and art festivals and provides Chinese
language and cultural training courses (China Cultural Centre 2015). In termsof public diplomacy, the China Cultural Centre plays no small role in disseminating knowledge on China through the constant organisation of musicalperformances and art and calligraphy exhibitions and events among others.
Meanwhile, in 2012, China’s Ministry of Culture introduced ‘Happy Chinese
New Year’ (HCNY) (欢乐中国 huanle zhongguo), a series of cultural festivities
centred on the theme of Chinese New Year. Adopting the central tenet of‘happiness, harmony, dialogue and sharing’, the HCNY celebrations seek totell a story of China that is robust and cherishes communal values, which
stands in stark contrast with arguments that deem China as a colossal threat(China Cultural Centre 2017).
Prospects of China’s Public Diplomacy
This chapter provides a short survey of the development of China’s public
diplomacy in recent years and some efforts Beijing has expended towards the
improvement of its global image. While it is much too early to evaluate thesuccess of China’s new charm offensive, previous experiments with soft
power by Beijing present several challenges that China may need to address
if it hopes to find success with public diplomacy.
First, while China provides a definition of ‘public diplomacy’ in its official public
diplomacy report, to some extent, the definition remains excessively generaland difficult to translate into real policies. While an optimistic reading ofChina’s definition suggests the inclusion of ‘governments, non-governmentalorganisations and individuals’ is a non-discriminatory act that seeks to exploit
the full strength of the nation in realising public diplomacy, an alternative
reading raises the question of whether there exists a one size fits all policy
guideline for all the actors. After all, diplomacy is traditionally limited to therealm of the state; to move diplomacy outside the state may requirepolicymakers to think outside the box, as private and non-governmental
actors may harbour widely different interpretations of the state and its various
features. In other words, China is viewed differently across different levels
and sectors and narratives may contradict – the success story of one may
have nothing to recommend for another. Such challenge warrants attention if

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China seeks to claim further success with public diplomacy.
Second, the fact that China remains an authoritative regime generates
contradictions with the concept of public diplomacy that are hard to resolve.
Even though public diplomacy can be considered an interest driven action
regardless of regime type, China’s authoritative character exacerbates theissue by hinting at the potential involvement of sophisticated consequences.
For example, by enshrining the guideline of ‘telling a good story of China anddisseminating the voice of China’ as propaganda, China proposes a dilemma
between the nature of the Chinese regime and public diplomacy. If public
diplomacy is guided by the principle of disseminating propaganda, howcredible are China’s foreign policy communications and actions? Indeed, suchtensions have been raised in the past concerning the Confucius Institute. As
critics point out, under its disguise to pass on knowledge of Chinese language
and culture to the outside world, the Confucius Institute also encourages
students to think highly of China and its ruling political authority (Peterson2017). While such claims remain controversial and rebuffed by China,
backlashes have occurred, with institutions such as the University of Chicago
and Pennsylvania State University terminating their cooperation with theConfucius Institute and many other institutions around the world becoming
more vigilant over China’s public diplomacy (Liu 2017). As the case of the
Confucius Institute demonstrates, trust remains a crucial ingredient for the
success of China’s language teaching institutes abroad and ultimately,
China’s public diplomacy. How Beijing seeks to increase the world’s trust in
China in the near future remains to be observed.

References
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Research Office. 2013. Xijinping guanyu shixian zhonghua minzu weida
fuxing de zhongguomeng lunshu zhaibian (Summary of Xi Jinping’s Discourse
on Realizing the China Dream and the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese
Nation). Beijing: CCCPC Party Literature Research Office.
CCTV. 2016. “Daxing jilupian yidaiyilu zai yangshi kaibo” (Major Documentary“Belt and Road” Aired on CCTV). http://www.cctv.cn/2016/09/05/
ARTIpI1WmImwT3VSoDvU7Rye160905.shtml.
China Cultural Centre. 2015. “About China Cultural Centre,” http://en.
chinaculture.org/ccc/2015-02/02/content_597924.htm.

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China Cultural Centre. 2017. “Huanle zhongguo” (Happy Chinese New Year),
http://cn.chinaculture.org/portal/site/wenhua/special_report/
springfestival/2017/index.jsp#imglistbox.
“Di shiyi ci zhuwaishijie huiyi zaijin zhaokai” (The 11th Conference of Chinese
Diplomatic Envoys Stationed Abroad was held in Beijing). 2009. People’s
Daily, July 21.
“Full text of President Xi’s speech at opening of Belt and Road Forum.” 2017.
Xinhua News, May 14. http://news.xinhuanet.com/
english/2017-05/14/c_136282982.htm.
Han, F. 2014. “Shibada hou zhongguo gonggong waijiao shiye de fazhan”(The Development of China’s Public Diplomacy after the 18th National
Congress of the CCP). http://blog.ifeng.com/article/31833706.html&gws_
rd=cr&ei=mg4zWe_qEcKz0gTHxorADA.
Hanban. 2017. “Guanyu kongzi xueyuan ketang” (About the Confucius
Institute/Classroom). http://www.hanban.org/confuciousinstitutes/node_10961.
htm.
Hui, C. and Wang, B. 2015. “Dunzi yiwenhuiyou yiyoufuren – kongzi xueyuan
shizhounian fazhan jieshao” (Ten Years Development of the Confucius
Institute: An Introduction), in Zhao Qizheng and Lei Weizhen eds., Bluebookof Public Diplomacy: Annual Report on China’s Public Diplomacy
Development. Hong Kong: Peace Book, 293-301.
“Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic ofChina, at the Opening Ceremony of the G20 Summit.” 2016. http://www.
g20chn.org/English/Dynamic/201609/t20160909_3414.html.
Kurlantzick, J. 2007. Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power isTransforming the World. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Liu, T. 2017. “Exporting Culture: the Confucius Institute and China’s Smart
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Routledge Handbook of Global Culture Policy. New York: Routledge.
Ma, C. 2009. “Tell a big story well to sell it to the world.” China Daily,
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Nye, J. 2005. “The Rise of China’s Soft Power.” Wall Street Journal Asia,
December 29. http://www.belfercenter.org/publication/rise-chinas-soft-power.
Peterson, R. 2017. “American Universities are Welcoming China’s Trojan
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Tsai, T., Hung, M. and Liu, T. 2011. “China’s Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia:
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Wang, Y. 2016. “Jianghao zhongguo gushi shi shidai shiming” (Telling a Good
Story of China is the Mission of an Era). People’s Daily, September 28. http://
theory.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2016/0928/c376186-28746111.html.
“Xi jinping: yishi xingtai gongzuo shi dang de yixiang jiduan zhongyao degongzuo” (Xi Jinping: Propaganda Work is an Extremely Important Task of the
CCP). Xinhua News, August 20, 2013. http://news.xinhuanet.com/
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Xinhua News. 2012. “Shibada baogao quanwen” (Full Text of the Party Reportof the 18th National Congress). November 19. http://www.xj.xinhuanet.
com/2012-11/19/c_113722546_11.htm.
Zhao, Q. and Lei, W. eds. 2015. Bluebook of Public Diplomacy: Annual
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6
Can China Link the Belt andRoad Initiative by Rail?
S H U L IAN G (KA R L ) YA N

A senior official from the Guangzhou Railway Group enthusiasticallyintroduced the concept of yilu yidai to me in an interview. Apparently, he hadjust learned the concept from an internal study session with his counterpartsin the China Railway Corporation (CRC) and was eager to share it (16121I).1 I
was quite confused at the time and thought he must be wrong. Since 2013,
the Silk Road Economic Belt has been referred to as the dai (belt) whereas
the Maritime Silk Road has been referred to as the lu (road) – thus, the Beltand Road Initiative (OBOR) (yidai yilu). After I had returned to Toronto andstarted my research on the effects of China’s international strategies on theregulation of its railway sectors, I ran into the term Railroad Economic Belt
(REB, yilu yidai) (Yin-nor 2016, 207). I immediately contacted the cadre whom
I had interviewed and confirmed the definition of the concept. In his words,‘you need to have a road before you can connect’. The CRC indeed regards
the railway sector as the locomotive that leads China’s efforts in constructing
the OBOR, as the REB is a strategy that enhances connectivity and deepens
OBOR infiltration through the building and exporting of Chinese rails (1721I).
Behind the formulation of the REB stands a ubiquitous Party-state that has
the ability to forge a national consensus in pushing through broad-sweeping
economic and political reforms. Indeed, the 2013 reform of the Ministry ofRailways (MOR) and the creation of the REB show the Chinese central
government’s commitment to maintaining a steady control on the railway
sector in support of its international interests. A state’s international ambition
has direct effects on its domestic policy making. As a single sector study on
the Chinese railways, this chapter builds on the theoretical framework of
1
This is an interview code, similar codes such as 1373I and 1721I are explained
in detail in the bibliography section.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldeconomic statecraft and addresses two empirical issues. First, domestically,
this chapter addresses the question of control – how the Chinese state hasturned its railway sector, one that has been less studied by China scholars,
into one that is internationally competitive. To be specific, what kind of
relationship has been cultivated by the Chinese state in using its commercial
actors to achieve technological and industrial advancement. Second, internationally, this chapter addresses the question of connectivity. Namely, how
the export of Chinese rails (transportation and infrastructure) could strengthen
regional integration and deepen China’s geopolitical interests.
However, it is also important to highlight the complex nature of China’s behaviour towards the international order. For example, in the realm of financial
governance and developmental foreign aid, socialisation (inclusive of two-way
socialisation) of international norms has been one of the key characteristics
found in China’s international behaviours (Johnston 2007; Chin and Yan
2013). Even in China’s new multilateral development bank initiatives, namely,
the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,
the goals are to complement the existing multilateral developmental banksystem2 and help make the extant system more efficient. These are evidently
found in the rhetoric used by both official documents published by the
Chinese state as well as official Chinese media. Much of the reason behindsuch rhetoric is that China is still in the process of ‘learning’, through which itneeds to localise norms and rules of the said system (Wang 2015). China has
been actively pushing for the export of its high speed and regular rails andrailway infrastructure in the railway sector. The rhetoric is no longer about‘learning’ or ‘complementing existing norms’. Instead, ‘China’s Railway High
Speed (CRH) could be considered as the only strategic industry since theReform and Opening that is developed by China and could change the basic
international and domestic political-economic landscape of the 21st century’(Xu 2016, emphasis added). China’s high-speed rail (HSR) could thus
become an important leverage for China in becoming a new land power,
starting with improving connectivity and gaining road rights.
Economic Statecraft
Economic statecraft is a practice through which noneconomic means areachieved through economic means – ‘influence attempts relying primarily on
resources which have a reasonable resemblance of a market price in terms ofmoney’ (Baldwin 1985, 13–14). Norris (2016) narrows economic statecraft bylinking it with a state’s international grand strategy and does so by operationalising how a state mobilises commercial actors to pursue its international
2Bank.

E.g. the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development

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89

interests. Thus, instead of looking at macroeconomic policies that a state sets(such as tariffs) like Baldwin had done, Norris looks at microeconomic actors
and their relationship with the state and examines the helpfulness of such
relationship.
Previous studies on China have also focused on how China achieves its
strategic goals through economic statecraft. Such goals can either be
economic in nature (Alves 2013) (Gallagher and Irwin 2015) or political(Brautigam and Tang 2012) (Reeves 2015). Scholars have also investigatedthe effects of China’s economic statecraft on other countries’ domestic
structures (Reeves 2015), and the increase of China’s geopolitical influence(Urdinez et al. 2016).
This chapter thus takes a state-centric point of view and looks at the state’scontrol of the railway sector in the pursuit of its international interest. The
continuous push for greater centralisation in the railway sector lies in thestate’s active effort in utilising its infrastructural power to support the REB.
This chapter makes a theoretical contribution to the economic statecraft
literature by unpacking the very type of government-business relationshipcultivated by the state and explaining the mechanisms through which a state
can successfully control a sector with a concentrated market structure.3
The Quest for Standard: Recentralisation of the Railway Sector
On 28 May 2009, US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was deeply impressedby the HSR while visiting the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway. Indeed, therailway sector has become a powerhouse for innovation and a platform forinternationalisation. Multiple government units’ concerted efforts culminated ina great leap forward in technological and industrial advancement. In a conversation with the former head of MOR Liu Zhijun, she asked him how it was all
possible. Liu answered succinctly and proudly that this was because of ‘thepolitical advantage of the wise leadership of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), and the institutional advantage of concentrating powers to accomplish
big things [jizhong liliang ban dashi]’ (Li 2010, 7). Indeed, since 2010, theChinese government has given priority to the development of the HSR as a
new strategic industry.
The MOR/CRC is indeed proud of its technological and industrial
accomplishments, and the establishment of the ‘China Standard’.4 By the end
3
According to Norris (2016, 33), a concentrated market structure is one with ‘a
few large firms with powerful domestic political equities’.
4
In short, China Standard refers to a set of standards developed by the CRC,

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldof 2009, the MOR successfully applied 946 patents for the CRH. These
patents range from railway engineering, high speed rail technology, andstation engineering, all of which would later become parts of a full system of
HSR technology with China’s own independent intellectual property rights in
2016. The CRC proudly announces that China’s world leading HSR industry
is the only strategic industry in China that has surpassed its international
competitors (The CRC 20165).
A view found in existing scholarship on regulatory regimes in China assertsthat controlled competition is the preferred organising principle for championindustries. Indeed, the grand strategy, or ‘metavision’, shaping China’s
industrial structure and regulatory regime has been a preference formarketisation and more importantly, controlled competition6 (Pearson 2005,
313; Pei 2006; Yeo 2012) with the goal of preserving and advancing the roleof the state (Eaton 2016). However, from the beginning of state-owned
enterprise (SOE) reform, the MOR has been an outlier, as it deviated from thepattern of controlled competition. This was particularly noticeable in the 2013reform, which resulted in recentralisation (Yin-nor 2016). In 2013, the MOR
was broken into an SOE (the CRC) and a regulatory body, the State Railway
Bureau (SRB), without introducing controlled competition or any further
reforms at the provincial and sub-provincial level (1373I).
The newly created CRC and SRB have overlapping responsibilities in railway
regulation – rendering the SRB practically obsolete (Yu 2015). For example,
in the drafting of the 2016 edition of the Med-and Long-term Railway Network
Program, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
requested the CRC to research and propose amendments to the 2008 editionof the Program, not the SRB – who is, in principle, responsible for railway
development and planning (The State Council Information Office of the PRC
2016). Thus, the CRC remains as a monopoly in the 1) planning andprovision of railway and related services, and 2) the coordination of subsectors – transportation and rolling stocks (16121I; Zhen et al. 2012).
Whether the 2013 reform was prompted by domestic factors or China’s
international ambitions remains debatable. One undeniable fact is the highlyconcentrated market structure found in the railway sector and its sub-sectors
which owns the CEMU’s independent intellectual property rights. The goals are to standardise and systematise the production of EMUs using cutting edge Chinese technology.
5
Sources with ‘The CRC’ as authors are internal documents provided by the
China Railway Corporation; please see the bibliography section for details.
6
Controlled competition here refers to the idea of ‘restrain[ing] disorder competition’ among a limited number of state-owned enterprises in China’s strategic sectors(Pearson 2005, 314–315).

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91

after the 2013 reform. The CRC operates under the ‘construction-operation
model’ (jianyun heyi), which means the CRC is responsible for railway
development, pricing, and infrastructure building, and then coordinates
relevant firms in the railway sector in meeting predetermined developmental
goals (Zhen et al. 2012, 57). In rolling stocks, the CRC coordinates the China
Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC). The CRRC was created in 2015
after the State Council (SC) had directed the merging of China South
Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Limited (CSR) and China North
Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corporation (CNR). The purpose is tocoordinate domestic market and reduce destructive competition (Zhao 2016).
The CRC supervises production and technological innovation by having firms
work together with the CRC’s engineering and research branches – the China
Railway Design Corporation (CRDC) and the China Academy of Railway
Sciences (CARS) (16121I). Overall, the railway sector could be described asa concentrated market structure under the de facto leadership of the CRC.
Such market structure is the direct descendant of ‘concentrating power toaccomplish big things’. Indeed, in the 2000s, under the leadership of Liu
Zhijun, the MOR and the State Council (SC) converged on the idea andpushed for the strategy of Great Leap Forward (kuayueshi fazhan) in railway
development (Luger 2008; Ma and Zhang 2015; Yin-nor 2016).
The institutional advantage of ‘concentrating power to accomplish big things’
has helped greatly in pushing through technological advancement in achieving the ‘China Standard’ and the development of HSR. The Chinese state caneffectively control the entire railway sector by sending administrative orders to
only one firm – the CRC (Zhen et al. 2012). In 2004, the SC approved the
MOR’s Med-and Long-term Railway Network Program. In the Program, an
HSR network that was known as the ‘Four Vertical and Four Horizontal
Passenger Networks’ (sizong siheng keyun zhuanxian) was proposed. These
passenger networks would allow multiple unit (MU) trains to reach a minimum
speed of 200km/h.7 Such goals in technological advancement and railway
industrial upgrade were reiterated in the 2008 edition of the Program. In 2016,
the NDRC requested and approved the CRC’s amendments to the 2008
Program. In it, the CRC proposed an ‘Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal
Highspeed Rail Network’ (bazong baheng gaosu tielu wang), which would
expand China’s existing high-speed mileage from 19,000 km to 38,000 km in
2025, and improve existing railway infrastructure to allow MU trains to reachthe speed of 350km/h. Within the CRC, the period from 2016 to 2025 is
known as the ‘Golden Ten Years in Railway Development’ (tielu fazhan dehuangjin shinian) (16121I).

