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31. The Impact of Chinese National Identity on Sino-Japanese Relations

Author:
Yinan He
Publication Date:
08-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
Sino-Japanese relations have been in another volatility cycle since the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands disputes flared up again in summer 2012. The downward trend seems to have bottomed out in November 2014 when the two leaders Xi Jinping and Abe Shinzo finally held their first meeting since entering office. However, the anticipated recovery has proved tenuous; the momentum toward further improvement has halted since early 2016 when confrontation escalated in both the South China Sea and East China Sea. While acknowledging the role of realist power shift and geostrategic rivalry in causing Sino-Japanese tension, this paper argues that a widening gap between their national identities is also highly relevant. The current Xi government has promoted a national reinvigoration campaign emphasizing Chinese history and culture, the socialist model, and defense of core interests, which runs counter to that of Abe’s Japan, a democratic and historically revisionist country. This national identity conflict has exacerbated mutual distrust, denied chances of reassurance, and generated domestic popular objections to diplomatic compromise between the two countries.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Japan, China, and Korea

32. The Impact of Chinese National Identity on Sino-ASEAN Relations

Author:
Danielle Cohen
Publication Date:
08-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
China and ASEAN possess tremendous opportunities for economic cooperation, but also face significant security challenges, particularly regarding the South China Sea. In both domains, China’s national identity has greatly influenced the trajectory of the bilateral relationship. China’s ASEAN policy is characterized by a desire to recreate the Sinocentric structures of the tributary system, a belief in the historical legitimacy of China’s maritime and territorial claims, a vision of China as a global economic powerhouse, and a sense that China has already “peacefully risen” and can more actively assert itself to reap the rewards.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
China

33. Iran–China Cooperation in the Silk Road Economic Belt: From Strategic Understanding to Operational Understanding

Author:
Mohsen Shariatinia and Hamidreza Azizi
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Iran served as a bridge in the ancient Silk Road, connecting the East and the West. It also has great potential to play an important role in the new Silk Road. The present study analyzes the factors affecting Iran–China cooperation in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative at the strategic and operational levels. This article shows that, at the strategic level, Iran defines this project as an opportunity to improve its status in the world economy, expanding its room to manoeuvre in the international arena and developing its ties with China, a rising great power. At the operational level, the opportunities and challenges for Iran–China cooperation could be summarized as pertaining to five realms within the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative: policy coordination, facilitation of connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds. The present study asserts that the main opportunity for cooperation between the two countries lies in facilitating connectivity and that the key challenge is financial integration.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
China and Iran

34. China’s Engagement with the Sixteen Countries of Central, East and Southeast Europe under the Belt and Road Initiative

Author:
Anastas Vangeli
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of China’s burgeoning relationship with Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has rapidly expanded the extent of its interactions with CESEE since 2012, and this region has subsequently become one of the focal points of the BRI. The key feature of China’s engagement with CESEE is the devising of an experimental and innovative approach, demonstrated in the establishment of an institutional mechanism for cooperation with a particular group of 16 CESEE countries (16+1). The case of China–CESEE relations offers an insight into how, in the era of the BRI, China is complementing its economic approach with institution-building and policy coordination. The article concludes that as the BRI progresses, these tendencies will remain central to China’s relations with CESEE
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
China

35. The dissemination of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

Author:
YUAN Zhengqing and SONG Xiaoqin
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The study of international norms is an important topic in the international politics. Western theories tend to emphasize the top-down instruction at the international level and learning at the state level, and empirical studies focus on the dissemination of Western norms to the rest of the world. Consequently, the role of non-Western countries is neglected in the process of norm dissemination. The dissemination of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence offers an excellent opportunity to examine the behaviors of non-Western countries. The Five Principles proposed by China was neither imposed forcibly upon other countries nor intended to educate others in a condescending manner with a so-called “civilized” standard. Instead, the Five Principles started to disseminate in the process of equal interactions with the neighboring countries with similar experiences in history. Gradually, it embedded itself into more international meetings and treaties through establishing diplomatic relations, convening international meetings, participating in international organizations and offering foreign aid and expanded from ideologically similar countries into ideologically divergent ones.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
China

36. China and the Remolding of International Human Rights Norms

Author:
YUAN Zhengqing, Li Zhiyong, and Zhufu Xiaofei
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The life cycle of international norms is not actually a process of emergence, diffusion and internalization. As is shown by the logic of argumentation and the relational logic of processoriented constructivism, the development of international norms may take another approach, one of origination, diffusion and remolding. Through dialogues on norms, discourse critique, self-remolding and other means, China has enriched the practice of remolding international human rights norms with a human rights theory centered on the right to survive and develop, thereby providing a new approach and new angle of vision that allows non-Western countries to break away from the monist approach of norm development.
Topic:
Human Rights and International Affairs
Political Geography:
China

37. “Alternative” Strategic Perceptions in U.S.-China Relations

Author:
David J. Firestein and Euhwa Tran
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The EastWest Institute has released a new report on U.S.-China relations—"Alternative” Strategic Perceptions in U.S.-China Relations. The report lays out the differing strategic perceptions of the United States and China with respect to some of the most topical and challenging issues on the U.S.-China agenda today. These starkly differing perceptions inform and exacerbate actual policy and fuel mistrust and broad mutual strategic suspicion. By exposing the diverging perceptions of the two countries and bringing those perceptions into the fabric of bilateral discourse more explicitly and honestly, this report creates the basis for a more honest, substantive, constructive, fruitful and mutually beneficial dialogue.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
China and America

38. Dialogue on U.S.-China Infrastructure Cooperation

Author:
Natalie Pretzer-Lin
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
On March 13, 2017, the EastWest Institute (EWI), in concert with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), convened the first ever conference on prospects for infrastructure cooperation between the United States and China. This conference, held in Beijing, brought together a U.S. delegation comprising investment and infrastructure experts—some of whom have advised the Trump administration on infrastructure—with Chinese counterparts from a number of private sector and state-owned enterprises. Discussion throughout the conference focused on the policy priorities of the Trump Administration; the Trump administration’s vision for the development of U.S. infrastructure; the current state of U.S.-China relations; and opportunities, challenges and recommendations for U.S.-China infrastructure cooperation.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
China and America

39. An uphill struggle? Towards coordinated EU engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Author:
Stephan Klose, Astrid Pepermans, and Leia Wang
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
China’s 19th Party Congress unexpectedly amended the party’s constitution with a pledge to “pursue the Belt and Road Initiative”. This further elevates the status of president Xi’s heavily promoted foreign policy, which aims at creating trade and investment opportunities through the development of Eurasia’s continental and maritime infrastructure. As the implications of this policy are increasingly felt across Europe, following years of growing Chinese investments, so are the challenges it presents to Europe’s unity, prosperity and security. In light of these challenges a constructive engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) constitutes an immense task for the European Union, whose position has been weakened by growing dissent among member states over the Union’s policy towards China.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
China and Europe

40. Getting the U.S.-China Relationship Right

Author:
Cory Gardner
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Project 2049 Institute
Abstract:
The Project 2049 Institute is pleased to announce the publication of our Futuregram, “Getting the U.S.-China Relationship Right.” Senator Cory Gardner [R-CO], Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, assesses the need for a long-term strategy in regards to the U.S.-China relationship. In addition, he details new legislation called the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), an approach that will put American interests first by reassuring our allies, deterring our adversaries, and securing U.S. leadership in the region for future generations.
Topic:
International Organization and International Affairs
Political Geography:
China