7
The top speed of passenger trains running on passenger and freight shared
networks was 140km/h.

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On top of railway infrastructure planning, the MOR/CRC also outlines thegeneral principles of railway technology development through theimplementation of the Policies on Major Railway Technologies (tielu zhuyao
jishu zhengce). Both the 2004 and the 2012 versions of the Policies
contained specific technological goals for the HSR. For example, in both
documents, the minimum headway for MU trains is three minutes.
The MOR/CRC does not, however, simply lay out the foundations and policy
goals of HSR development in China. It has been actively leading andcoordinating the research, design, innovation, and testing of the CRH (TheCRC 2016). For example, the Signal & Communication Research Institute of
CARS has been working closely with relevant domestic firms and research
centres in the development of the Chinese Train Control Systems (CTCS)(Huawei 2012). Such multi-pronged government-business efforts culminatedin the eventual success of the China-standard Electric Multiple Units (CEMU).
In 2004, Liu Zhijun appointed Zhang Shuguang as the Chief Architect of theCRH. By 2010, Zhang made several technological advancements in the CRH,
elevating the CRH’s operating speed from 200km/h to 380km/h (with a tested
top speed of 486.1km/h) and increasing the CRH’s safety and comfort levels(Jiao, Liu and Liu 2011, 1 and 3). Liu Zhijun threw his unconditioned support
behind the development of CRH by making the MOR the main point ofcontact for all relevant domestic actors. In 2008, Zhang Shuguang and his
team started working with CSR Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd and CNR Tangshan
Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd on a new model of CRH that would adapt to China’s
different climatic environments and geological conditions. In the process,Zhang was able to bring 25 research universities, 11 research institutes, 51
national engineer and research centres and more than 10,000 academicians,
professors and engineers to bear on completing the project (Jiao, Liu and Liu
2011, 1 and 3).
The state had always been behind the MOR in the development of CRH. The
SC forcefully coordinated and centralised relevant industries throughadministrative orders in support of the effort. The SC also established special
project teams that are dedicated to pooling different human, material, andmonetary resources in support of the MOR (Zhen et al. 2012). One of thespecial project teams (jishu cheliang zhuanye weiyuan hui) specificallydefined the role of the MOR as the coordinator and leader in negotiating withforeign ventures who want to enter the Chinese railway sector (Zhen et al.
2012; Caixin 2012). Indeed, all foreign ventures must interface with the MOR
before engaging with specific firms in the entire sector. And Zhang was one of
the key decision makers in the process. For example, in the purchase oforiginal MU train models and technology transfers from Siemens, Zhang was

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93

able to lower nine billion CNY in cost by setting strict market entry barriers(Zhen et al. 2012). The CNR benefited from the MOR’s dealing with Siemens
as it subsequently used Siemens’ parts in assembling the traction system for
the CRH380 series (Zhen et al. 2012).
While the CRH380 was still in its research phase, the MOR and the Ministryof Science and Technology signed the Independent Innovation of Chinese
High-speed Train Cooperation Agreement and Joint Action Plan on 26
February 2008. The MOR and CRC played key roles in coordinating relevant
firms and research centres in the pursuit of CEMU (Xinhua 2016). Both CSR
Qingdao Sifang and CNR Changchun, under the guidance and leadership ofthe MOR/CRC, formed an ‘industry-education-research-application’ networkin which relevant firms, universities, and research centres were integrated toresearch and build the CEMU (Jilin-China 2015; Sohu 2016). Throughout theprocess, the CARS acted as the key broker and leader. From 2013 to 2014,CARS published a master plan with clear standards in nine MU technologicalareas including power components, traction system, braking system, and train
control system (Lu 2015). With these technological goals, the CNR and CSR
then worked with different agencies to complete the manufacturing process.
The first CEMU was put into passenger operation on 15 August 2016 whenG8041 left Dalian North Station. At the 39th International Organization forStandardization (ISO) General Assembly in Beijing, the CRC Chief Engineer
proudly announced that ‘the CEMU is gradually surpassing “the European
Standard” and “the Japanese Standard”’ (Lu 2016).
Enhanced Connectivity: Expanding Geopolitical Interest
China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation Ltd. believes that aninternationally competitive industry must be well supported by a complete
supply chain, and all parts must also be internationally competitive (NDRC
2016). This is a defining characteristic of the CEMU, which has become aleading feature of the ‘going out’ strategy of the Chinese railway sector andthe Chinese state. In the process of, the CRC has played an instrumental rolein leading and directing railway related firms to seek railway cooperation
abroad in Belt and Road countries. According to Zhu Pengfei (Chief Engineerof China Railway International Co., Ltd. or CRIC), the CRC ‘accelerated
railway construction along the Silk Road Economic Belt, comprehensively
pushed for the construction of railway construction abroad and fully promoted
the export of CEMU’ (Zhu 2015, 26). In December 2014, the CRIC was
created to facilitate the ‘going out’ process of the railway sector. The
Chairman simultaneously holds the position of Deputy Chief Engineer of the
CRC. The signing of the Moscow-Kazan High-speed Railway project in 2014
signals the international debut of CEMU.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

However, it is important to highlight that the ‘going out’ process has been
largely treated as an extension of Chinese foreign aid projects, and theChinese state has always been behind the establishment of these projects. It
is noticeable that the state has been controlling the CRC in fulfilling thestate’s international objectives (Zhao 2016, 415). The CRC has fully utilised
its monopolistic market position in the domestic economy to facilitate the‘going out’ process for other railway related firms. Its capacity to coordinate
and plan railway design, construction, and equipment manufacturing can help
mix and match domestic firms with suitable overseas projects. According to
the CRC, this method is a new and innovative bank-to-business andbusiness-to-business cooperation models that have effectively raised thecompetitiveness of the Chinese railway sector (The CRC 2017). For example,
in 2015, in the building of an HSR in Indonesia, the CRC formed a consortiumwith other firms in railway design, construction, equipment, and operation,and led the negotiation with the Indonesians (The CRC 2015). The CRC’s role
as a leader in the railway sector has been further strengthened by the NDRC
in January 2017 as the NDRC and the CRC, along with 12 other ministries,
agreed to establish a ‘Belt and Road Working Public-Private-Partnership
Model’. Such a model will help Chinese firms accelerate the implementationof infrastructure projects in Belt and Road countries (NDRC 2017). In May
2017, the Postal Savings Bank of China announced that it would provide the
CRC with more than 200 billion CNY in support of the CRC’s efforts in railway
and infrastructure building in Belt and Road countries (The Beijing News2017).
The CRC has also played a leadership role in enhancing connectivity throughthe REB (The CRC 2017). It has actively engaged in bilateral and multilateral
cooperative initiatives with regional and international railway organisations.
These initiatives are meant to foster a healthy environment for the export of
HSR and to deepen international cooperation between the Chinese railway
sector and its counterparts in Belt and Road countries. The ChongqingXinjiang-Europe railway line is an example of how the CRC was able toenhance China’s connectivity with Europe through freight as goods can betransported from Europe to China, then shipped to various parts of Asia withease. Chongqing also aims to become the centre of a new ‘four-hour aviation
economic zone’ (si xiaoshi hangkong jingji quan), where goods could betransported to Chongqing from large commercial and industrial hubs such as
Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Osaka within four hours via air (Zhao 2017).
Chongqing could thus become a logistical hub capable of connecting landwith air (tiekong lianyun) and Asia with Europe. This freight line provides
OBOR countries with a variety of options for the transportation of goods andfurther lowers logistical costs. And the CRC will continue leveraging its
advantages in railway freight to promote the transportation of goods along
OBOR countries. The Yiwu-London railway line which was put into operation

Can China Link the Belt and Road Initiative by Rail?

95

in January 2017 is another example of China’s ambition to connect itself withthe world, and the CRC was also a key player in its establishment.
Looking at the present moment, China’s provision of global public goods
indeed rests upon its ability to build large infrastructural projects abroad – theChina-Laos Railway, China-Thailand Railway, the Budapest-Belgrade HSR,
and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR (The CRC 2016). This is mainly due toChinese policymakers’ propensity towards promoting infrastructural projects
overseas, which is part and parcel of China’s developmental model thatemphasises state to state loans and infrastructural development (Paltiel2017). These actions could be considered as a means to ‘buy support’ for
China’s global status (Paltiel 2017, 10). China’s infrastructural projects in
Latin America, including improving and developing railway infrastructure in
Argentina and Brazil, have resulted in an expansion of its geopoliticalinterests by ‘fill[ing] the void left by a declining US presence’ (Urdinez et al.
2016, 24).
One concrete international implication of the REB, according to the CRC, isthe expansion of China’s discourse rights in the railway sector (kuoda lezhongguo tielu huayuquan) (The CRC 2017). Also, as the REB expands anddeepens, road rights could ultimately pave the way for China to become adominant land power. The strategy of securing economic resources andenergy are important strategic goals in geopolitics (Gao 2015), andconnectivity has become a method to achieve such a goal – as connectivity
aims to bridge different geographical regions together regarding policy,
facility, trade, finance, and people-to-people relations. Often, ‘institutions ofconcertation and coordination’ are the basis of hegemony and international
hierarchy (Cox 1992, 36; Butt 2016). Yet, China has seemingly chosen an
alternative path as connectivity directly contrasts with how hegemony andcounter-hegemony forces were formed in the past. The concertation,
coordination, and even integration of regional powers is not through institution
building; instead, infrastructural projects are the locomotive pulling countries
together (Butt 2016). In 2017, seven countries, including major powers like
China, Russia, and Germany, agreed to jointly build an information-sharing
platform for transportation safety and a fast customs clearance system for the
China Railway Express (Belt and Road Portal 2017). The signing of such an
agreement shows how railway infrastructure projects could deepen the
integration of countries in other issue areas – such as technology sharing andstandardising custom clearance. Thus, the building of railways could
potentially reshape both the ways through which people and goods travel
through space and the existing international system. Indeed, as technology
and the international system are co-constitutive (Herrera 2006, 2–7), the‘going out’ of the Chinese railway sector, compounded with technologicalbreakthroughs in its CRH, could potentially result in international systemic

96

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldchange as China continues to participate in and contribute to the international
management and building of HSR (Gao 2012, 16-19).
Discussion and Conclusion
In the railway sector, it seems that institutional inertia played a key role incentralisation. Indeed, China’s control of its railway sector had been throughthe MOR before the 2013 reform and the CRC after. There is a clear chain ofcommand in this sector, with three major layers – the SC and NDRC on top
giving general directions, the CRC makes plans and then coordinates, oreven herds, other railway related firms towards the general direction given by
the SC and NDRC. Thus, by having firm control over the CRC, the SC and
NDRC have effective control over the entire railway sector, as the CRC often
leverages its monopolistic position in the transportation and service subsectors to coordinate market activities in rolling stocks, railway infrastructure,and signalling (1721I). This new type of relationship – directly controlling amonopolistic SOE instead of regulators – is not counterintuitive. And the logic
is similar to Gerschenkron’s (1962) idea on late industrialisers. Indeed, acomplete supply chain is the foundation in building an internationallycompetitive industry.
This type of relationship is also seen in the ‘going out’ process, as the CRC
serves as both a coordinator and a platform builder. The CRC effectively
leads the entire railway sector in the building of railway infrastructure andCRH and CEMU exports along Belt and Road countries. The SC and NDRC
then would only need to control the CRC in meeting the state’s international
objectives. The upside of this type of arrangement is the efficient
implementation of state goals, and the state can shield away from domestic
and intra-sector competition. The downside of this type of relationship,
however, is that the SC and NDRC’s international objectives must be highlyaligned with the CRC’s political and commercial agenda for the CRC to be aneffective agent of the state (Norris 2016). The hitherto story of Chinese rails
going abroad indicates that state goals and that of the CRC’s are indeed wellaligned. The fall of Liu Zhijun in 2011 meant the MOR had lost its politicalleverage in the SC (Ma and Zhang 2015). However, the reform of the MOR
did not result in controlled competition. Prima facie, the CRC was satisfied
with the reform result as it had pushed back for reform (1373I). Within the
CRC, there were also cries for greater centralisation of the entire railway
sector – returning to super-ministerial status, a time when rolling stocks andrailway infrastructure were integral parts of the MOR (16121I). At least, the
CRC’s immediate objectives, though remain muddled at the moment, could
be met by implementing state directives.

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97

In conclusion, can China link the Belt and Road Initiative by rail? The answer
is ‘yes’, though premature. First, can China build alliances throughinfrastructural projects? International institutions help continue international
regimes after the initial, favourable condition has disappeared (Keohane1984) – projects based upon mutual interests indeed lack continuation in thisrespect. To be specific, can the increasingly connected continental Asia andthe ensuing change in regional power dynamic forge a counter-hegemonic
force against the extant liberal order? Second, the question is whether the
Chinese state can effectively and continuously control the railway sector inserving its international ambitions? Beijing’s influence over other countries
with the provision of international public goods through infrastructural projects
is largely dependent upon Beijing’s firm control over its commercial actors.
The extant relationship shows that the state and the sector are highly alignedwith their goals and objectives. The CRC has the capacity to leverage its
domestic production capacity against international competitors, and the state
can thusly help the CRC in securing contracts abroad with its diplomatic tools
and bringing a conglomerate of actors into bear on ensuring implementation
success. However, in the implementation phase, can the CRC adapt todifferent political institutions and business cultures and deal with countries
with profoundly different domestic power dynamics? Indeed, many questions
are left unanswered and need to be explored in future research.
*The author is grateful to the following for their helpful comments: Gregory
Chin, Victor Falkenheim, Asif Farooq, Bernie Frolic, Jeremy Paltiel, and Yin
Yang. The author thanks the anonymous interviewees who had spent theirprecious time with the author, often multiple times.
Abbreviations
CARS		
the China Academy of Railway Sciences
CEMU		
China-standard Electric Multiple Units or China Standard
High Speed Rails
CCP		
the Chinese Communist Party
CDRC		
the China Railway Design Corporation
CNR		
the China North Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry
Corporation
CRC		
the China Railway Corporation
CRH		
China Railways High Speed, a high-speed rail service
operated by the China Railway Corporation
CRRC		
China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation
CSR		
China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation
LimitedCTCS		
Chinese Train Control Systems

98

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

HSR		
ISO		
MOR		
MU		
NDRC		OBOR		
REB		
SC			
SRB		

high speed rails or multiple units
International Organization for Standardization
the Ministry of Railways
Multiple Units or high speed rails
the National Development and Reform Commission
the Belt and Road Initiative
the Railroad Economic Belt
the State Council
the State Railway Bureau

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7
The Transnational in China’s
Foreign Policy: The Case of
Sino-Japanese RelationsC A SP ER WIT S

When observing contemporary relations between the People’s Republic ofChina (PRC) and Japan there seems to be a plethora of unresolved issues
that strain the ties between the two countries; most importantly the
disagreements regarding memory of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the territorial dispute regarding the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.
Naturally, a priority when analysing modern China’s relations with Japan
should therefore be a focus on ‘what went wrong’. Fortunately, ample
research has been done on the history issue and territorial disputes in postwar Sino-Japanese relations, and how these hamper international relations inEast Asia (Rose 1998, Rose 2005, Seraphim 2006, He 2009). At the sametime this scholarship, as well as scholarship on the development of post-war
Sino-Japanese trade (Soeya 1998; King 2016), has not ignored theremarkable progress made in bilateral relations between the two countries
since 1945.
It is the latter angle, tracing ‘what went right’, that will be explored further inthis chapter. We will draw attention to how the Chinese government utilised
transnational networks as a basis for developing Sino-Japanese relations in
the first decades of the Cold War (before 1972) and highlight how it was thiselement in bilateral relations that led to many of the breakthroughs andpositive developments in the past. The period immediately after the war saw
many countries in Asia and elsewhere newly liberated from imperialist control.
This led to such initiatives as the non-aligned movement and the search foran alternative basis for international relations, not based on Cold War
superpower rivalry, that culminated in the Bandung Conference of April 1955,

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105

at which Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai played a major role and where theJapanese were also represented. As Hilton and Mitter have put it, imperialism‘had inspired one set of global interconnections but the opposition to it
provoked others’ (Hilton and Mitter 2013, 8). While Japan’s position in Asia at
this moment was ambiguous as a former colonial power and a strong regional
ally of the US, there was a lot of sympathy for these efforts among Japanese
progressives, and this is where the Chinese saw an opening for conducting
its interactions with Japan.
Especially in the first few decades after the founding of the PRC in 1949, therelationship between the two countries faced many difficulties, amplified by
the fact that from 1949 to 1972 they did not have official diplomatic relations.
The achievement of diplomatic normalisation in 1972 and the Peace andFriendship Treaty that was finally concluded in 1978 were the result of an
intense process of bridge-building and (nominally) non-governmental contacts
spanning decades. At the centre of these efforts was a transnational network
involving people from both countries; a network that was in many ways
deliberately cultivated by Zhou Enlai and the Chinese Japan hands under his
guidance, thereby skilfully utilising the fact that their objectives had
considerable support in Japan. Often referred to as People’s Diplomacy(renmin waijiao) or People-to-People Diplomacy (minjian waijiao), theChinese sought to overcome the fact that there were no official relations byappealing directly to the Japanese people and concentrating their interactions
on them. With diplomatic normalisation and the Peace and Friendship Treaty
a lot of these efforts came to fruition, and they also contributed to a steady
improvement in relations, especially concerning trade, through the 1980s.
Many of the Chinese involved in the crafting of these ties had long-standingties to Japan that were rooted in the pre-1945 era; for example, many wereOverseas Chinese who had moved to the PRC from Japan shortly before orafter 1949, or Chinese who came from the Northeast and had therefore been
exposed to Japanese expansionism from a young age. Many Japanese ofcourse had similar ties to China that could sometimes be traced backdecades. Introducing the connections between such actors, and how suchpeople-to-people ties influenced decision making, can provide us with aunique angle for locating modern China’s relations with Japan, and the world,in broader 20th century transnational history.
Largely based on memoirs of the Chinese Japan specialists involved in
People’s Diplomacy, some of the main transnational actors and mechanisms
active in Sino-Japanese relations will be introduced with the aim of tracing thedeliberate use of such informal ties in China’s relations with Japan. Thisapproach gives us an idea of ‘what went right’ in Sino-Japanese relations and106

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invites us to contemplate whether the past contains any positive lessons forthe present. Since a lot of the Chinese tactics connected to People’s
Diplomacy were honed during the tenure of Japanese Prime Minister Kishi
Nobusuke (1957–1960) and were aimed at cultivating ties with those in Japan
opposed to Kishi’s right-wing politics, this chapter implicitly raises thequestion of whether such networks can once again be utilised by the Chinese
and those Japanese opposed to the policies of Kishi’s grandson: current
Prime Minister Abe Shinzō.
Japan’s Reluctant Choice for Taiwan
With the signing of the Treaty of Taipei on 28 April 1952, Japan officiallyrecognised the Republic of China (ROC) government of Chiang Kai-shek in
Taiwan as the sole legitimate government of China. This reflected a new Cold
War reality in which the US-Japan alliance was the determining factor for theJapanese government in shaping its foreign policy stance. Nonetheless there
was enormous resistance against this among the Japanese public as well as
among its leadership. The signing of the treaty was the result of intense US
pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru who, though he was astaunch anti-communist, was in fact convinced of the importance of trade with
the PRC for Japan’s economic growth, and therefore reluctant to forgo
relations with Beijing entirely. This sentiment would foreshadow a remarkableengagement with the PRC among many Japanese mainstream and evenconservative politicians, as well as the business community, in the following
decades. An immediate and more visible reaction to Japan’s becoming‘locked’ into the US camp in the Cold War and how this robbed the country ofmany avenues for engagement with the PRC, came from Japanese
progressives and the Japanese left. Grassroots organisations such as theJapan-China Friendship Association (JCFA), founded in October 1950, spoke
for a significant portion of the Japanese people in arguing for the urgency ofconcluding a peace treaty and diplomatic normalisation with the PRC, without
which ‘the state of war continued to victimise both peoples – if not withbullets, then by preventing the settlement of humanitarian issues andeconomic recovery through trade’ (Seraphim 2006, 110). Sentiments likethese meant that there was great potential for the Chinese to establish
people-to-people ties with a variety of Japanese. The initial initiative among
Japanese for the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations via such
associations as the JCFA was taken by people who had strong connections in
China and had often lived there for years prior to 1945 as reluctant
participants in Japanese expansionist endeavours. For example, two of the
JFCA’s prominent members were its first leader Uchiyama Kanzō, who had
run a bookshop in Shanghai from 1917 to 1945 which had been a refuge forprogressive Chinese intellectuals like Lu Xun; and Itō Takeo, a prominent
member of the Research Department of the Southern Manchurian Railway

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who had spent a part of the war in jail (Seraphim 2006, 111).
China’s People’s Diplomacy
There were in fact a number of issues that inevitably had to lead to someinteraction between the Chinese and Japanese, even with the absence ofofficial relations. A priority for both sides in the 1950s and 1960s was thegradual expansion of Sino-Japanese trade, something that was seen in bothcountries as essential for reviving their economies after the war (King 2016).
To that end several non-governmental trade agreements were signed, and by1965 Japan had become the PRC’s most important trading partner (King2016, 2). Another issue that called for intense negotiations was the repatriation of the many Japanese still remaining in mainland China after the war.
The successful repatriation of a large number of them from 1953 to 1956 wasseen as an early success of China’s People’s Diplomacy and Beijing’s
cooperation on this issue led to more favourable views of the PRC in Japan(He 2009, 153). With the increase of exchanges in the 1960s came more
breakthroughs like the establishment of permanent trade liaison offices andan exchange of foreign correspondents.
To coordinate and manage these interactions with Japanese, Zhou Enlai andhis close confidant Liao Chengzhi, who was Director of the Overseas Chinese
Affairs Office and a Central Committee member, formed an unofficial group ofJapan hands from different branches of the government in the early 1950s, agroup that came to be referred to as the Japan Group. Liao Chengzhi was inmany ways the perfect example of someone whose transnational backgroundmade him equally at home in China and Japan. Born in Tokyo in 1908, he
was the son of the famous Chinese exiles Liao Zhongkai, a KMT politician
and activist, and He Xiangning, a feminist and artist who would later holdmany important positions in the PRC, who were close associates of first
Chinese President Sun Yat-sen. Liao grew up speaking fluent Japanese.
Moving back and forth between the two countries until 1928, after which hewould remain in China, he had become an early member of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and would become a Central Committee member in1945. After 1949, Liao would be a central figure in overseas Chinese affairs
and the key person responsible for the management of Sino-Japaneserelations under Zhou Enlai. This management for a large part consisted ofresurrecting and expanding Liao’s own impressive transnational network
spanning Japan and China, a network that would form the basis of People’s
Diplomacy. As one of Beijing’s key Japan hands Wu Xuewen, a journalist at
the Xinhua news agency, remembers:
Liao Chengzhi had many Japanese friends: friends he had

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inherited from his father Liao Zhongkai, friends from his
studies in Japan when he was young, friends from the antiJapanese struggle, friends from after the Second World War,and even more from after the founding of the new China; there
were new friends that were introduced to him by, or that he got
acquainted with via, old friends, as well as new friends
introducing [more] new friends. He blended all these friends
into Sino-Japanese ‘People-to-People Diplomacy’ (Wu andWang 2007, 120).
Around him Liao Chengzhi assembled Japan hands with similar backgrounds
who were fluent in Japanese. Three of them are worth mentioning here
because it is their recollections on which this chapter is based: Sun Pinghua(from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries), Xiao Xiangqian (Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs), and Wu
Xuewen. These three Japan hands were all from the Northeast and had
therefore lived in the Manchukuo puppet state, and they had studied in Japan
before becoming active in the CCP and the ‘anti-Japanese struggle’. Together
with a small number of other Japan specialists they were encouraged by Liaoto undertake a similar effort to befriend a large variety of Japanese. Since thissame tight-knit group of people would take care of all Japanese visitors to the
PRC, as well as accompany Chinese visiting groups to Japan, they could
develop many personal ties with a large variety of people in the country. It
was the crafting of these ties that was in many ways their long-term goal, agoal that transcended the topic of any specific negotiation (Wits 2016). As Wu
Xuewen puts it:
Starting with people exchange, [we would] work tirelessly todevelop the traditional friendship between the Japanese andChinese peoples…This was an unprecedented, large“systematic program” that needed an integrated specific longterm policy. It required several generations of Chinese andJapanese people’s combined efforts and abilities, to deal withthe historical issues (Wu 2002, 27).
The ultimate goal of these transnational ties was to make them so strong theywould make an eventual diplomatic normalisation inevitable. With the absence of official ties, the Chinese had no choice but to follow a policy of ‘using
the people as government officials’ (yimincuguan). Wu Xuewen:
For changing the relations into official government relations,they had to start from people’s interaction, people-to-people
diplomacy, and “using the people as government officials”.

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This could lead the Japanese government to change its antiChinese policy; using an accumulative step-by-step method,working patiently and meticulously to return to official relations
and realize the Peace and Friendship Treaty (Wu 2002, 27).
Negotiations on issues like trade and repatriation would be a window for the
Chinese to expand their network further, and whenever a (nominally nongovernmental) Chinese delegation would visit Japan, Liao and the otherJapan hands would go to great lengths to meet as large an amount of people
as possible in a more unofficial capacity. For example, when a Chinese Red
Cross delegation visited Japan in 1954 to discuss the repatriation issue, Liao
Chengzhi was a part of the delegation, his first visit in decades. Many people
were eager to meet with Liao, and Xiao Xiangqian as secretary of thedelegation was responsible for organising the many meetings that took place
after the ‘official’ negotiations had finished. These additional meetings werewith a large variety of people, and the discussions mostly unrelated to theissue that was the official reason for their visit. Lamenting that Japaneseevening receptions seemed to be never-ending, Xiao crammed in as many
‘unofficial’ evening meetings as he could (Xiao 1994, 40).
The first Chinese delegations to Japan took place during the tenure ofJapanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Ichirō (1954–1956) who favoured closer
relations with the communist powers and realised diplomatic normalisation
with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1956. It seemed SinoJapanese rapprochement was now also a possibility and the goal for the
Chinese was to engage with Japanese government officials as much as
possible, while ostensibly only engaging in People’s Diplomacy. This strategy
ran into difficulties when the conservative right-winger Kishi Nobusuke
became Prime Minister of Japan in 1957. Sino-Japanese relations would see
a steady deterioration during the Kishi years from 1957 to 1960, a period thatwould also see immense polarisation within Japanese society against Kishi’s
pro-US (and pro-Taiwan) politics. Interestingly, a reaction to this setback was
to double down on the expansion of transnational ties with a wider variety ofJapanese, beyond those active in politics and those already invested in the
improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. The need to focus on a multitude ofsectors in which ties could be cultivated, often with seemingly less political
overtones was an aspect of People’s Diplomacy that had already come invogue from the mid-1950s, when
The idea of the Japan Group was for all kinds of organisations
to invite Japanese parliamentarians, business people, from
culture and the arts, to encourage mutual understanding andfriendship between the Chinese and Japanese peoples and a

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good working relationship; this was needed to develop [therelations] in a broader and deeper direction and to increase
the substance (Wu 2002, 59).
In meetings evaluating the state of affairs in Sino-Japanese relations in 1955,
the Japan Group decided that developing cultural exchange had to be a newpriority from 1956 onwards (Wu and Wang 2007, 227). To this end former
Prime Minister Katayama visited Beijing in 1955, signing an Agreement on
Japanese-Chinese Cultural Exchange on November 27, which would lead tothe establishment in Japan of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association
the following year.
Another notable aspect here is that in addition to casting a wider net among
Japanese, the Chinese also started linking their aims of improving SinoJapanese relations more with the general anti-Kishi sentiment that was
gathering steam in Japan in the late 1950s. For example, during the second
visit of the Chinese Red Cross in December 1957, despite the unfavourable
new situation under the Kishi government, the delegation members strove tocontinue building on ties already made:While the first visit was about making friends widely andentering a new phase, the second visit was about using thatbase to make a substantial step forward, in order to advanceSino-Japanese friendship in a more broad, more deep, andmore dynamic direction. The common view of the Chinese andJapanese peoples was that for the development of SinoJapanese friendship the two aspects of strengthening SinoJapanese exchange and firmly opposing Kishi Nobusuke’s
anti-China policy were both indispensable (Wu and Wang2007, 179).
The last sentence makes clear that the Chinese now saw a need to invest inties with a wide net of Japanese progressives, whose goals were potentiallyaligned with their own. One avenue for interaction was activism concerning
nuclear non-proliferation activism, something in which Japan was somewhat
of a pioneer. According to Hilton and Mitter, citizens’ concerns about nuclear
weapons were a global phenomenon and something that generated manytransnational interactions, something in which the Chinese were also active(Hilton and Mitter 2013, 8). People-to-people exchanges with all sectors fromJapanese society were now encouraged in order to promote Sino-Japanese
friendship and most of all to bring about a change in Japan’s China policy. In
the eyes of the Chinese active in this was a great success:The Transnational in China’s Foreign Policy: The Case of Sino-Japanese Relations

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Among the Japanese friends that Liao Chengzhi made were
well-known people from [the fields of] economics, politics,
culture, education, labour, youth and women’s [organisations],
religion, and so on, many of society’s leaders from all sectionsof Japanese society and who all had influence in their fields(Wu and Wang 2007, 120).
Many of these ties would continue to deepen during the government of Ikeda
Hayato (1960–1964) which was again much more favourably disposed
towards Beijing. The many people-to-people exchanges taking place in thisperiod led to the creation of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA),
founded by the Chinese on October 3, 1963. This is much later than its
Japanese counterpart (founded in 1950, as mentioned earlier). According to
Sun Pinghua the Chinese had resisted the creation of such an association
because of the anti-China policies of successive Japanese governments (Sun1998, 118). While there were and are many Chinese organs for the promotionof People’s Diplomacy, this was the first such organ aimed at a particularcountry. Its goal was mainly to serve as a bridge for people in China; between
those working with Japan and groups that might be interested in exchangewith Japan. Xiao Xiangqian describes the association’s activities within Chinaas ‘bringing together those in the frontline of Japan-related work [on the onehand] with academics, cultural figures, and nongovernmental associations in
Beijing [on the other]. There were basically no other foreign friendship
organisations [in China] where such a colourful collection of people would beassembled’ (Xiao 1994, 115).
From Transnational to Diplomatic Interaction
While the numerous nongovernmental exchanges served the purpose ofpromoting a favourable image of the PRC in Japan and generally increasing
China’s leverage, these kinds of delegations also served as a convenient
cover to send some of the Japan Group members to Japan to engage insemi-official negotiations while remaining somewhat under the radar. Thiswas useful so as not to draw the ire of right-wing and pro-Taiwan politicians.
The Japan hand who was employed like this most frequently was Sun
Pinghua. On several occasions he was sent to Japan for meetings with
political figures, often in preparation for breakthrough visits to China bypeople like the parliamentarian Matsumura Kenzō, who was the leader of the
pro-China faction in the ruling LDP. For example, with the ongoing talks
concerning Sino-Japanese trade that would eventually lead to theestablishment of trade liaison offices, the Chinese sent Sun to Japan in July
1962 as part of a Chinese delegation of Go players, undeterred by the fact

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that Sun had not mastered the game (Sun 1998, 105–106). During the same
period of intense negotiations concerning both trade and an exchange ofjournalists, three Japan hands would be sent to Japan again, when
Matsumura and Liao decided a delegation of Chinese orchid specialists
should visit Japan in April 1963. Matsumura was an orchid lover but the realreason for sending the orchid connoisseurs to Japan was so that they could
be escorted by Sun Pinghua and others, to serve as, as Sun put it: ‘Orchid
Envoys’. In Japan they met many important people from the business world,
as well as the government (Sun 1998, 111–115). Probably the most importantcase was in the summer of 1972 when Sun was added to the delegation of
the Shanghai Ballet Troupe to Japan, again notwithstanding his ignorance of
the art, in order to discuss a possible Sino-Japanese diplomatic normalisation
with the Japanese leadership (Sun 1998, 136–144). Needless to say, this ‘Go
Diplomacy’ and ‘Orchid Diplomacy’ seems like a prelude to the famous ‘PingPong Diplomacy’ that contributed to Sino-American rapprochement and inwhich Japan also played a central role (Itoh 2011). The transnational ties
cultivated through people-to-people interaction would prove their use in theheady days before Sino-Japanese rapprochement was finally achieved in
September 1972, when the lack of official ties made the network of friendshipmore important than ever:Especially on the eve of diplomatic normalisation, many of
Liao Chengzhi’s old Japanese friends went back and forth
between Tokyo and Beijing, passing on China and Japan’s
principles and tentative plans regarding the resumption ofrelations, and even the draft of a joint statement, thereby
connecting the paths of Sino-Japanese ‘People-to-People
Diplomacy’ and inter-governmental negotiations, and smoothly
realizing the normalisation of diplomatic relations. This was
unprecedented in the history of international relations anddiplomacy (Wu and Wang 2007, 121).
Conclusion
While in the new era after 1972 the role of People’s Diplomacy andtransnational networks would be to a large extent superseded by connections
on a governmental level, with the current impasse in bilateral relations it isworth looking to the past to learn from the mechanisms that have contributed
to the many achievements in post-war Sino-Japanese relations. The idea ofstimulating people-to-people interaction is something that has been gaining
traction with Chinese scholars such as Zhiqun Zhu calling for People-toPeople Diplomacy between China and Japan as a way to counter the current
downward spiral (Zhu 2015). The experience in the 1949–1972 era shows

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that transnational networks, both those that already existed and a variety of
newly crafted connections, could be put to use for the achievement of politicalgoals. While conditions, at a time such that international structures connectedto the Cold War and the need for trade with Japan made Beijing open to SinoJapanese interaction in a way that may be less prevalent now, it remains a
potent example of how civic action across borders can change seemingly
rigid political realities. Opportunities are manifold, with quantitative interaction
now much higher than during the period discussed in this chapter, whether its
foreign students, cultural figures, or business people doing the interacting.
References
He, Yinan. The Search for Reconciliation: Sino-Japanese and German-Polish
Relations since World War II. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press,
2009.
Hilton, Matthew, and Rana Mitter. “Introduction.” Past and Present,
Supplement 8: 7–28, 2013.
Itoh, Mayumi. “Mr. Gotō Goes to Beijing: The Origin of Ping-Pong Diplomacy.”
Sino-Japanese Studies 18, 2011.
King, Amy. China-Japan Relations after World War Two: Empire, Industry andWar, 1949–1971. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
“People-to-People Diplomacy in China-Japan Relations”; The Diplomat;
Zhiqun Zhu; http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/people-to-people-diplomacy-inchina-japan-relations/; March 17, 2015; Accessed: June 29, 2017.
Rose, Caroline. Interpreting History in Sino-Japanese Relations. London:
Routledge, 1998.
Rose, Caroline. Sino-Japanese Relations: Facing the past, looking to the
future? NY: Routledge, 2005.
Sun, Pinghua. Chūgoku to Nihon no hashi wo kaketa otoko [The man who
built a bridge between China and Japan]. Tokyo: Nihon keizai shimbunsha,
1998.
Seraphim, Franziska. War memory and social politics in Japan, 1945–2005.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.

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Soeya, Yoshihide. Japan’s economic diplomacy with China, 1945–1978.
Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Wits, Casper. “The Japan Group: Managing China’s People’s Diplomacy
Toward Japan in the 1950s.” East Asia 33 (2): 91–110, 2016.
Wu, Xuewen. Fengyu yinqing: Wo suo jinglide Zhongri guanxi [Good Times,
Bad Times: My experience of Sino-Japanese Relations]. Beijing: Shijie zhishi
chubanshe, 2002.
Wu, Xuewen, and Wang Junyan. Liao Chengzhi yu Riben [Liao Chengzhi andJapan]. Beijing: Zhonggongdangshi chubanshe, 2007.
Xiao, Xiangqian. Tokoshie no rinkoku to shite [Good Neighbours Forever].
Tokyo: Saimaru shuppansha, 1994.

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8
Soviet Foreign Policy in the
Early 1980s: A View from
Chinese Sovietology
J IE L I

This chapter will examine the analyses of Chinese Soviet-watchers of Soviet
foreign policy against the larger context of China’s political setting in the early
1980s, before the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, and investigate how
those Chinese scholars placed post-Mao Chinese official agendas centrally intheir research. It is going to demonstrate that in the early 1980s, Chinese
research on Soviet hegemonism (baquan zhuyi), Soviet-Yugoslavian conflicts,
and Soviet-Third World relations all reflected Beijing’s ambitions ofchallenging the orthodox Soviet model of economic development in thesocialist world, competing with the Kremlin for leadership in developing
countries, and projecting a fair and benevolent image of Chinese socialism
vis-à-vis Moscow. In short, Chinese research of Soviet foreign policy in theearly 1980s had primarily been to trace problems of Chinese socialism as
experienced by scholars at the time of their research; this was done in orderto legitimise state agendas, rather than to seek truth about the Union of theSoviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
With respect to primary sources, it should be mentioned here that thisresearch is based predominantly on the ‘national core journals’ (Guojiaji hexin
qikan) published in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), such as thosedealing with problems of socialism or communism in the world, and the ones
concentrating on questions and issues relating to the former Soviet Union.
Moreover, the research intends to examine the thinking of Chinese
Sovietologists against the backdrop of political changes in early 1980s China.
Therefore, China’s Party newspapers and journals, and the writings andspeeches of contemporary Chinese leaders were also consulted.

116

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the WorldThe use of the term ‘Sovietologists’ (or Soviet-watchers) in this paper for
those who study and research the state of the USSR is based on Christopher
Xenakis’ definition. Xenakis defines US Sovietologists broadly, to include‘political scientists, economists, sociologists, historians, diplomats and policy
makers’. He uses the terms ‘Sovietologists’, ‘Soviet experts’, ‘foreign policy
analysts’, ‘Cold War theorists’, and ‘political scientists’ interchangeably, citing
the examples of George Kennan, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Richard Pipes, andStrobe Talbott. These individuals are both Soviet-specialists and policy
makers, while Hedrick Smith and Robert Kaiser are also Soviet-watchers andjournalists simultaneously (Xenakis 2002, 4).
In terms of this elastic definition of the field and the diversity of scholars’
backgrounds, the situation in China is generally similar to the situation in the
US as described by Xenakis. For example, as we shall see, although some
Chinese scholars specialise in either Soviet or world communism, most of
those mentioned and quoted in this paper are generalists rather thanspecialists in Soviet studies. Their articles often express more political zeal
than scholarly expertise or analytical insight. Generally speaking, thedescriptions by Xenakis of US Sovietologists could also be applied to theChinese situation. Although the academic training of Chinese Soviet-watchers
is in different disciplines and by no means confined to Soviet studies, theirresearch and publications are relevant to Sovietology in one way or another.
Perceptions of Soviet Hegemonism
In the early 1980s, when Sino-Soviet relations were in estrangement and the1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had exacerbated bilateral relations, theChinese communist regime called for the state-wide denunciation of so-called
Soviet hegemonism. After that, Chinese Soviet-watchers became preoccupied with criticising Soviet hegemonism in their writings. As we will see, both
the real Soviet military threat along the PRC border after Moscow’s incursion
into Afghanistan, and the historical memory of the past Russian invasion ofChina played key roles in intensifying the hostility of Chinese scholars
towards the USSR in the early 1980s.
Deng Xiaoping, who was already the preeminent leader of China after thepassing of Mao Zedong, understood the gravity of the Soviet military threat toChinese security. In a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee
meeting in 1980, he claimed that ‘opposing hegemonism will be on our daily
agenda’, and ‘the struggle against hegemonism is a grave task constantly
confronting our country’ (Deng 1995, vol 2, 241). Deng once defined‘hegemonism’ as denoting the situation when a country ‘becomes arrogant’and ‘acts like an overlord and gives orders to the world’ (Deng 1995, vol 2,

Soviet Foreign Policy in the Early 1980s: A View from Chinese Sovietology

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123).
David Shambaugh in his book on Chinese scholarly perceptions of America
has devoted several pages to ascertaining the Chinese concept of hegemony.
A Chinese scholar at Renmin University defined the term in the following
words during an interview he gave to the author:
When we use this term in China, we mean big countries that
try to control or interfere in smaller countries. Many scholars
mix up imperialism and hegemony. We do not know if it is asystem or a policy. Before the 1980s we thought it was asystem, like Soviet social-imperialism. We now definehegemony as a policy. For example, in the past when wecalled the United States imperialist we meant the system;
today we use hegemony to describe its foreign policy(Shambaugh 1991, 79).
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, accusations of so-called Soviet
hegemonism had carried weight within Soviet studies in China. In the firstissue of Xiandai guoji guanxi (Contemporary International Relations)published by Beijing University in 1981, the editor stated clearly that thejournal was committed to ‘opposing hegemony, safeguarding world peace,and striving for a favourable international environment’ (Editor 1981, 64). In
January 1981, in the first issue of Sulian dongou wenti (Matters of the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe) published by the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences (CASS), the journal editor Liu Keming criticised the Soviet
leadership for causing the first socialist country to degenerate into ‘a social
imperialist state’, and making the USSR become ‘the principal source ofturmoil in the international society’ (Liu 1981, 1). He argued:
In order to safeguard world peace, it is essential to doresearch on policies, theories, and origins of Soviet
hegemonism, reveal the true face of it, and make people
realise its nature and danger. This is an important mission of
our studies of Soviet problems (Liu 1981, 1).
The application of the term hegemonism throughout the history of the PRC
has been quite evolutionary. In the early days of the regime, the use of theterm was in the context of confrontations between the ‘two camps’ during theCold War. It was limited to describing the capitalist US and its allies only (Mao
1993, vol 8, 354). During the early days of Sino-Soviet discord in the late
1950s, China started to criticise Moscow’s policy of peaceful coexistence with
the West and its intention to control Beijing via the construction of long-wave

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radio stations in Chinese territory (Chen and Yang 1998, 270). In the early
1960s, when Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated, the PRC intensified its attackon the USSR, accusing Moscow of promoting its own values and institutions
abroad in a way that resembled 19th century colonialism (Friedman 2015,40).
According to Shambaugh, the turning point occurred in 1968, when the term‘hegemonism’ was employed by the Chinese to denounce Soviet aggressionin Czechoslovakia and the ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’ (Shambaugh 1991, 78). Thisis because the Brezhnev statement justifying the Soviet invasion had
provided a basis for possible future intervention in other socialist states.
China immediately felt the danger of such logic and responded vociferously to
Moscow (Boyle 1993, 161). The occasion stood as the major component in
the escalation of Sino-Soviet tensions and the Kremlin was thereafter equatedwith hegemonism in China. By the early 1970s, Chinese scholars had begun
to fuse ‘social-imperialism’ together with ‘hegemonism’ when referring to theSoviet Union, which was being described as ‘socialist in word, imperialist in
deed’. In their point of view, ‘Imperialism refers to capitalist countries whilehegemonism refers to countries regardless of system’ (Shambaugh 1991, 78–
79).
After the passing of Mao, many Chinese scholars were still locked in Maoist
rhetoric in the early 1980s. In 1981, CASS Vice-President Qian Junruidemanded that Chinese scholars use ‘Mao Zedong Thought’ to ‘guide ourresearch on the present questions of international relations’. He emphasisedthat Mao’s ‘Three Worlds’ concept was still ‘our theoretical basis and strategic
framework’, which guided ‘the country’s cooperation with the Third andSecond World, and resistance to the superpowers and Soviet hegemonism inparticular’ (Qian 1981, 1).1 To take an example, CASS scholar Xu Kui used
the words ‘hegemonism’, ‘global expansionism’, and ‘socialist imperialism’
more than ten times to depict Soviet activities in the world in his 1981 fivepage article (Xu 1981, 10–14).
Chinese scholars may define hegemonism by the West as the
oppressiveness of capitalism and colonisation. In the case of the Soviet
Union, they used the term to refer not only to the Soviet Union’s violation ofothers’ sovereignties, but also Moscow’s poking its nose into other countries’
affairs, as well as its unequal treatment of the socialist member states bysubjecting them to the Soviet model. It was a term used by the Chinese totarget Moscow’s paternalism in the socialist camp of which China was amember. Up to the early 1980s, using the language of hegemonism to portray
the Soviets in the PRC reflected China’s ambition of competing with the1

On Mao Zedong’s ‘Three Worlds’ theory, see Mao 1993, vol. 8, 441.

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119

Kremlin for leadership in the Third World and the socialist camp. The term, as
used by the Chinese, attempted to emphasise that China was a true socialist
country while the USSR was not, and to emphasise that the faults of SinoSoviet conflicts were on the side of the aggressive Moscow.
Chinese criticism of Soviet hegemonism is not only the legacy of the Mao era.
The Chinese have long had vivid memories of Tsarist Russia as one of theWestern intruders who conspired to take over China over the centuries. In
their research on the history of Russian invasions of China and its killing ofChinese inhabitants during the Boxer Uprising and Russo-Japanese War in
the early 20th century, Chinese scholars in the early 1980s always equatedTsarist behaviours with contemporary Soviet chauvinism (Liu 1980, 167-168;
Zhou 1983, 92–96). In the eyes of the Chinese, Moscow’s present search for
global supremacy was no more than a Tsarist tradition, ‘disguised by thecover of socialism’ (Li 1981, 25). Besides, some Chinese scholars in the early
1980s tended to fault the present Soviet regime for being reluctant toabrogate the unequal treaties that the Tsarist government had signed withimperial China. In their writings, they demanded the return of the lost
territories that had resulted from those treaties (Zhou and Shi 1980, 104–112;
Chen 1981, 45–46). By presenting the history of Soviet hegemonism andaggression in China in this way, these scholars hoped to mobilise support for
China’s stand in the Sino-Soviet border negotiation taking place then.2
Moreover, at the time Sino-Soviet relations were still in a stalemate,aggravated by the long-time shadow of Tsarist intrusions and Sino-Soviet
conflicts since the 1960s. It is thus no surprise that the Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan, a country neighbouring China, would produce a grave perceived
threat to the PRC in the early 1980s. In January 1980, an anonymouscommentary with a sinister tone appeared in the CCP mouthpiece Renmin
ribao (People’s Daily):
Once the Soviet Union has pushed its military force into the
Persian Gulf and Indian subcontinent, it sends a dangerous
signal. It shows that the USSR will continue its attack on Iran,Pakistan, and other countries. People should not assume that
Moscow would target Afghanistan only. There is an urgent
question before us: which country will become the next
Afghanistan (Remin ribao 1980, 3)?
Chinese scholars not only were critical of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,
but also felt suspicious of Moscow’s desire in advancing on China. CASS
scholar Yu Sui warned, ‘Both the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its
2

On the Sino-Soviet border talk in the early 1980s, see Li 1981, 2.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldsupport of Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia would pose a grievous threat
to the security of Asia and China’ (Yu 1983, 5). Xing Shugang, another CASS
specialist in Soviet foreign relations, pointed out that ‘Soviet troops stationingin Asia is nothing other than encircling the PRC, sowing discord between
China and its neighbouring countries, and obstructing the progress of China’s
modernisation’ (Xing 1981, 4). It seems that Chinese accusations of Soviet
hegemony were not merely politically motivated. The Chinese did not want tosee Moscow’s expansionism becoming rampant in the world, as China would
likely suffer from this situation. Chinese denunciation of Soviet hegemonism
indicated not only China’s long memories of Russian humiliation, but also its
feeling of being uncomfortable and insecure when Moscow extended its large
military presence on the Chinese border.
Treatment of Soviet Relations with Yugoslavia and the Third World
With regard to Soviet foreign relations with other countries in the early 1980s,
the analysis of Chinese scholars corresponded closely with the tone of postMao China’s state policies. They attempted to respond to and legitimise
China’s official agendas through their research. There is one particularly
significant example of the Chinese treatment of the Soviet-Yugoslavian
relations. Although Mao Zedong once branded Yugoslavia as ‘revisionist’(Mao 1974, 189), a derogatory term used to stigmatise any socialist countries
opting for capitalist reforms, in the 1980s Yugoslavia became the centre ofattention in the PRC. Under Deng, China’s foreign policy resembled
Yugoslavia’s stance of being non-aligned and non-confrontational (Reminribao 1984, 2).3 Chinese leaders greatly admired Belgrade’s spirit in defianceof what was seen as Moscow’s overlordship, evidenced by Party General
Secretary Hu Yaobang’s 1983 high appraisal of ‘Josip Tito’s principles of
independence and equality among all communist parties, and of opposing
imperialism, colonialism, and hegemonism’ (Liu 1983, 3).
Some articles by Chinese scholars in the early 1980s shared the official
claims to promote the case of Yugoslavia in their research. Jiang Qi, aprofessor of international relations at East China Normal University, regarded
Moscow’s expelling Belgrade from the socialist camp in 1948 as owing to thelatter’s uncompromising attitude. He remarked, ‘It was the origin of antihegemony struggle in Eastern Europe’ (Jiang 1983, 7). Cai Kang, another
scholar at East China Normal University, wrote, ‘The non-aligned policy has
evolved from a strategy of Yugoslavia to an international movement’, and ‘ithas broken through the shadow of the Soviet-type foreign policy model for the3
The Editorial stated that both ‘China and Yugoslavia are pursuing independentand self-reliant foreign policies, and regarding world peace and human progress as major
goals of our common international agendas’.

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first time in socialist history’ (Cai 1984, 43).
Apart from its non-aligned foreign policy, Yugoslavia’s economic model (which
had shaken the dominant position of Soviet-style socialism) also became an
important reason to gather the Chinese support of Belgrade’s struggle against
the Soviet rivalry. When ailing President Josip Tito’s health condition
deteriorated, the event became a paramount concern of Renmin ribao in thefirst half of 1980. At the time, the official organ of the CCP carried day-to-day
reports from Belgrade, wishing for Tito’s recovery and glorifying his
contributions. After Tito’s death, during the memorial ceremony held in the
Yugoslavian Embassy in Beijing, the first CASS President and CCP ideologue
Hu Qiaomu paid the following tribute to Tito and Yugoslavian inspiration:
Comrade Tito’s greatest contribution to the contemporarycommunist movement was that he was the first one torecognise that socialism should not be confined to one model.
He initiated a new way of building socialism suited to theconcrete conditions of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia did not follow
the over-centralised economic pattern introduced by the Soviet
Union. Led by Tito, the Yugoslav people have broken awayfrom the conventional Soviet methods which were formerly
considered inviolable, and have blazed a new trail to develop asocialist economy. The Yugoslavian example provided
valuable experience for other countries to choose their own
road of socialist construction according to their specificconditions (Qi 1980, 1).
In the wake of the Maoist decades, China found that the Soviet model
disguised by Maoism had made China poor and backward. China under Deng
was eager to find a new way to make China a prosperous and strong socialist
country. Yugoslavia’s reform experience initiated by Tito, which included themixing of central planning and market mechanisms and took a distinctive
approach to socialism by disregarding the orthodox Soviet methods, struck achord with the Chinese. Such a distinctive model is exactly the direction of
post-Mao China’s reforms. Many academic articles in the early 1980s
expressed their approval of Yugoslavian socialism in preference to thedogmatic Soviet orthodoxy, and showed a strong desire to learn from
Belgrade (Jiang 1982, 58; Wang 1984, 26–32; Zhao 1984, 77).
As such, Chinese scholars’ open advocacy of Yugoslavia’s position in its
conflicts with Moscow was due to not only China’s similar stance in nonaligned policy and anti-Soviet hegemony, but also to China’s receptivity to
Yugoslavia’s unique reform experience. After the PRC became economically122

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successful in the early 1980s, Chinese scholars would sometimes speak of
Yugoslavia as a sort of maverick, as a countervailing weight to the Soviet
brand of socialism. This in turn would validate the exception of the Chinese
way of practicing socialism. The treatment of Yugoslavia, in particular, reflects
the increasing confidence of Chinese scholars. They were arguing that
Moscow should accept a less centralised and more diverse socialist world.4
Chinese scholars’ clear-cut stand on supporting the post-Mao CCP policy ofintegrating Marxism with China’s concrete circumstances and heralding thevision of the rise of Chinese-style socialism, could be reflected in theiranalysis of Soviet-Yugoslavian troubled relations.
In the early 1980s China did not fail to notice the rise of the Third World,which would play a crucial role in international relations and become a partnerwith China to contain the superpowers – at least in the CCP’s strategic
worldview. During his 1982 talk with Javier Perez de Cuellar, SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, Deng Xiaoping remarked that the international
influence of the Third World ‘has increased considerably’, and ‘cannot be
overlooked’. He stated that the foundation of China’s foreign policy was‘opposing hegemonism and safeguarding world peace’, which was also ‘theposition and immediate interests of the Third World’. Therefore, it would be
essential for China and the region to ‘strengthen unity and cooperation’ (Deng
1995, vol 2, 407–408).
Concomitant with this strategic perspective, Chinese scholars attempted touse post-Mao China’s Third World policy as their theoretical framework foranalysis. Chinese scholars in the early 1980s seemed to view Soviet relations
with the Third World through the prism of Sino-Soviet friction. Theirarguments on the subject look more like explaining and demonstrating
China’s different treatment of the Third World, rather than genuine research of
the Soviet policy in the region. In their articles, Chinese scholars strenuously
promoted and defended the case of the Third World. Their arguments
indirectly symbolised China’s stance in challenging the Soviet authority,
appealed for the redress of past historical wrongdoings on China done by
Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, and promoted the moral superiority ofChinese socialism over that of the USSR.
During Mao’s later period, China did not receive much goodwill from the Third
World, mainly owing to Mao’s excessive obsession with bringing Chinesebased socialism to the poor nations. Such a strategy of exporting revolutions
had caused resentment in numerous countries, particularly those inSoutheast Asia, where it led to a widespread anti-China sentiment (Bolt 2000,
4The Soviet Union in the early 1980s was still unwilling to recognise that China’s
post-Mao reforms are genuinely socialist in nature. See Marsh 2005, 131-132.

Soviet Foreign Policy in the Early 1980s: A View from Chinese Sovietology

12343-47). Before Mao’s death in 1976, the PRC was crippled not only byeconomic stagnation but also international isolation. In the wake of Maoist
decades, the new leader Deng Xiaoping expected PRC foreign policy todetach from the radical determinant of Maoism and return to the realities ofmodern international politics (Deng 1995, vol 2, 248–249). The post-Mao
leadership envisioned that China would become a progressive anti-colonial
Asian power symbolised by its break with the Kremlin and the Maoist burden,
and a true friend of the underdeveloped world (Wang 1985, 42).
In tune with the official view, some Chinese scholars portrayed Moscow as
having taken advantage of numerous conflicts to interfere in the Third World,
subjecting others to its beck and call (Xing 1981, 8–9; Zhang 1982, 19; Xie
1984, 45). These articles tend to exaggerate the gravity of Soviet hostility andMoscow’s ability to dominate the world, although such radical views began totrail off after Gorbachev’s accession. Most of the writings presented above
seem to conclude that the Soviet Union had achieved complete failure in its
relations with underdeveloped countries, become the only troublemaker andcommon enemy of the world, and ended up in having no friend in the global
society.
Meanwhile, Chinese official organs attempted to foster a new image of China.
They posited that the country was far from being isolated in the international
community after the death of Mao; rather, it had joined the whole world tocontain the advance of the superpowers (Mao 1980, 5; Cui 1981, 25). In
1981, Foreign Minister Huang Hua suggested to his Canadian colleague Mark
MacGuigan, that China and the West should establish close ties on the basisof containing Soviet aggressive behaviour in the Third World (Li 1981, 1). On
another occasion, he remarked that by carrying the banner of anti-hegemony,
China would be able to increase its influence in the Third World, which would
be conducive to its global status and open-door policy (Ma 1981, 3).
In 1982, CASS scholar Zhang Jinglin claimed that, along with a broad base of
the Third World countries, ‘An international anti-Soviet camp consisting ofChina and the West has developed rapidly’ (Zhang 1982, 3). Two years later,
both Li Jingjie (a CASS researcher) and Zhou Jirong (a professor of politicalscience at Beijing University) agreed that after becoming stabilised andstronger, China would play a larger role in international affairs, namely byhalting the war and safeguarding peace (Li 1984, 19; Zhou 1984, 23). Theseauthors seemingly made use of their subject study to argue that China after
Mao was far from being separated from the world. Instead, China under Deng
was re-engaging the world and earning respect from international society by
joining the global campaign against the Soviet advance. As a result of such
sharp Chinese denunciations of Moscow’s expansionism, the West became

124

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldeager for Chinese cooperation and sought to aid Chinese reforms, in order toally with China in resisting the USSR (Lukin 2003, 216).
There are three other reasons for why Chinese scholars had a strong bias
towards the Third World and sympathised with those countries involved when
it came to Soviet-Third World relations. The first one may be historical. In theeyes of the CCP, both China and other underdeveloped countries shared thecommon experience of falling prey to imperialist encroachment in the past (Xu1983, 3), and China, in particular, had been invaded by Tsars since the earlymodern period and treated unfairly by the Soviet regime after 1949 (Deng
1995, vol 3, 285–287). This historical background of complicated Sino-Soviet
Russian relations was deeply rooted in the collective Chinese mind, andinevitably affected the writings of Chinese scholars (Li 2012, 37). Several
articles in the early 1980s evidenced a strong grudge against the unequal
relations between Moscow and the Third World. They condemned the forced
Soviet model of socialism as a kind of neo-colonisation, which did not benefit
the Third World, but instead made them backward and isolated (Zhang 1982,
6; Yu 1983, 4; Hong 1983, 49).
Moreover, in the early 1980s some Chinese writings voiced criticism of theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan as being contradictory to the first Soviet leader
Vladimir Lenin’s principle of internationalism (Lenin 1967, 26–29). On theother hand, they portrayed China as having wholeheartedly supported theAfghan resistance and the emancipation of other Third World nations, while
never meddling in their affairs. According to those writings, China was thetrue disciple of Lenin’s teachings, while Moscow’s behaviour wasincompatible with Leninist internationalism (Fang 1982, 35; Lu 1983, 17;Shen 1983, 9–10). This picture of the PRC as enlightened and committed tofulfilling its internationalist responsibility to the Third World is not acontemporary invention. Mao Zedong once put forth that CCP members
should ‘build China into a great and powerful socialist country and help thebroad masses of the oppressed and exploited throughout the world in
fulfilment of our great internationalist duty’ (Mao 1993, vol 8, 320). In the
1980s, Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang said that the aid work to the Third
World was China’s ‘compelling internationalist obligation’ (Feng 1983, 2).
Thus, we can see that post-Mao China was aspiring to gain the upper handover the Soviet Union in the name of the struggle against hegemonism, andmore importantly, in the fight for moral leadership over the Third World. By
using Lenin’s internationalism to accuse Moscow of being chauvinistic, selfserving, and exploitative in its relations with the underdeveloped countries,
Chinese scholars instead would project a fair, humble, and benevolent imageof Beijing, enabling it to assume the moral high ground vis-à-vis Moscow.

Soviet Foreign Policy in the Early 1980s: A View from Chinese Sovietology

125

Last, from the early 1980s onwards the post-Mao reforms led to substantial
expansion of Chinese national power and a notable growth in its internationalprestige and influence, while the Soviet Union was in the grip of economic
difficulties. Chinese scholars shared a growing pride in what China had
accomplished so far vis-à-vis what they saw as the demoralised USSR. Yang
Zhangming, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, said that many Third
World states had been influenced by China and Yugoslavia to develop
socialism according to their own conditions, while distancing themselves from‘some socialist states that would offer aid, but with aid, came interference’(Yang 1984, 84). Du Xiaoqiang, a scholar at Qinghua University, suggested
that after China’s success in reforms, its distinctive style of socialism might‘weaken the impact of the Soviet model on the Third World’ (Du 1984, 6).
Chinese scholars at this stage lost no time in seizing the opportunity toportray China as the beacon of the Third World, by professing its respect toother countries’ sovereignties and institutions, publicising its divergence with
the Kremlin, and promoting the friendship and brotherhood between China
and the developing nations. This was done in the hope that Chinese-stylesocialism would have greater appeal than the Soviet model and take root in
not only the poor countries but the wider global society as well.
Conclusion
In the early 1980s, Chinese discussions on Soviet foreign relations with othercountries corresponded closely to the PRC’s real security concerns on its
border, its historical memories of the wrongdoings done by Tsarist Russia andthe USSR, and the principle of post-Mao China’s Soviet policy. As such, seenfrom the early 1980s Chinese criticisms of Soviet foreign policy, Chinese
Soviet-watchers endeavoured to propagandise and justify PRC’s post-Mao
domestic and international agendas through their subject study.
As has been demonstrated, Chinese Soviet-watchers did not present many
vicissitudes of Soviet international manoeuvres in their writings; instead,through research on the formation and evolution of Soviet foreign policy, theyattempted to adjust their analyses to align with China’s vision of itself and theworld. While not a determinant in China’s foreign policy making, Chinese
Sovietology is not able to remain outside the confines of Chinese politics. The
Party guidepost always transcends the academic norm. Seen from the article,
Chinese Sovietology, by providing both principles and tactics, had been
making assessments and proposing solutions on economic and politicalaspects of contemporary China, friendships and struggles in PRC’s
international relations. Through the interplay of politics and scholarship,
scholars attempted to legitimise the CCP rule and the Chinese way of

126

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

practicing socialism, as well as projected and envisioned the future of China
in the reform era.

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to the Situation], Renmin ribao 人民日报 (People’s Daily), January 5, 3.
1984. “Jiaqiang youhao hezuo zengjing geming youyi.” 加强友好合作增进革命友谊 [Strengthening Close Cooperation and Promoting Revolutionary
Friendship], Renmin ribao 人民日报 (People’s Daily), August 19, 2.

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Secondary Sources
Bolt, Paul. 2000. China and Southeast Asia’s Ethnic Chinese: State andDiaspora in Contemporary Asia. Westport: Praeger.
Boyle, Peter. 1993. American-Soviet Relations: From the Russian Revolution
to the Fall of Communism. London: Routledge.
Chen, Jian and Yang Kuisong. 1998. “Chinese Politics and the Collapse of the
Sino-Soviet Alliance.” In Brothers in Arms: The Rise and Fall of the SinoSoviet Alliance, 1945–1963, edited by Odd Arne Westad, 246-294.
Washington, D. C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
Friedman, Jeremy. 2015. Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Split and theThird World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Li, Yan. 2012. “In Search of a Socialist Modernity: The Chinese Introduction ofSoviet Culture.” PhD diss., Northeastern University.
Lukin, Alexander. 2003. The Bear Watches the Dragon: Russia’s Perceptionsof China and the Evolution of Russian-Chinese Relations since the EighteenthCentury. London: M. E. Sharpe.
Marsh, Christopher. 2005. Unparalleled Reforms: China’s Rise, Russia’s Fall,and the Interdependence of Transition. Oxford: Lexington Books.
Shambaugh, David. 1991. Beautiful Imperialist: China Perceives America,
1972–1990. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Xenakis, Christopher. 2002. What Happened to the Soviet Union: How and
Why American Sovietologists were Caught by Surprise. London: Praeger.

Part Three

International

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9
Overcoming the Greatest
Distance: China in Latin
America
B EN J A M IN C R E U T Z F E L D T

On China’s map of the world, the space least charted is the region of Latin
America and the Caribbean (LAC). It lies the farthest from Beijing and theacquaintance of one with the other was historically limited. Yet, this transPacific relationship has transformed into one of the most dynamic since
President Jiang Zemin’s visit to seven countries in the region in 2001. His
overture was followed by a series of trips by his successor Hu Jintao in 2004
to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Peru in 2008, bringing in
his wake a large entourage of Chinese officials and business people. Thisawakened the continent to the new possibilities of trans-Pacific contact. Since
2009, top leadership visits from China have become an annual event, andleaders of LAC countries have reciprocated to varying degrees. Bilateral trade
has grown in value from $10 billion in 2000 to almost $280 billion in 2015 (cf.
ECLAC 2016), and LAC countries represent six percent of China’s global
imports. Chinese loans and foreign direct investment in the region have also
grown exponentially and enabled substantial economic growth even after thefinancial crisis of 2008.
What makes the relationship particularly interesting for students and scholarsof IR is how it fits into Beijing’s adaptive but principled foreign policy strategy(see Cui and Pérez García 2016, and also Gallagher 2016). Not only do LAC
countries hold the very resources and fertile lands China needs to guarantee
its sustainable development, but they are also a grouping of nations withstrong potential for market growth and, more interestingly, for social andpolitical advancement within a new global framework. LAC countries havelong been within the US’s immediate sphere of influence, but since the mid-Overcoming the Greatest Distance: China in Latin America

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20th century the approach of the ‘northern hegemon’ has tended to be one ofbenign neglect. Today, most LAC countries are characterised by alarming
inequality in terms of income and opportunity, limited government control over
outlying areas, and weak regional integration. Powerful elites dominate
politics, the economy, education and land ownership, and frequently sacrificenational interests and environmental concerns for their own priorities. China’s
involvement with this region has the potential to either exacerbate or mitigate
these tendencies.
This chapter offers some key points of reference in the trajectory of the SinoLatin American relationship, outlines the current patterns of engagement, andconcludes with a view on future developments. The scholars referenced are
the most consistent observers of this relationship over the past ten years andare recommended as sources for further reading.
History and the Shadow of the Monroe Doctrine
Historically traceable contact between China and LACs began with tradeduring the early Spanish colonial empire in the second half of the 16th
century and continued for more than three centuries by means of the Manila
Galleons that carried Mexican silver to the Philippines which then paid forgoods from China and shipped to Europe (Connelly and Cornejo 1992).
Documented contact between China and the countries of Latin America dates
to the Qing Empire in the century of its gradual decline, which coincided witha newfound independence of most of Latin America. Foreign influence
continued to be strong in economic, political and sometimes even militaryterms, for the liberators, educated in the European tradition, continued to lookto the West, principally to the United States. In 1823, shortly after the Spanish
and Portuguese had been driven out, the government in Washington
pronounced the Monroe Doctrine, which proclaimed the region as its sphereof influence.
Nonetheless, the nineteenth century saw the first occasion for the China of
the Qing dynasty and a number of Latin American countries to look eachother in the eye: a confluence of trends led to the emergence of the ‘coolie
trade’ from China to the plantations and early infrastructure projects of Latin
America. The first trend was the chaos, poverty and death of tens of millions
in rural China, due to social crises exacerbated by foreign intrusion. The
second was the need for cheap labour in Latin America as a consequence ofthe phasing out of black slavery. The land-owning elites were in need ofsomeone to do the hard labour they were unwilling to do themselves, leading
to the importation of several hundred thousand ‘coolies’ from South China(McKeown 2001): forced emigration of almost exclusively male workers for

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the sugarcane plantations of Cuba and Jamaica, the silver mines, coastal
plantations and guano collecting industry of Peru, and a little later, thePanama Canal project. The miserable treatment many suffered duringtransport and at their destination forced a reluctant and inward-looking Qing
government to negotiate its first formal relations with several Latin Americancountries: the first of these was Peru in August of 1875, followed by Brazil in
1881, and Mexico in 1899. After the foundation of the Republic of China in
1912, the new government inherited the relations established, and theseremained firmly in the hands of Nationalist China even after it fled thePeople’s Liberation Army to Taiwan in 1949.
Following the establishment of the PRC, Cuba was a distant first in the region
to recognise Communist China. In 1960, President Osvaldo Dorticos Torrado
became the first Latin American head of state to pay an official visit to Beijing.
The relationship also led to commercial exchanges, with Cuba in the 1960s
representing over three-quarters of China’s trade with Latin America. On theflipside, Cuba’s political position undermined relations with the remaining
countries of the region, most of which were decidedly anti-communist.
Contact with other countries in the region was limited to cultural diplomacy:
acrobats and dancers left a deep impression on generations of the Latin
American public, while political groups of all persuasions were invited to
Beijing and were enthralled to shake hands with the Communist Party’s top
leadership. Left-wing insurgents were inspired by Mao Zedong’s guerrilla
warfare techniques, but there seems to have been no open engagement or
training in the 1960s or 70s. China also sponsored the translation andpublication of Chinese literature and political texts into Spanish, and of
selected Latin American writers to a Chinese reading public. The Institute of
Latin American Studies (ILAS) was founded in Beijing in 1961 to advise thegovernment and has established itself as the key institution in China for the
analysis of the situation in Latin America. It was closed in 1966 along with allother Chinese academic institutions, and only reopened cautiously in the late1970s. It publishes the Chinese-language Journal of Latin American Studies,in six annual issues.
The thawing of relations between China and the US after 1971 had immediate
repercussions in Washington’s ‘backyard’, by implicitly allowing governments
to engage more openly with Beijing. Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil wereamong the first in the region to establish formal diplomatic relations with
Beijing. China’s approach in the 1950s was founded on the principle of noninterference and aimed at building relationships with governments andoppositions regardless of party colour. As a result, not only did left-leaning
governments such as Peru and Chile engage with the PRC, but so did rightwing autocrats. Many waited until the 1980s, after the US had recognised
Beijing diplomatically. As of 2018, all but nine LAC countries had relations

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with Beijing.
Opening-up and the One-China Policy
Between the beginning of Deng Xiaoping’s market-oriented reforms in thelate-1970s and 2016, China’s GDP grew from less than one percent of theworld economy to over 15%, and its share of global trade increased from lessthan one percent to almost 12% (Wu 2013). This growth has been taken by
many as evidence that rapid and sustained economic development under
non-democratic leadership could both dramatically reduce poverty levels andimprove living standards for hundreds of millions of people – and do so more
effectively than democratic countries. China’s experiences with economic
development stand in stark contrast to the absence of such sustained andpositive growth in Latin America over the same time period (Kay 2002). With
growing confidence, China began to actively nurture its relations with Latin
America and welcomed the gradual shift in official recognition from Taipei to
Beijing from most remaining South American countries, regardless of theideological leanings of individual governments. At the end of 1985, PremierZhao Ziyang embarked on what was the first high-level leadership visit from
China to Latin America, visiting Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.
His discourse was couched in terms of ‘Third World’ friendship andemphasised the need to strengthen South-South dialogue, while reiterating acommitment to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. This rhetoriccontinues to define the political discourse to this day.
Despite these developments, the physical distance and the incipient
diplomatic relations, alongside the relative sway that Taiwan has continued tohold over the majority of Central American and Caribbean countries, meantthat commercial and political exchange grew only very gradually. Even after
the end of the Cold War, the United States has continued to be wary of leftwing governments in Latin America, and China’s ‘no-strings-attached’ policy
for loans and investment has been perceived as tacit tolerance of those
governments antagonistic to the US. While commercial activities are wideranging and move in both directions, the investment has been largely
unilateral, from China to the region. China’s earliest inroad to large-scale
overseas investment was the acquisition of Latin America’s largest iron mine,
Hierro Peru, in 1992 (Ellis 2014). For almost two decades, the purchase was
China’s largest outlay of foreign direct investment in Latin America, andPeru’s first large-scale privatisation. This endeavour notwithstanding, at the
beginning of the millennium Latin America was the least important region of
the world in terms of Chinese overseas investment, but this situation haschanged dramatically in the following decade. China was soon seen to have alargely positive impact: both directly, through an export boom, and indirectly,

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldthrough better terms of trade (Creutzfeldt 2012).
Nurturing Diversity with a Single Strategy
Since these cautious beginnings, the relationship between the People’s
Republic of China and Latin America has grown apace. At the end of 2008,
Beijing published its first policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, acanvas of intentions that set out broad terms for bilateral cooperation,
invariably described as a ‘win-win situation’ (Roett and Paz 2016). The
Chinese leadership has made numerous overtures to the governments of theregion in the past few years. One of the most noteworthy was the speech by
Premier Wen Jiabao at the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America andthe Caribbean on 26 June 2012. Wen’s address, under the heading ‘Trusted
Friends Forever’, raised the character of the transpacific relationship to analmost poetic level. He reached back to the Inca and Aztec cultures to draw
parallels with China’s own millennial history and quoted great literary figures.
He then laid out four proposals for furthering cooperation: political links,
economic development, food security, and human and scientific exchange.
These proposals were backed up with loans, funding, and financial targets.
The government of Xi Jinping has continued the pattern of annual visits to theregion, and augmented incentives for cooperation and the targets for tradeand investment. In the course of the year 2014, the most emblematic
institution of the ever-closer relations between China and Latin America cameinto being, in the form of the China-CELAC Forum, and in January 2015, Xi
hosted the inaugural ministerial summit in Beijing. Political institutional
linkages have been growing in parallel, the People’s Republic is now amember of the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) which also includes
Chile, Mexico, Panama and Peru, and became a shareholder in the
Caribbean Development Bank in 1998 and the Inter-American Development
Bank (IADB) in 2009. China enjoys observer status in the Latin American
Integration Association (ALADI), the Latin American Parliament, the UN’s
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and
the Pacific Alliance. It is also in permanent dialogue with regional economic
organisations: Mercosur, the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) and the
Caribbean Community (Caricom). The Chinese government has initiatedbilateral dialogue forums, such as the China-Latin America business summit(since 2007, under the auspices of the China Council for the Promotion ofInternational Trade, CCPIT), the China-Latin America Think Tank Forum(since 2010, sponsored by the Institute of Foreign Affairs, CPIFA), andperhaps most significantly, the China-CELAC Forum.
Accompanying this thickening of contacts persists a sense of competition,

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more acutely felt in countries with a significant manufacturing sector such as
Mexico, Brazil, and to some extent Colombia. This has led to concerns byanalysts and policy-makers over a renewed deindustrialisation of Latin
American economies and an over-reliance on low value-added commodity
exports (Strauss and Armony 2012). Others point out that natural resources
are not a curse, but constitute a significant asset if revenues are reinvested tophysically link their economies by investing in infrastructure, and education
can be channelled into value-added industries (see Ray et al. 2016).
Questions linger over whether Latin American governments are in fact able totake proper advantage of the opportunity (Ferchen 2011). The perceived
threat versus potential is complicated by xenophobic fear-mongering;something Enrique Dussel Peters has noted is that a growing racism towards
persons of Chinese descent is evident in Latin America and Mexico,especially in entrepreneurial circles (Dussel Peters 2015).
The Road Ahead
Shortly after the US electoral upset in November 2016, Beijing made public
its second policy paper for engagement with Latin America and the
Caribbean, intending to send the world a reassuring signal in times of turmoil.
The new document is a third longer than its predecessor and builds on thestrength of many years of growing investment and bilateral trade, newmultilateral institutions, strategic frameworks and forums for better cooperation instigated by China (China, 2016).
The text is emphatic about the idea of collaboration and makes explicit thedesire to work together in every field of human activity, ranging from industrial
and technological development to military, political, cultural, educational andenvironmental efforts. China’s foreign policy is consistently driven by its
domestic needs: political stability, sovereign security, and sustainable
development. Its Latin America strategy is no exception: it underscores thatthe development of China is possible only if other developing countries share
this goal and are part of a joint process (Myers and Wise, 2016). It conjures
up a ‘new phase’ that reflects Beijing’s goal of sharing its development
experience with another region of the world, combined with a drive to transfer
its excess financial and industrial capacity abroad.
Both of these goals should be welcomed by Latin American governments.
Apart from the proven Chinese expertise in the building of roads and railways,
ports and energy plants – undeniable necessities for economic and social
progress – China is now at the forefront globally in renewable energy sources
and industry guidelines for sustainable development. The environmental
standards set by the Chinese industry groups are now among the moststringent in the world, and Chinese officials are actively exploring new

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approaches and standards for corporate social responsibility and political risk
analysis.
Latin America, despite the physical distance, has been officially included in
the Belt & Road Initiative. The now annual leadership visits include countries
from across the political spectrum, with Premier Li Keqiang visiting both
Colombia and Cuba in May of 2015, and the November round of countries
including both Pacific Alliance and ALBA member nations; in Ecuador,President Xi inaugurated the Coca-Codo hydroelectric dam and signed a newinvestment agreement with President Rafael Correa; in Peru he met with
newly-elected president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after the two-day APEC
summit hosted there; and in Chile, alongside his counterpart Michelle
Bachelet, he oversaw the signing of a dozen cooperation agreements.
China trades in many things, but continuity and words backed by a record ofstrong economic data, are importantly amongst them. At a time of instability inglobal politics and with the new leadership of the United States questioning
fundamental premises of the international system, the continuity of China’s
declared commitment to the socioeconomic advancement of countries in Latin
America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, offers some cause for optimism.
References
China 2016. China’s Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Beijing: Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Connelly, Marisela and Romer Cornejo Bustamante. 1992. China - América
Latina: Génesis y desarrollo de sus Relaciones. Mexico: Colegio de Mexico,Centro de Estudios de Asia y Africa.
Creutzfeldt, Benjamin (ed.). 2012. China en América Latina: Reflexiones
sobre las relaciones transpacíficas. Bogota: Universidad Externado deColombia.
Cui Shoujun and Manuel Pérez García (eds.). 2016. China and Latin America
in Transition: Policy Dynamics, Economic Commitments and Social Impacts.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dussel Peters, Enrique. 2015. China’s Evolving Role in Latin America: Can It
Be a Win-Win? Washington, DC: Atlantic Council, Adrienne Arsht Latin
America Center.

Overcoming the Greatest Distance: China in Latin America

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ECLAC. 2016. Relaciones económicas entre América Latina y el Caribe yChina: Oportunidades y Desafíos. Santiago de Chile: United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ellis, R. Evan. 2014. China on the Ground in Latin America: Challenges for
the Chinese and Impacts on the Region. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ferchen, Matt. 2011. ‘China-Latin America Relations: Long-term Boon or
Short-term Boom?’ Chinese Journal of International Politics 4: 55–86.
Gallagher, Kevin P. 2016. The China Triangle: Latin America’s China Boomand the Fate of the Washington Consensus. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Kay, Cristobal. 2002. ‘Why East Asia overtook Latin America: agrarian reform,
industrialisation and development.’ Third World Quarterly 23: 1073–1102.
McKeown, Andrew. 2001. Chinese Migrant Networks and Cultural Change:
Peru, Chicago, and Hawaii 1900-1936. University of Chicago Press.
Myers, Margaret and Carol Wise (eds.). 2016. The Political Economy ofChina-Latin America Relations in the New Millennium: Brave New World. New
York: Routledge.
Ray, Rebecca, Kevin P. Gallagher, Andres Lopez & Cynthia Sanborn. 2015.
China in Latin America: Lessons for South-South Cooperation andSustainable Development. Boston: Global Economic Governance Initiative.
Roett, Riordan and Guadalupe Paz (eds.). 2016. Latin America and the Asian
Giants: Evolving Ties with China and India. Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution.
Strauss, Julia C. and Ariel C. Armony (eds.) 2012. From the Great Wall to the
New World: China and Latin America in the 21st Century. Cambridge
University Press.
Wu Baiyi (ed.). 2013. 转型中的机遇：中拉合作前景的多视角分析[Opportunities in Transformation: A Multi-perspective Analysis of China-Latin
American Relations]. Beijing: Jingji Guanli Publishing.

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10
China’s Multilateral Diplomacy
in Africa: Constructing the
Security-Development Nexus
IL A R IA C A R R OZ Z AThis chapter argues for a re-examination of common theoretical approaches
to China’s socialisation in international relations. I first introduce the debate
over China’s rise and argue that studies of the country’s foreign policy havefailed to account for a number of important elements. The literature onsocialisation has done a great deal in trying to compensate for such
shortcomings. However, whilst I acknowledge the merits of such literature, Ialso find it problematic for two main reasons: first, the literature on normativechange is biased in favour of a Western liberal order. Second, the same
literature often neglects that China is both the object and subject ofsocialisation dynamics, for instance via the re-articulation of concepts of statesovereignty and intervention. I elaborate on the second problem by looking at
Chinas’ regional forum diplomacy in Africa, focusing on the construction of
security narratives via the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). I
argue that China’s FOCAC diplomacy is based on a discourse that frames
China and Africa as friends and allies in the common struggle against
Western hegemony. Chinese decision makers have been able to successfullysocialise African leaders into a narrative of South-South cooperation that calls
for increased cooperation and legitimises the security-development nexus
which is at the heart of Chinese policies. It is by successfully interpellating
African decision makers into this discourse that Beijing officials have justified
increased ‘interventions’ in peace and security.
Socialising China
In a 1999 essay, Segal famously argued that China was overrated as both aChina’s Multilateral Diplomacy in Africa: Constructing the Security-Development Nexus

143

power and a market, and that it had repeatedly failed to deliver on what had
been promised by its leaders. After analysing to what extent China did or did
not matter economically, militarily, and politically, he concluded that it was‘merely a middle power’ (Segal 1999, 35). Many scholars after him have
either supported or questioned his claim through more detailed empiricalstudies, and some of these have subsequently translated into debates within
the international relations (IR) discipline on whether China is to be classified
as a revisionist or a status quo power.1 China’s rise has thus been addressedfrom a range of perspectives, including realist, liberal, and foreign policy
analysis approaches to its position in international politics: Some scholars
have argued against a peaceful rise (Mearsheimer 2006; Mearsheimer 2014;
Shih 2005); others have been more sceptical as to the country’s potential to
become a great power (Shambaugh 2013); yet other scholars have taken
China’s rise as given and explored the ways in which it could unfold (Buzan
2010; Buzan and Foot 2004; Christensen 2011; Xia 2001).
Indeed, the question of whether China matters is an important one.
Nonetheless, I believe the approaches above to be limited in their descriptionof the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) foreign policy as if it was amonolith. To be sure, understanding the country’s foreign policy is no easytask. As Shambaugh maintains, unlike many Western polities that havegenerally evolved within a singular liberal paradigm, the modern Chinesestate has undergone several macro transitions – from the imperial phase, torepublican, revolutionary communist, and modernising socialist (Shambaugh2000). Despite their different scopes, goals, and tools, these different states
have had three enduring missions: the modernisation of the economy, thetransformation of society, and the defence of the nation against foreign
aggression. While some elements of the past have survived, each new
system further elaborated them into new institutional frameworks – althoughmarked by sharp departures, none of these states were ever totally new.
Yet, despite foreign and defence policies remaining fairly consistent and inline with the country’s domestic priorities in the last three decades, thegovernment has never disclosed any clear document outlining its strategic
goals or grand strategy (Wang 2011).2 Again, foreign policy scholars have
tried to provide as accurate descriptions of these processes as possible(Gittings 2008; Wang 1994; Wang 2011). Similar to the studies mentioned
above, these also fail to account for the interactions between the Chinese and1
Much of the debate reflects concerns among policymakers and analysts within
the US and tends to be biased. For more on this, see Economy and Oksenberg 1999.
2
Although, to be sure, China has a reasonably clear and stable set of aims that
include increase in the country’s power, continued development and increase in prosperity, defence of territorial integrity, and domestic stability under CCP rule (See Buzan 2014
and Hughes 2016).

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other actors, decision makers’ learning processes, and socialisation
dynamics.3 Approaches to Chinese foreign policy, argues Johnston, provide alimited understanding of the country’s involvement in international institutions
and normative regimes (Johnston 2008). Instead, he suggests that the PRC
has increasingly shown a greater level of integration and cooperation within
the international arena (Johnston 2003; Johnston 2013) – which also led him
to argue that ‘Chinese diplomacy since the 1990s [has been] more status
quo-oriented than at any period since 1949 (Johnston 2008, 207). This isbecause Chinese decision makers have started to acknowledge the positive
impact of global economic and information integration on the country’s own
economic development. Globalisation and multilateralism have thus become
part of a ‘new identity discourse that describes China as a “responsible major
power”, a key characteristic of which is to participate in and upholdcommitments to status quo international economic and security institutions’(Johnston 2008, 205).
In particular, Johnston argues that Chinese leaders and foreign policy makers
have adopted a more cooperative stance on security institutions – defined as‘more or less formal organizations with identifiable names and with more orless obvious criteria for membership or participation’ (Johnston 2008, 27) –between 1980 and 2000, through socialisation’s micro-processes of
mimicking, persuasion, and social influence. He finds that in contrast to a
hard realpolitik ideology inherited from the Mao era, contemporary decision
makers have shifted their understanding of participation in security regimes
as a result of social interaction and as a product of dynamics of identity
construction and differentiation (Johnston 2008).
Just after China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001,
scholars started exploring the country’s compliance with the norms and rulesof international organisations (IOs), as well as the role of the latter infacilitating China’s socialisation. Most of this scholarship agrees that whileinternational organisations contribute to the socialisation of participating
parties, they also represent a challenge to them, as they simultaneously
confirm and constrain sovereignty (Kent 2002). China’s newcomer status
meant a steep learning curve in the last 30 years, Kent argues, mediated byits many identities, mainly as a great power and developing country, and led
China to prefer bilateral arrangements to multilateral mechanisms. However,
Chinese leaders soon realised that international institutions could also serve
as a platform for constructing the country’s international image and legitimacy,
as well as a platform to project its power according to the leaders’ cultural
3
Socialisation is referred to as ‘the process that is directed toward a state’sinternalization of the constitutive beliefs and practices institutionalised in its international
environment’, as defined by (Schimmelfenning 2000). I follow his definition here.

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realist perspective (Johnston 2008; Kent 2002). China is not only motivatedby a system-maintaining and system-exploiting approach (norms-taking), butalso by a system-reforming attitude (norms-making), and thus has committed
to making a shift to a multipolar world (Kent 2002; Kim 1999).
According to this literature, therefore, China has been successfully socialised
into IOs – where success is measured as the shift from being a recalcitrant
and rogue state to being integrated into an increasingly interdependent
Western, though mostly US-infused, system. While I do agree with Johnston
that the PRC’s increased integration is a more useful criterion to assess thecountry’s behaviour in international politics than the China threat/rise
discourse, there are two major problems with such analyses: one that is
general, but applicable to the case of China, and one which is topic-specific.
First, I follow Acharya in arguing that mainstream IR theories have tended toprivilege hegemonic power and socialisation in international order-building(Acharya 2008); the literature on normative change, he contends, is ‘biased infavour of a “moral cosmopolitanism”’. It concentrates on moral struggles inwhich good global norms (championed by mainly Western norm entrepreneurs) displace bad local beliefs and practices (mainly in the non-Westernareas)’ (Acharya 2009, 4). Alternative projects, such as non-hegemonicinternational order theory, go beyond IR’s primary concern with great power
geopolitics, starting from the premise that while hegemony might produce
order, it does so at the expense of weaker actors (Acharya 2008). Nonhegemonic moments can be found throughout history, one example being the
Chinese tributary system, which he argues was geared toward benign
outcomes, particularly the maintenance of trade, and was very different from
European colonialism. In the context of socialisation, hegemony is manifested
in the attempt of the (liberal) hegemon to socialise secondary states into
liberal norms and rules, reflected in what Park identifies as the focus ofsocialisation literature not so much on who is being socialised, but rather
what they are being socialised into (Park 2014).
Second, scholarship on China’s socialisation has ignored that the PRC has
also been the agent of socialisation – what scholars have called a two-way
socialisation (Pu 2012) – especially via the re-articulation of concepts of statesovereignty and intervention, and this has in turn encountered responses
from within regions of the Global South. In the following section I elaborate on
the second point, using the example of China’s use of regional forum
diplomacy in Africa as a tool of security norms-making.
China’s Regional Forum Diplomacy: The FOCAC
The FOCAC was established in 2000 as a dialogue platform to foster Sino-

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the World

African exchanges on a broad variety of topics and issues, and which follows
an exponential increase in cooperation between the two actors from the late1990s and early-2000s. It can be seen as the institutionalisation of SinoAfrican relations and the formalisation of long-lasting ties (Taylor 2011).
Ministers and heads of states from 53 member countries, as well as theAfrican Union, which was recently included as a full member, gather together
with their Chinese counterparts every three years, alternately in China andAfrica. The purpose of the meetings is manifold: first, to counter Taiwan’s
influence; second, to promote an overall Chinese foreign policy strategy
towards the continent which emphasises South-South cooperation andeconomic development; third, to advertise Beijing’s leadership position of‘moral relativism’ on issues such as human rights, as well as their own visionof the global order (Alden and Alves 2016; Taylor 2011). In practical terms,
FOCAC Action Plans discuss future cooperation in the areas of ‘trade,investment, poverty reduction, infrastructure building, capacity building,human resources development, food security, hi-tech industries’, and, more
recently, peace and security (Li and Funeka Yazini 2013).
The FOCAC hence represents a global governance platform for Chinese
decision makers to discuss the agenda plans and future development goals
with their African counterparts (Benabdallah 2016a). The Forum also provides
the Chinese leadership with opportunities to enhance its role in global
governance. First, it offers Chinese policy makers a feedback loop fromAfrican leaders so that they can continuously adjust and adapt their policies.
Second, interaction on such a wide range of subjects enhances theinternational practice and credibility of Chinese practitioners, soldiers andpolicy makers alike. Finally, projects implemented via the FOCAC give Chinaa chance to test its development-led model on African contexts and thus gain
experience and feedback (Benabdallah 2016a). Indeed, the FOCAC plays animportant role in China’s regional forum diplomacy, which the PRC has been
implementing elsewhere in the world.4 According to officials in Beijing,regional forums are efficient and time-saving, and they also reflect China’s‘new type of major power relations’: instead of focusing on major powers, thisgroup cooperation diplomacy is aimed to gather comparatively smaller
countries – a move that makes it easier for China to promote its key official
priorities and development model (Ekman 2016, 1). Regional forum
diplomacy, in turn, is part of a wider attempt to become a global normative
power through seeking recognition by other fellow developing countries(Alden and Alves 2017).

4
See for instance the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (2004), the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Forum, or 16+1 (2012), andthe China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum (2015)(Ekman 2016).

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This speaks directly to what I have identified as a gap in the socialisation
literature on China, namely its ambitions as a norms-maker besides its normtaking: China’s FOCAC diplomacy, I argue, is based on a discourse thatframes China and Africa as friends and allies in the common struggle against
Western hegemony. In so doing, Chinese decision makers have been able tosuccessfully socialise African leaders into a narrative of South-South
cooperation that calls for increased cooperation and is based on the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – namely, mutual respect for each other’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and cooperation formutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence. In particular, peace and security
have come to be at the forefront of these ties in a way that was almost
unimaginable only fifteen years ago.
Through a discourse analysis of FOCAC output documents, as well as
speeches given by Chinese Presidents and officials, I show how China has so
far been successful at combining and recombining existing linguistic signs(i.e. North/South, developed/developing), thus creating a coherent discoursearound security in Africa that has enabled Beijing to span across a relatively
wide range of policy options without deviating from such major representations. The analysis of FOCAC-related documents thus highlights continuities
in Chinese decision makers’ representations of the China-Africa story in theface of increased insecurity and instability on the continent.5 Since theForum’s inception in 2000, attention to peace and security, and peacekeeping
in particular, has gained prominence. This has resulted in a shift in policies
from non-involvement to considerable engagement in a variety of security
related activities. Simultaneously, the basic discourse that sustains China’s
Africa policies has essentially remained the same.
First of all, China and Africa are presented as all-round ‘friends’, with China
clearly characterised as a fellow developing country (FOCAC 2009a). Theirfriendship is a long-lasting one, dating back to the early Ming dynasty – afriendship which had been maintained long enough, and is therefore likely tocontinue for as long (Sverdrup-Thygeson 2017). Furthermore, in ancient
times Chinese and African civilisations used to be ‘splendid’ and ‘distinctive’,
whilst in modern times they have been threatened by colonialism and havejointly mobilised against ‘subjugation’ (Hu 2009). In the case of Africa, thisrefers to the struggles for independence from European colonial powers fromthe 1950s throughout the 1970s. In the case of China, it refers to British
5
I only include a handful of direct quotations from the documents, and I leaveit to the interested reader to check on the others. In conducting discourse analysis, I
employed a variety of textual mechanisms, including presupposition, predicate analysis,
subject positioning, and metaphorical analysis (Dunn and Neumann 2016).

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encroachment following the first Opium War (1839–1842) and the ‘century ofnational humiliation’, from which China is believed to have recovered onlywith victory over Japan in 1945 and the founding of the PRC in 1949.
This historical narrative – ‘the colony narrative’ – is often used as a tool in
China’s Africa policy (Sverdrup-Thygeson 2017). In short, Sverdrup-Thygeson
argues,Beijing is […] challenging the current historicity applied to theAfrican continent by bringing forth a set of historical narratives
that serves […] also to turn the tables with regard to theWestern actors that find themselves occupying the unusualrole of the ‘’Other’’ in this new mode of regarding Sino-African
history’ (Sverdrup-Thygeson 2017, 56).
Hence, China and African countries are depicted as sympathetic members of
the same community of developing countries with ‘common fundamental
interests’. The two then share a temporal identity, which belongs to a glorious
past, and an ethical one, which makes them victims of subjugation,colonialism, and imperialism.
Unlike in ancient times, today’s international order is not a friendly
environment for developing countries: another important representation is‘globalisation’ as a ‘challenge’ and a ‘risk’. The first Action Plan states that‘globalisation currently represents more challenges and risks thanopportunities to the vast number of developing countries’ (FOCAC 2000). The
depiction of globalisation as a challenge remained largely stable throughout
the first three Forums and was then replaced entirely by concerns about the
global financial crisis starting from the fourth Action Plan. In the former case
(globalisation as a threat to developing countries), the implication is thatdeveloped countries, which have shaped the current world order according totheir norms and interests, are benefitting from globalisation, whilst developing
countries, including China, are left with a series of arduous tasks. In the lattercase (financial crisis as a threat), China, whilst acknowledging the damages ititself had suffered, simultaneously distances itself from those more in need
(FOCAC 2009b). Interestingly, both narratives equally justify and legitimise
increasing economic contributions to the continent. Either way, it seems
Chinese leaders believe that issues of development should not be overlookedeven at times of crisis.
Broadly speaking, the unjust current world system is rooted not only in theeconomic, but also in the scientific and technological gaps between the‘North’ and the ‘South’. Imbalances between the two are the symptom that ‘[h]China’s Multilateral Diplomacy in Africa: Constructing the Security-Development Nexus

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egemonism and power politics still exist. Developing countries are still facedwith an arduous task of safeguarding their sovereignty, security and interests’(Jiang 2000). Hegemony is thus represented by the domination of developed
countries in the current world order, which are also responsible for practicing
power politics, as well as for exploiting natural resources from developing
countries. Such hegemony is held responsible for poverty and backwardness
which are the ‘true’ causes of conflicts in the continent (Jiang 2000). The
current world order is therefore inequitable, because it was tailored todeveloped countries’ needs.
Finally, adherence to the principles of ‘non-interference in other’s internalaffairs’ and respect for state sovereignty is a milestone of China’s Africa
discourse. China reiterates ‘support for [African countries’] efforts in
independently resolving regional conflicts and strengthening democracy andgood governance and oppose the interference in Africa’s internal affairs byexternal forces in pursuit of their own interests’ (FOCAC 2012). Often
accused by some of being neo-colonialist,6 Chinese leaders have rejected
such accusations by arguing that:
The structure of trade between China and Africa that is basedon energy and resources should indeed be improved.
Meanwhile, the same situation exists between Africa and all its
major trading partners. […] China-Africa cooperation does notmatch that between Africa and its traditional partners in either
scope or depth. […] One should also recognize that the unfair
and unreasonable international political and economic order isstill a major obstacle hindering Africa’s development. To
reverse the situation, it is crucial that those countries leadinginternational relations make an effort (Zhai 2012).
To sum up, the Chinese discourse constructs China-Africa relations within abroader logic of South-South cooperation, whereby the ‘South’, according to
Alden, Morphet, and Vieira, forms a source of identity for both state and nonstate actors – an identity that is constantly negotiated at the meetings of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the G77, and other regional and sub-regionalorganisations and which encapsulates the common experience of colonialism
and imperialism.
Ultimately, the ‘South’ is being used as a mobilising strategy based upon acritique of the asymmetries and inequalities of the contemporary international
system (Alden, Morphet and Vieira 2010).
6
See for instance: Gaye 2006; Online Debate: Is Chinese Investment Good for
Africa? 2007; Cardenal and Araújo 2013; French 2014.

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Legitimising the Security-Development Nexus
In the preceding section I identified the main ‘master signifiers’7 that Chinese
decision makers have been employing when constructing China-Africa
relations within a South-South cooperation framework. Such a discourse
portrays policies directed at helping African countries develop economicallyas a need, a duty, and a priority. Within such a framework, security occupies
an important place. However, the extent to which security has been a part ofChina’s Africa policy has changed throughout the years. Arguably, from being
relatively marginal in the first two Forums (FOCAC 2000; FOCAC 2003), it
started becoming increasingly prominent from 2004-2005. China’s
engagement in Sudan and in the peace process undoubtedly marks a crucial
moment in the PRC’s engagement in peace and security in Africa, and theexisting IR literature documents well the motives and dynamics of this shift(Barber 2014; Large 2009; Large 2011). From then on, peace and security,and peacekeeping in particular, feature prominently in all FOCAC action plans(FOCAC 2009c; FOCAC 2009b; FOCAC 2015, FOCAC 2018).
The years since the inception of the FOCAC have thus seen a gradual shift toincreased Chinese engagement in peace and security on the continent,
based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, albeit with space foradjustments, and marked by an emphasis on the security-development
nexus. It is this security-development nexus that lies at the heart of China’s
policies.8 The understanding of peace and security that emerges from FOCAC
documents is one very much rooted in China’s domestic practices, wheresecurity is intimately connected to development: reducing poverty andimproving living conditions is considered to be key to achieving peace and,
consequently, security (Benabdallah 2016b). China’s domestic policies in turnshape its foreign policy towards security in Africa – its own experience infocusing on economic development in order to strengthen stability informs its
international approach too. Poverty, backwardness, and lack of development,
which China blames on hegemonic powers, are the main causes of insecurity,
conflicts, and war. As Xi Jinping argued during the Fourth Summit of theConference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia:

7‘Master signifiers’ is first used by Derrida; Laclau and Mouffe call them ‘nodal
points’. They are the result of exposing ‘the practices and possibilities engendered byvarious textual mechanisms within individual texts and discourses in general’ (Dunn and
Neumann 2016).
8
To be sure, while the link between security and development has its origins inWestern thought, from the Enlightment onwards (see Duffield 2001; Hettne 2010), it does
have its equivalent in China, as Benabdallah also notes (2016a), and Chinese policy
makers have been especially eager to use the concept in their Africa discourse, making
the nexus one of the key elements of their foreign policy towards the ‘Global South’.

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Sustainable security means that we need to focus on bothdevelopment and security so that security would be durable.
As a Chinese saying goes, for a tree to grow tall, a strong andsolid root is required; for a river to reach far, an unimpeded
source is necessary. Development is the foundation of
security, and security the precondition for development. The
tree of peace does not grow on barren land while the fruit ofdevelopment is not produced amidst flames of war (Xi 2014).
Such a security-development nexus creates a sort of quasi-causal argument9:
Since security can only be achieved through development, China is justified
in providing substantial economic aid to African countries in order tosimultaneously promote security. Such a nexus is considered appropriate byboth parties, as Africans seem to have embraced the China model based on
development-first policies. Hence, such discourse legitimises developmental,
infrastructure, and logistics-related policies in light of the pursuit of peace andsecurity. Arguably, security issues have gained more prominence in China’s
Africa policy, which reflect a major change in its security policies on thecontinent. The analysis above has showed that the official discourse hasremained constant throughout the years: The centrality of the securitydevelopment nexus allows Chinese leaders to modify their policies toward
peace and security without changing the narratives behind it. As the largest
developing country and leader of the developing world, China has an almost
moral obligation to provide economic assistance to African countries.
Crucially, economic development is considered an essential tool in achieving
security. This is said to be in line with continental priorities, and the African
Union itself is premised on the securitisation of development: Security is aprerequisite for development, and the barriers between security, governance,and development are not rigid but rather malleable (Chitiyo 2010).
What can be observed in the discourse as highlighted above, is another often
ignored aspect of the relationship between security and development,
described as the ‘developmentalisation’ of security. Both Chinese andAfricans seem to agree that ‘security forces can, and should on occasion,
contribute directly or indirectly to development’ (Chitiyo 2010, 26). In theyears between 2000 and 2015, China used policies that both emphasised theimportance of promoting development in order to achieve peace, andpromoted an understanding of peace and security as major factors inachieving sustainable development. Lately, increased contributions to peaceand security measures, whilst still accompanied by economic and financial
aid, reflect a focus on the securitisation of development. Such shifts inpolicies were possible to enact even without a change in China’s basic
9

For more on such quasi-causal arguments, see Weldes 1996.

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discourse, because such discourse already contained all the elements
necessary to range from a set of policies to the other.
The endurance of China’s construction of its own identity as a faithful friend to
African countries throughout the years of the FOCAC does not only dependon Chinese leaders’ intriguing articulation of such identity and related policies.
For the purposes of this chapter, it will suffice to say that China’s processes ofarticulation and interpellation (Weldes 1996) have been successful inconstructing China-Africa friendship as opposed to colonialist practices
perpetrated by developed countries. Similarly successful has been theconstruction of the security-development nexus as central to its policies, evenwhen these have shifted from focusing on the importance of economic
development as a driver of peace, to focusing on the centrality of security toachieve sustainable development. African leaders have been interpellated
into the language of security and development as members of the samegroup of developing countries with a ‘shared destiny’.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have argued for the need to re-examine common theoretical
approaches to China’s socialisation in international relations. Whilst
acknowledging that the literature on socialisation has done a great deal incompensating for the shortcomings of most mainstream approaches, twomain problems remain unaddressed: first, a bias in favour of a Western liberalorder and ‘good’ norms. Second, such literature has neglected that China isboth the object and subject of socialisation dynamics, an example of which
can be found in the re-articulation of concepts of state sovereignty andintervention. The most effective way of doing so is through regional forum
diplomacy, which in turn forms part of a wider attempt to become a global
normative power (Alden and Alves 2017; Benabdallah 2016a).
China has showed ambition to become a norms-maker by trying to moveaway from ad hoc participation to Africa’s peace and security to ‘gradualist
forms of engagement that include fomenting common Chinese-African values
and re-imagining liberal norms on intervention’ (Alden and Large 2015, 125). I
have taken the example of the FOCAC to show how China has successfully
articulated a discourse on Sino-African ties which has gained wide
acceptance among African leaders. By constructing its own identity as afellow developing country which is ready to ‘assist’ through thick and thin,
China has thus established its own interests in peace and security on thecontinent. Simultaneously, by accepting and embracing such narratives,
African leaders have found themselves comfortable in their identity as
developing countries in need of assistance from a friend, and have thus

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established their interests too, in what is being described as a win-win
situation.
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11
Becoming a ‘Responsible
Power’?: China’s New Role
during the JCPOA Negotiations
D A N IE L J OH A N S ON

The ancient connections between China and Iran are frequently stressed tounderscore the strength and longevity of the relationship. Official statementsfrom both governments take special care to highlight this history. While this ispredominantly rhetoric now, centuries ago there was a strong connection
through the Silk Road’s movement of goods and cultural traditions. China’s
modern relationship with Iran is anchored in the legacy of the Cold War, but it
also includes a strategic element – viewing Iran as a key gateway into theMiddle East. China’s current relationship with Iran began as China was
beginning to move away from its revolutionary history. Even still, ties between
reformist China and revolutionary Iran developed, stemming from a number offactors – including economic interests, energy security, and regional stability
in the Middle East. This chapter will briefly explore China’s role in and importance to Iran, leading to an examination of China’s unofficial participation inother nations’ sanctions in 2010 – sanctions that arguably led Iran back tonegotiations. Next, we will examine China’s role in the JCPOA agreement andattempt to identify any new roles or actions that China took in addressing the
Iranian nuclear issue. China’s participation here is relatively understudied –but shows a key trend towards more active involvement that may impact its
future interactions in issues of international security.
The Evolution of China’s Role in Iran
Between the 1980s to the late-2000s, China’s actions regarding Iran graduallybegan to change in connection with international consensus and frustration
amongst Chinese leadership stemming from a lack of progress and an

160

New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the Worldapparent disregard for international concern. Throughout the 1980s and1990s, China’s overall role in the issue was minimal – save the sale ofweapons and weapons technology (Gill 2001, 267; Davis 2012, 4; Calabrese
2006, 10; Lin 2010, 2; Harold and Nader 2012, 4). Even then, much of thisceased in an effort to prioritise relations with the United States in the 1990s(Calabrese 2006, 12; Meshbahi and Homayounvash 2016, 77; Harold andNader 2012, 8).
As China’s role in the international community began to grow throughout theearly to mid-2000s, it began to acknowledge the potential repercussions of
the Iranian nuclear issue. During this period it viewed this as a bilateral issue
between the US and Iran. It is important to note that China did delay referrals
for Iran’s actions first to the IAEA, and then the UNSC in an attempt to let Iranprove its nuclear intentions were peaceful (Garver 2013, 80–81). These
delays were, in effect, ‘last chances’ for Iran to comply. Yet, once deadlines
were passed and unmet by Iran, China allowed for resolutions – andsanctions – to be passed while continuing to stress the need for mediationand cooperation (Katzman 2011, 29–30; Garver 2011, 75).
When circumstances aligned and brought about an environment favourable
for negotiations, China’s integration with the international community, as wellas with Iran’s economy were both at a high point. While it was always
possible for China to strongly support Iran, China supported an increasingrole in ensuring that international security be upheld.
China’s Increasing Iranian Interests
It is important, first of all, to understand China’s relationship with Iran after theweapons sales of the 1990s ended. Even though Beijing and Tehran’s
political systems are somewhat at odds, the relationship has had benefits forboth parties. As Iran’s role in the region became stronger, it also became ‘asignificant source of vital oil supplies’ to fuel China’s economy (Swaine 2010,
1; Chen and Yang 2010, 79–81). To ensure continued economic growth,
China had increasingly needed to focus on markets abroad and obtaining thenecessary raw materials to fuel its economy.
At the same time, the US began pressuring ‘Russia, Japan, South Korea,
India, and Europe to reduce trade and investment with Iran’ (Harold andNader 2012, 5). So, as China enhanced its role in Iran – in both its domestic
and energy markets – other players were leaving. As a result, by 2007 China
had become the largest trading partner of Iran – taking the EU’s place (Dickey
and Ighani 2014). China was viewed by Iran to be a key source of ‘investment
and technology necessary for … economic development and modernization’Becoming a ‘Responsible Power’?: China’s New Role during the JCPOA Negotiations

161(Harold and Nader 2012, 5). Sanctions also created an environment in which
Iran needed China due to the limiting effect of the sanctions on Iran’s accessto the external finance and specialists needed to develop its natural gas andoil reserves.
China has predominately filled this gap, not only through funding andexpertise – but also through the provision of refined energy supplies (e.g.
gasoline) that were banned as exports to Iran. Essentially, Iran became botha market for Chinese goods and a supplier for the Chinese energy industry(Downs and Maloney 2011, 3) This, in part, underscores China’s
understanding and support for solving the nuclear issue diplomatically. If
something were to cause a power shift or exacerbate regional stability, China
recognises that it will be the clear loser with higher oil prices andunpredictable supply issues.
To provide a quick overview – Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons was viewed
as a problem for three key reasons:1) Its relatively open cooperation with North Korea andPakistan2) A documented support of terrorism in the Middle East andinternationally3) A clear hostility towards Sunni Muslim states as well as
Israel (Christensen 2015, 121)
In the first half of the 2000s, diplomacy had some success in approaching theissue – first with the Tehran Declaration, and then the Paris Agreement in2004 (Gaietta 2016, 72). Unfortunately, diplomacy took a backseat after theelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Iran then began enriching uranium, resulting in the IAEA referring the issue tothe UNSC by early 2006 (Zheng 2007, 19; Sterio 2016, 72). The politicalclimate under Ahmadinejad was full of rhetoric, and while diplomatic
approaches continued – Iran also continually failed to assuage the International community’s concerns. As a result, from that point until 2010, the UNSC
passed six resolutions in an attempt to address the issue.
Early on in its own history, the People’s Republic of China saw the development of nuclear weapons to be ‘a sovereign right’, but now seems to more
fully recognise the implications of proliferation on international security andstability (Wuthnow 2011, 174). China believed – or at least was open to thepossibility – that Iran’s nuclear ambitions had peaceful intentions. As a result,
China stressed diplomacy yet allowed for the imposition of sanctions that did

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not directly target the Iranian people or harm Chinese interests. Throughout
this, Iran became increasingly dependent on China – as the sanctions issued
after 2010 by the US and EU pushed out most other players (Harvard Belford
Center 2015, 9, 18).
China and the 2010 Sanctions
Even though China was not a direct party to the unilateral sanctions –particularly those imposed by the US – after their imposition, Chinese
economic activity with Iran began to slow. The same year, it was said that ‘theChinese government [had] informally instructed firms to slow down’ (Davis etal. 2012, 18). Additionally, several Chinese companies operating in Iran –including ‘CNPC [China National Petroleum Corporation], Sinopec, CNOOC[China National Offshore Oil Corporation], and Zhenrong … failed to
implement their agreements … or have “gone slow”’ in finishing current
projects (Harold and Nader 2012, 12). These actions seem to have been the
result of some kind of agreement with the United States. One, in particular,that would not sanction Chinese companies’ current Iranian investments aslong as no new deals were made. So, while China was still active in Iran, newand unfinished projects were either delayed or postponed altogether.
Additionally, highlighting this was the fact that from 2010 to 2013 Chinesepurchases of Iranian oil fell year on year.
Sanctions, and China’s willingness to at least partially comply, clearly had arole in bringing Iran back to the negotiating table. After roughly three years of
the sanctions another key roadblock to diplomatic talks was addressed when
Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2013. That same year, initial discussions
between he and US President Barack Obama created the groundwork thatmade it possible for further talks in Geneva and Vienna – culminating in the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
China’s Role in the JCPOA Talks
After about two years of negotiating, an agreement was reached between Iranand the P5+1 on 15 July 2015. The resultant pact was an attempt to satisfy all
involved parties while addressing the key issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear
quest. After the agreement was approved in the UNSC through UNSCR 2231,
the timeline for implementation and removal of sanctions began (UN Security
Council 2015).
As a good portion of the negotiations were conducted behind closed doors,
portions of the final agreement are still not publicly available (Samore 2015,

Becoming a ‘Responsible Power’?: China’s New Role during the JCPOA Negotiations

1631).1 At this point, much of China’s exact role in the negotiation remains
unclear – yet it is obvious that China at the very least had a critical role inmediating differences between the US and Iran. It is also clear that a peacefulresolution of the issue and avoidance of all possible military action became apriority (Garver 2016, 1). While, as in prior stages of the issue the main actors
involved have been the United States, China was clearly a key component
and intermediary. In particular, China appeared to have been useful inpersuading Iran about potential economic and political benefits that could beobtained, ‘securing international recognition for Iran’s ‘right’ to enrichuranium’, as well as mediating any other disputes (Garver 2016, 1; Ford2015).
Without at least China’s approval and minimal participation, negotiations
would likely have been more difficult if not impossible. Through its ‘active’
mediation role and its part in UNSCR 2231, China also has highlighted its
more active international role. This is a ‘notable precedent in [China’s]
diplomatic efforts to combat nuclear proliferation and other issues of global
governance’ (Nejadifar 2016, 59).
The agreement that became the JCPOA was acceptable to all parties
involved – even if it did not satisfy all of their initial requirements. The key
component that satisfied the P5+1 was that there was a stated limit on ‘Iran’sability to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons’ – with the allowed
amount at a low enough level that Iran would not be able to successfully
make a warhead (Samore 2015, 4). Iran’s main benefit – understandably –was sanction relief once the agreement was in place. The relief would bephased, first removing UNSC sanctions, and then others that had been
unilaterally imposed would follow (Wuthnow 2016, 3; Salehi-Isfahani 2015;
Nasralla 2017).2
A major component of this relief included the lifting of a US action thatsanctioned all international entities that had dealings involving Iran’s Central
Bank. This action took effect early on, around implementation day – freeing
the Chinese companies that had previously restrained their actions in
response to the sanctions (Kennedy 2016). Still, while the largest destination
for Iranian oil remained China the overall economic situation improved (EIA2015). Merely a year after the sanctions on Iran were lifted, total foreign
investment in Iran had grown by 42% (Financial Tribune 2017).
1This is ‘including a side agreement among the P5+1 on future UN action in 10
years and the contents of Iran’s “enrichment and enrichment R&D plan,” which Iran will
eventually submit to the …(IAEA)’.
2This would happen on 16 January 2016. Though it is important to note the UScontinues to push the envelope on this through adding more sanctions under Trump.

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While China’s actions in earlier phases of the Iranian crisis were minimal,
they were said to have had a constructive role throughout the JCPOA
mediation procedures – potentially ‘motivated by a desire to shape [the]diplomatic outcome’ (Singh 2015). In general, China seems to have had a keyrole in mediation and convincing Iran of the value of the deal – while making
sure that it was acceptable to all parties.
‘Active’ Mediation
When involved in the resolution of an international security issue China haslong preferred a sort of mediation role, but for the JCPOA negotiations they
appeared to take up a much more active approach – at least outwardly.
Moving away from past precedents, China acted at various times as amediator, a bridge between the various actors, as well as an assurer – so as
to prove to Iran that the dealmakers were sincere and the agreement would
be carried out.
One particular example of this effort was Beijing’s numerous attempts topersuade Iran of the value of an agreement via a number of high-level
diplomatic visits between June 2013 and July 2015 (Kondapalli 2016, 63).
Notably, between June 2013 and October 2016, there were at least five
diplomatic visits between the Iranian and Chinese heads of state. It was
during these visits that China was said to have emphasised the utility ofclearly addressing the concerns of the international community – as if Iran did
not, a military conflict was likely. Chinese leaders, including China’s
Ambassador to Iran emphasised the tangible benefits of avoiding conflict –clearly hinting at the provision of Chinese help to further develop Iran’s
economy once sanctions were gone (Garver 2016, 2; Pang 2015). China wasclearly trying to incentivise Iran to work towards a quick solution with the otherengaged parties.
After Xi Jinping became President and General Secretary in late 2012 andearly 2013, respectively, China’s approach and role in these negotiations
were viewed to have become much bolder. In particular, it has been notedthat Xi Jinping favours a more active role – which is fitting, as Foreign
Minister Wang Yi’s has also been seen to favour such an approach (Huang2015). However, it is worth noting that Hu Jintao’s government also ‘actively
lobbied Washington’ in an attempt to have the US resolve the issue directlywith Iran (Scott 2015).
One of the most interesting aspects of China’s role in the discussion is purely
how the Chinese media described China’s role. The press, particularly
Chinese sources, seems to have stressed China’s particular role during theBecoming a ‘Responsible Power’?: China’s New Role during the JCPOA Negotiations

165

JCPOA negotiation to have been ‘constructive’ but also ‘objective, fair andresponsible’ (Hua 2015). In the past, China would have been described as aparticipant or their work would have been downplayed. Yet, after theannouncement of the JCPOA, China’s role was actually said to have been
‘active’. Most statements highlighted the constructive role China had played –providing little detail though insisting that China’s role had been useful oreven ‘pivotal’ and ‘irreplaceable’ (Mu 2015; Shichor 2016, 3). According to
CCTV, China had made ‘unremitting efforts’, and played ‘a significant role’(Huang 2015). The Iranian publication PressTV used a quote attributed to Xi
Jinping that described China’s actions in the process to have been as ‘anactive participant, constructor and contributor’ with a clear concentration on
addressing and solving the issue (PressTV 2016). While most of the actual
descriptions of Chinese action were vague and specific examples of this aresparse, most of these media reports show China prioritising the negotiations
and describe China’s activities in the negotiations to have been focused on
proactively mediating and promoting diplomatic resolution wherever possible
to ensure that an agreement was reached.
Iran’s ambassador to Beijing also offered one of the clearest overviews ofChina’s part in the process, as he said it ‘worked as a liaison that has
successfully bridged the gaps, neutralised misunderstandings and helped
alleviate concerns during the negotiations’ (Global Times 2015). China’s
position in the talks, he believed, raised the confidence levels of Iraniannegotiators in the process and in the resultant deal (Joobani and Helmy 2016,384). He also noted that China had even taken the lead on a few topics –particularly offering to lead cooperative efforts to redesign the Arak heavy
water reactor (Fars News Agency, 2016.).
Not all sources, however, agree on China’s role. Sources outside of China,
Iran, and the Chinese media, however have stated that China’s role was not
as instrumental as has been claimed. These comments range from an
involved party insisting that overall it was a group effort, to others stating
Beijing’s presence was ‘marginal, evasive, and ambiguous’ (Almond, 2016;
Shichor 2016, 3). Regardless of China’s actual role – it is important to notethat the mere fact that China presented itself and wanted to be viewed as anactive component itself is a remarkable change.
Increasing Involvement
China’s actions leading up to, during, and after the JCPOA negotiations show
a clear change from their past behaviour. While China has always had aninterest in a stable Middle East conducive to Chinese growth, as its
investments in the region have grown, stability has become much more of a

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necessity. China clearly views itself as a stakeholder in the region and ininternational affairs more broadly and wants to be considered responsible. It
increasingly became, or was viewed to have become, more actively involvedin the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue – seeking a resolution to above
all avoid a military confrontation.
China’s interest in a stable Middle East underscores how its interests andview of the international community have evolved. Rather than continuing torefer to the issue as bilateral as it had in the 1990s, China increasingly views
the role of multilateral talks as useful in addressing complex issues. China’s
implicit support of the unilateral sanctions stem from a similar base as to why
it supported the UNSC sanctions – nearly universal support from otherpowers, Iran’s continued defiance and inability to address concerns, as wellas the potential danger of an armed conflict to ensure Iran complies (Swaine
2010, 8). Moreover, China is concerned with ensuring that its external
environment is stable so that there are no further challenges to its growth(Mesbahi and Homayounvash 2016, 83). Iran put this stability into question,
and China counselled mediation and resolution of the situation. When
mediation initially failed to address the situation, China allowed for othermeasures – in particular, sanctions – to help expedite a return to talks.
The way China interacted throughout the JCPOA negotiations shows that
China is a key stakeholder that also wants to be viewed as a responsible
power. While the term ‘responsible power’ is frequently dismissed as a US
ploy in private, it is undeniable that it is something that has become a part ofChina’s policy dialogue and official vocabulary (Global Times 2010; Global
Times 2013). China’s actions with regard to Iran show that it views nonproliferation, Middle East stability, and the intersection of the two as issues it
is involved in, and ignoring these issues would be, by definition, irresponsible.
While many in China may disapprove of the use of ‘responsible power’, China
increasingly wants to be seen as a productive member of the international
community.
Altogether, China’s actions with regard to the creation and implementation of
the JCPOA have shown a China that is aware of and influenced by the valuesof the international system. Through this, China has worked to address a
problem, multilaterally, with other powers within the system.
Analysis of Changes
China’s actions with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue has shown a clear
evolution, from a ‘not-our-issue’ sort of view to actively working with the restof the international community to come to a peaceful resolution. To get here,Becoming a ‘Responsible Power’?: China’s New Role during the JCPOA Negotiations

167

China needed to balance its interests – yet even that does not completely
explain its shift to a more active role as mediator. If China merely required
furthered economic relations and a stable region, it could have simply
supported the status quo. Instead, along with the other P5+1 nations, China
worked towards a new agreement while encouraging the participation of Iran.
This was done with the intent of preventing potential conflict, and hopefully
creating long-term regional stability.
China’s trajectory has shown a clear progression from inactivity to increased
involvement. Many reasons play a part in why and how this developed –China’s economic growth, the expansion of its energy requirements, as wellas its growing international role. Iran’s responses to the international
community of ignoring requests, breaching agreements, or the generalanimosity exhibited by top Iranian leadership also gave China little choice but
to side with the international community. Iran was offered numerous chances
to comply, but each failure made China’s choice easier.
A component of China’s behaviour, of course, was conducted in tandem withthe rest of the UNSC. As a result of this sort of action, China was likely tohave better political and economic relations with the EU and the US. This way
China also did not risk alienating itself – as there was essentially aninternational consensus that the issue needed to be resolved quickly,
collaboratively and peacefully. The potential of military action and theresultant regional instability was a key motivating factor for China in ensuringthat this issue was resolved quickly. The longer it remained unaddressed, thegreater the concerns that the region would fall into deeper trouble, causing
regional instability and potentially disrupting oil supplies. Throughout theprocess, undoubtedly there were points when the US and EU did not agreewith China’s approach. They were all working towards the same end-goal,
however, a stable, non-nuclear Iran.
The Indeterminate Future of the Deal
The future of the deal has numerous components that will determine its
success – but the two key factors that could unravel its progress now are
Iran’s adherence to the agreement and the US’s continued acknowledgementthat Iran is abiding by the agreed rules. The other signatories of the deal – atleast for now – do not appear to question the deal, or want anything but its
ultimate success.
For Iran’s part, their election in mid-2017 underscored domestic Iraniansupport of the agreement. By all accounts, Rouhani’s win means that acontinuation of his existing policies should be expected. In general, the vote168

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was a clear indication of the Iranian people’s approval of continued stability
and engagement with the world. A win by Rouhani’s opponent, Raisi, would
have been a return to the rhetoric and sentiment experienced under
Ahmadinejad. During his term, Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric became trying, andstability was constantly threatened, so a similar administration would be
disastrous – especially with the unpredictability of the Trump White House(Weir 2011). Rouhani’s re-election with 57% of the vote will give him further
support as he continues to further Iran’s ties with the rest of the world(Cunningham 2017).
While the Obama administration viewed the JCPOA as a diplomatic success,President Donald J. Trump views things differently. Stretching back to his timeon the campaign trail in 2015–2016, Trump continually threatened to leave
the agreement. He finally did on May 8, 2018. As a result, the US has
imposed two rounds of unilateral sanctions. Firstly, in August 2018, targeting
various Iranian industries. Secondly, in November 2018 targeting the Iranianoil sector. While the United States is no longer party to the deal, Europe andChina are working together to ensure it is upheld. For the time being, Iranappears to be willing to work with Europe and China on this. Indeed, it isimportant to note that as recently as 30 August 2018, the IAEA reported that
Iran was still in compliance with the agreement. On the whole, it remains
unclear what the full impact of the United States’ absence and the new
sanctions will be – but they certainly complicate the issue.
Conclusion
As we have seen, China’s view with regard to its role in addressing
international issues has seen a clear evolution over the past 20 years.
Between the late 1990s and 2005, China viewed the Iranian nuclear issue tobe external to its interests and did not or could not view Iran’s development of
nuclear technology as a concern – to either itself or the international
community. The key caveat here was that if Iran’s quest interfered with otherrelationships, or if there was something to gain from acknowledging theissues, China would recognise and react. Throughout the international
attempts to address the issue, China supported Iran and pushed for theinternational community to give Iran the benefit of a doubt on its intentions –but only to a point. When U.N. requirements were not met or ignored by Iran,China allowed for incrementally stricter sanctions to be passed. Each time,
China’s goal was to have Iran come back to the negotiating table.
When it came to it – China allowed for a UN Resolution in 2010 that would
allow for other nations to unilaterally sanction Iran. While China did not
sanction Iran directly, for all intents and purposes it was a key component toBecoming a ‘Responsible Power’?: China’s New Role during the JCPOA Negotiations169

its success in bringing Iran back to the table. Without China’s assistancethese sanctions would not have had as much of an impact as they did. One
key thing to note here is that through China’s implicit acceptance of othernations’ unilateral sanctions, a choice was made to work with international
consensus and unofficially participate in the sanctions. This was a clear shift
from past precedent and could have implications for future multilateral issues.
Additionally, it was also impressive that the Chinese media viewed China’srole to be so significant – this in itself is a drastic change. This media
coverage may forecast a strong continued presence for China in similar
issues in the future. Regardless, with the future of the JCPOA under question
as a result of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the agreement andthe resulting sanctions, China’s actions will likely continue to highlight its
support for the necessity of upholding the JCPOA.
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12The Evolution of Sino-Japanese
Relations: Implications forNortheast Asia and Beyond
N OR I K ATA GIR I

China and Japan exert the greatest amount of influence over their neighbours
in East Asia. Cooperation between the two economic giants remains robust in
trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), tourism, and cultural and educational
exchanges while their rivalry has grown with regard to military modernisation,
political discourse, and cyber security. The complexity of Sino-Japaneserelations stems in part from the fact that they have different political andeconomic systems as well as historical and cultural differences. They are also
bound by the presence of neighbours in Northeast Asia that rival each otherone way or another – North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan – as well as
powerful states with regional stakes – Russia and the United States – all ofwhich make the region inherently prone to instability. To further complicate
issues, the region was thrust into a period of transition after the election of
Donald Trump in November 2016. The US-dominant structure that had held
the region together since the end of the Cold War began quickly eroding
under Trump’s Asia policy, or lack thereof. Mired in one self-inflicted domestic
crisis after another, Trump remains generally opposed to a large-scalecommitment to East Asia, essentially offering China an incentive to be morerevisionist and act with less constraint, while making statements drasticallydifferent from past presidents about North Korea and Taiwan. The mainquestion I pursue in this chapter, given the changing circumstances, is how
stable Sino-Japanese relations are likely to be for the next few years.
In this chapter, I make two arguments. First, of the many factors that affectthe stability of Sino-Japanese relations, one of the most important is the waythat national leaders in each respective country interpret the balance ofThe Evolution of Sino-Japanese Relations: Implications for Northeast Asia and Beyond

175

military, cyber, and socio-economic power. Militarily, the two countries
compete for dominance in East Asia and control of territory – especially withregard to the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Concerning cyber power, China
continues to use its first-mover advantage to attack vulnerable systems andsteal secrets from its neighbours. In economic and cultural dimensions, China
and Japan are tightly interconnected and act on the principle of collaboration
over conflict. The age of globalisation, regionalisation, and economic interdependence leaves no immediate losers between the two, while generating
no winners, either. Claude Meyer’s contention in 2011 that ‘for the time being,neither of these two dominant powers can lay claim to overall supremacy inthe region’ is still valid (Meyer 2011, 7). Although China and Japan continue to
distrust each other and blame one another for any problems, they remaininterdependent for peace and prosperity, and mutual deterrence is at work
against military strikes and embargoes by either side (Katagiri 2017, 1–19).
The way the current leaders of both countries, China’s Xi Jinping and Japan’s
Abe Shinzo, interpret the gains and losses of their interactions will have muchto do with the way they treat each other throughout their leadership, at least
until 2022 for Xi and possibly 2021 for Abe (assuming he wins re-election in2018).
My second argument is that some changes in the external environment will
have unexpected, although not necessarily consistent, impact on the stabilityof Sino-Japanese relations. Bilateral issues like the East China Sea disputes
claimed by China but controlled by Japan, and cyber insecurity are likely tocontinue. They will become more salient political problems when unexpectedthings happen, such as when provocative statements are made on Taiwan’s
future (Taiwan, too, claims the East China Sea islands) and when military
actions are threatened against North Korea to dissuade its nuclear andmissile programs. These things can easily find their way to drag China andJapan into intense scrutiny of one another’s intent. Further, bilateral relations
will develop based on the way their national leaders interact with other major
powers, especially the United States and Russia. That is, Xi’s relations with
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will form the foundation of his
relations with Abe because Trump’s and Putin’s behaviours are lesspredictable. Likewise, Abe’s relations with Trump and Putin will be a source ofstrategic consideration for the Japanese as a junior ally and economic partnerin the Far East, respectively, although the nature of both leaders’ charactersmake it difficult for the Japanese to predict what their next actions will be.
Overall, ongoing bilateral interactions show that in the short run, China andJapan are likely to continue economic engagement and military balancing.
Over the long run, however, China is poised to have a power advantage overJapan. China is growing faster economically, demographically, and militarily,
and retains an advantage in hard power as well as the power to significantly

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influence events at the United Nations as a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power. Japan has boasted of its soft power to makethe country culturally attractive, is making a slow economic recovery of its
own, and remains protected by American forces. This means, however, that if
Trump were to withdraw the United States from active engagement in East
Asia, not necessarily an unreasonable possibility, China would likely become
the dominant player, especially in the military sphere.
Military and Cyber Confrontations Shaping Bilateral Competition
Between China and Japan, the balance of military power tilts towards theformer, a trend likely to continue over time. The Chinese Communist Party(CCP) keeps social support for People’s Liberation Army (PLA) programs
artificially high through propaganda and coercion, particularly for those thatwould be used against Japan (Reilly 2011). China has outspent Japan on
defence to acquire advanced military hardware, increased training hours, andconducted military exercises. With regard to the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands,
China has invested heavily in upgrading its maritime forces to undermine
Japan’s control to the extent that Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces(JMSDF) and Japan Coast Guard can no longer effectively handle them.
Growing aerial intrusions and naval incursions into disputed areas havecaused Japan to increase its emergency flight missions. As someone who
flew an F-15DJ fighter jet recently at an air base in Japan, I can attest to how
seriously Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) operators run each flight incontested areas and how much real coordination it takes them to carry out
one mission on the ground and in the air. Yet Japan’s response is fallingbehind. In 2016 alone, JASDF scrambled more than 850 times to Chinese
aircraft threatening Japan’s airspace, nearly 280 times more than in 2015,
separate from those against Russian aircraft (Japan Ministry of Defence2017). Japan’s administrative control of the islands is likely to erode further if
the Trump administration decides to reduce its defence commitment to Japan
believing that Tokyo should ‘pay more’ for its own defence. The US role in the
territorial dispute would also diminish if the United States attacked North
Korea, still a possibility after the April 2017 showdown, because an outright
war in Korea would allow Beijing to operate the PLA more freely in East Asia
against US Forces in Japan (USFJ). It is unclear if the United States would
remain committed to the security order in Northeast Asia as Trump is strongly
driven by his purpose to ‘make America great again’.
Trust is a rare commodity in the military sphere between the two countries.
Few Japanese believe in Beijing’s rhetoric about a ‘peaceful’ rise. Military
cooperation between them is limited to multilateral contexts like rare joint
exercises. Japan’s defence officials unequivocally mention China’s military

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growth as a vital security concern. Japan continues to adjust its defence
posture to curtail China’s territorial ambitions, by shifting SDF resources from
Hokkaido, once a Cold War frontline against Soviet attacks, to its south where
Japan has buttressed ground forces with Marine components and deployed afew hundred soldiers on islands near Okinawa, among other things. The
adjustment reflects Japanese leaders’ intent to counter China’s growing
power by way of acquiring new equipment and increasing logistical efficiency.
The leaders, however, have left post-war social norms and laws largely
unchanged, which have severely limited the operability of defence forces(Katagiri, forthcoming). The Peace Constitution’s Article 9 remains unchanged– banning the use of force as a means of resolving international disputes.
Public support for the SDF remains mild, too, in favour of pacifist resolution of
conflict. While it is true that a growing number of Japanese people support
the SDF, they do so primarily because the SDF carries out non-military
missions, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, rather thandefence. For real defence operations, the Japanese have turned to USFJ as
the legitimate authority, as seen in the 2015 legislation allowing collective
self-defence with the United States. Of course, the United States does nottake a stand on ownership of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, but it acknowledges that the Japanese government has administrative control of theislands and that the islands fall under Article 5 of the mutual security treaty.
The question, however, is whether President Trump will honour this whenpressed to do so.
In cyberspace China’s activism is growing with its first-mover advantage.
Cyber operations are relatively inexpensive and effective. When usedproperly, they can impose heavy costs on targets on the cheap and facilitate
the use of military force if necessary. China has capitalised on plausible
deniability to target countries like Japan asymmetrically to exploit theoffensive-dominant nature of cyber-operations. Even though targets of cyberattacks in general have learned lessons to make their systems robust,
attackers continue to retain the initial advantage of choosing the time andplace of attack (Singer and Friedman 2014, 57–60; Segal 2016, 82–90).
Accordingly, Chinese military writings have called for a strategy of ‘active
offense’ on enemy command and control, network-centric forces, and firststrike capabilities (Pollpeter 2012, 165–189). As a result, cyberattacks havebeen mostly a one-way street, with agents in China being responsible for adisproportionately large number of malicious attacks on its neighbours. To
date, China’s cyber agents have been identified as having targeted Japanese
government agencies, including the Ministry of Defence and Self-Defence
Forces, as well as large private organisations like JTB. China’s attacks have
put Japan on the defensive without real defence, however, as Prime Minister
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party remains unable to cross the constitutional
hurdle to adopt a retaliatory cyber doctrine and robust counter-offensive

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measures to deter attacks. Most Japanese officials I speak with say that the
government knows the severity of the damage it incurs and that it has to do
more to curtail further attacks, but then they privately acknowledge that it hasdone little to fix the problem. Of course, there are questions about whether
China can actually use the stolen information in ways that significantly
increase its ability to absorb stolen data and reinforce its aggressive
aspirations (Lindsay 2014/15, 44). For now, however, China continues to steala massive amount of industrial and government secrets from Japan to theextent that the asymmetry of cyberattacks is steep in Beijing’s favour.
These issues across the security and cyber dimensions have shaped thetension between the two, while still providing reasons for cooperation. To add
to this already complex picture, Sheila Smith argues that several criticalpolitical issues have separated the two in the past few years – including historical disagreements, food safety, as well as political rhetoric on both sides.
She points out a few contentious issues including Japanese politicians’ visits
to the Yasukuni Shrine, China’s export of poisoned dumplings, and theterritorial disputes in the East China Sea. None of these offer a clear-cut path
to compromise, yet they shape the way they interact with each other (Smith
2016).
Keeping the Balance through Socioeconomic Cooperation
Intense rivalry in the military and cyber domains aside, the two countries haveexperienced a boost in trade, FDI, tourism, and cultural and academic
exchanges. This perhaps represents the only beacon of hope for better
relations. It is important to note, however, that economic interdependence isbased less on mutual trust than the unilateral drive to economically gain – so
as to eventually outdo the other. Still, China has been Japan’s largest trading
partner, while Japan is China’s second largest following only the UnitedStates. In 2015 Japan granted 3.8 million visas to Chinese nationals, anincrease of 85% over 2014, which represented 80% of all visas Japan issued
to all nationalities that year (The Japan Times 2016).
There are two problems that may hamper economic cooperation in the shortrun. First, the growing trade deficit with Beijing remains a concern for Tokyo,
as it negatively affects Japan’s relative power in the long run. In 2015, forinstance, Japan’s trade deficit was $17.9 billion (Japan External Trade
Organization 2016). Anticipation of continued trade deficit may decrease
incentives for cooperation in Japan, making it easier for lawmakers to benationalistic towards China and call for less peaceful means to solve bilateral
problems like the territorial dispute (Copeland 2014). Tokyo has complained
about Chinese involvement in stealing intellectual property, which the CCPThe Evolution of Sino-Japanese Relations: Implications for Northeast Asia and Beyond

179

has unsurprisingly refused to acknowledge. Cyber-attacks targeting Japaneseindustrial secrets may strain Japan to such an extent that Japan would seek
to retaliate economically, although to do so would bring back even more
painful counteractions.
Second, while bilateral trade remains robust, there are different types ofpolitical dynamics at play in multilateral economic projects where the relations
are more complex and competitive. Certainly, China and Japan are among
the leading nations that participate actively in a number of regionalorganisations, such as APEC, ASEAN+3, and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
Yet there are critical new groups where the two nations compete against eachother for influence. Beijing seeks to find ways to maximise the use of themany regional economic projects it leads, including the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Asia Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB) – of which Japan is not a member. Japan is a partnerof China’s with regard to the promotion of the RCEP, but it is unclear how long
this cooperation will last. These regional economic projects are heavily
affected by external events including, most notably, Trump’s policy. The
presumable end of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) brought about by
Trump’s reluctance has now put the Japanese on track to lead a multilateralnegotiation to pursue a TPP-minus-America. Until the deal is made, the TPP’s
disappearance is likely to strengthen China’s regional influence relative toJapan.
Managing Political Flashpoints
In addition, the external strategic environment remains critical in shaping
Sino-Japanese relations, especially the way China and Japan have
diplomatically aligned with other countries in the region. On one hand China
has ‘friends’ (but not formal allies) that it could rely on – primarily Russia andPakistan. However, both of these states pursue different sets of politicalambitions from China. Certainly, Russia confronts US global interests in amanner that occasionally aligns with China’s. Since the 2016 US presidential
election, modest expectations of the possibility of rapprochement between
Trump and Putin have been raised. The possibility, however, is a wildcard; it
can turn out well enough to positively shape Beijing’s relations with Trump, orgo so bad that it may spill over to Sino-US relations to deteriorate them. In themeantime, Prime Minister Abe’s recent overture towards Putin throughunilateral economic investments is also important, as it made Japan’s Russia
policy less confrontational than previous administrations. The move, however,has not necessarily been successful for hammering out a resolution of theNorthern Territories/Kurile Islands dispute. China is also close to Pakistan,which offers the use of a strategic naval port at Gwadar to the Chinese navy.

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New Perspectives on China’s Relations with the WorldThis allows for China to check India’s naval power and exert influence beyond
the Indian Ocean. This concerns Japan because its cargo ships pass throughthe Indian Ocean and 80% of its oil imports come from the Middle East.
Accordingly, Japan has closely worked with India to prevent this. Finally,
China shares with North Korea a common interest in checking Japan’s power,
but the chance of collaboration between China and North Korea has
weakened in recent years as Pyongyang continues to ignore Beijing’s calls for
restraint. China’s weakening control of North Korea means that it will be lesslikely and able to use North Korea as an instrument of policy at negotiationtables with the United States and Japan. In sum, Chinese strategic alignment
does not strongly constrain Japan’s national interests, but it does not boost
them either.
Japan’s growing military ties with some of the Southeast Asian and South
Asian states – especially the Philippines, India, and Australia – allow it tohave an encirclement strategy against China. The ties with the Philippines
allow SDF ships to operate near the contested areas of the South China Sea,
both with the US Navy and independently. Japan’s reasoning for this is not toaggressively act against the Chinese Navy but rather to secure sea lanes andfreedom of navigation as much of Japan’s energy import comes through theStrait of Malacca. Common strategic sense pulls Japan and India together totighten commerce, weapons sales, and officer exchange. India and Japan
also view Chinese advances into the Indian Ocean as harmful to theirinterests. India has historically abhorred making foreign commitments and isgeographically distant from Japan, but both nations meet periodically to
discuss methods of cooperation. Finally, Australia remains wary about China’s
advance and is a regular participant in multilateral military exercises that
include the SDF.
In this context, it is important that China and Japan find ways to manage
political flashpoints that may arise as a result of unexpected changes in theirexternal environment. Specifically, if Trump does something without thinking
hard enough about consequences that end up upsetting regional stability,
China and Japan may clash. Two scenarios are especially possible. One
potential situation is if Trump moves away from traditional policy to publicly
encourage Taiwan to declare independence. Trump’s early missteps towards
temporarily rejecting the One-China Policy emboldened Taiwan President Tsai
Ing-wen. This served as a fresh reminder that a statement short of actions
can quickly escalate putting cross-strait relations into confusion. Even though
Trump changed his mind after China’s protest, the incident left behind asense of opportunity for Taipei which it could exploit in the future. This alsobrought a sense of fear and uncertainty in Beijing about what Trump would donext. Japan’s informal diplomatic relations with Taiwan could change if Abe
decides to align with Trump’s Taiwan policy. If, hypothetically speaking, Japan

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decides to follow Trump in supporting Taiwan’s call for independence, thiswould in turn put China and Japan in direct confrontation.
The other scenario is North Korea, where Kim Jong-Un’s regime has become
even less predictable since the April 2017 showdown with Trump. China’s
declining ‘control’ over North Korea and inability to discourage missile andnuclear development has increasingly allowed North Korea to do things thatannoy many including the Japanese. Kim appears to know his limits, but heacts almost recklessly in the eyes of foreign countries because he has no
choice but to keep face outside to ensure internal stability. Andrei Lankov
predicted that North Korea’s end would come suddenly and violently (Lankov
2012, 187–228). It would be in China and Japan’s interests to work together
to minimise any impact a collapse in North Korea would have on regional
stability particularly the danger of a nuclear explosion, proliferation or mass
outflows of Korean refugees.
Conclusion
China and Japan regularly hold high-level bilateral talks and routinely
participate in multilateral discussions about regional cooperation, but trust
deficits keep the two nations apart. In China, the CCP has managed tocontain nationalist sentiment and public demand for greater autonomy to theextent that allows the Party to continue to pursue aggressive economic
development projects. The CCP has done so by making efforts to restrain its
citizens by cooling public anger towards Japan (Reilly 2011). In Japan,
however, incidents like the high-profile, uncivil demonstrations against
Japanese businesses in 2012 remain vivid in the minds of the Japanese, andCCP’s effort to rectify its image seems too political to be true. Furthermore, tomost Japanese eyes, the CCP’s effort is hardly sufficient. China’s supposed
restraint has failed to convince ordinary Japanese that China has become
friendlier by any measure. Public surveys constantly put both nations’ public
opinions of each other at low points, and without mutual efforts, that reality is
unlikely to improve anytime soon. The cyber hacks and rivalry over theislands make it quite hard for both nations to improve relations quickly. Theinternational community can, for now at least, rest easy, as socioeconomic
interdependence and deterrence against military strikes prevents further
deterioration of relations.
References
Copeland, Dale. 2014. Economic Interdependence and War. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.

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Japan External Trade Organization. 2016. JETRO Survey: Analysis ofJapan-China Trade in 2015 (Based on imports of both countries), February
17.
Japan Ministry of Defense.2017. Joint Staff Press Release, April 13. http://
www.mod.go.jp/js/Press/press2017/press_pdf/p20170413_01.pdf.
Katagiri, Nori. “Between Structural Realism and Liberalism: Japan’s Threat
Perception and Response.” Forthcoming in International Studies
Perspectives.
Katagiri, Nori. 2017. “What Democratization, Trade Expectations, and Military
Power All Mean for the Future of Sino-American Relations.” Asian Security
13(1): 1–19.
Lankov, Andrei.2013. The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed
Stalinist Utopia. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lindsay, Jon.2015 “The Impact of China on Cybersecurity: Fiction andFriction.” International Security 39(3): 7–47.
Meyer, Claude. 2011. China or Japan: Which Will Lead Asia? New York:
Columbia University Press.
Pollpeter, Kevin. 2012. “Controlling the Information Domain: Space, Cyber,and Electronic Warfare.” In Ashley Tellis and Travis Tanner (Eds.). Strategic
Asia 2012-2013: China’s Military Challenges. Seattle: National Bureau of
Asian Research.
Reilly, James. 2011. Strong Society, Smart State: The Rise of Public Opinion
in China’s Japan Policy. New York: Columbia University Press.
Segal, Adam. 2016. The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade,
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Smith, Sheila. 2016. Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising
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Singer, P.W. and Friedman, Allan. 2014. Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What
Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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The Japan Times. 2016. “Japan issued record number of visas to Chinese in2015, up 85%.” The Japan Times. June 6.

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