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The COVID-19 pandemic had an exceptionally long and consequential rally effect in China. Drawing on an eight-wave nationwide survey, this article shows that the Wuhan lockdown boosted public confidence in the central government. The persistence of the pandemic and the initial success of the zero-COVID policy sustained the enhanced trust in the central government for over two years. However, the rally effect did not dissipate as quietly as usual. As trust in the central government returned to the pre-pandemic level following the Shanghai lockdown, defiant protests collectively known as the White Paper Movement broke out. Angry protesters demanded the termination of the zero-COVID policy and called for accountability from the ruling party and its top leader. This article argues that while the rally effect lasted exceptionally long in the authoritarian country, it could not be prolonged indefinitely. Ultimately, the dissonance between the declining trust in the central government and the persisting restrictive measures provoked the protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues against the claim by Chinese government officials and some scholars that China’s carbon emission trading scheme is market-driven. It finds that, in contrast to carbon markets that are characteristic of the marketization model, China’s carbon markets are led by the state, and the market mechanism plays a limited role at best. Consequently, China’s carbon markets are overwhelmingly challenged by a number of factors. These include the low efficiency of resource allocation, questionable market fairness, rent-seeking, and corruption. This paper argues that the state-led mechanism is not conducive to China’s green transition unless a market system is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bilateral relationship between Australia and China has undergone significant challenges and fluctuations in recent years, arousing substantial interest among scholars in the field of International Relations (IR). This paper examines Australia’s policy changes towards China during the period of 2017–2022 from an IR theory perspective. By critically evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of prevailing arguments through the theoretical lenses of three IR paradigms—realism, liberalism, and constructivism—this paper not only provides insights into the primary factors behind the continuous and dramatic downturns in Australia-China relations over these five years (2017-2022) but also establishes a foundation for further examinations and debates among scholars. It argues that no single IR theory can fully capture the dynamic and intricate nature of states’ foreign policy and international relations. Therefore, it is crucial for scholars to adopt a ‘toolbox approach’, selectively utilizing different theoretical frameworks from competing schools of thought and drawing upon useful instruments from other disciplines. The three papers in this special section at JCC further illustrate how a theoretically eclectic approach can help better understand the dynamic economic, political, and security relations between Australia and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the constrained judicialization of environmental governance in China. It starts by quantitatively describing the judicialization of environmental protection in China over the past decade, including both its progresses and the suppressions that it faced, and shows that environmental courts have had virtually no tangible impact on reducing pollution levels. It then attempts to rationalize the observed patterns by answering two questions. First, why does the government choose to empower the courts when it possesses a rich set of other regulatory tools in environmental protection? This choice can be attributed to both the central government’s needs to curb local protectionism, as well as the local governments’ incentives to promote legitimacy. Second, to the extent that courts can contribute to environmental governance, why does the government impose tight controls over environmental litigation? This can be explained by the government’s deep-rooted wariness of class lawsuits and other collective actions, as well as the judiciary’s inherent conflicts with the flexibility required by a regulatory regime. In addition, the judiciary’s limited capacity also impedes the judicialization of environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Western democracies, including the U.S. Australia, France, Canada, and Lithuania, confront the shared challenge of managing their ideological relationships with China, a powerful authoritarian state. This issue is particularly pressing as they consider ways to uphold or promote freedom amidst the perceived decline of American influence. Western liberal democracies frequently embrace a confrontational approach, demoting peaceful coexistence, which can have dire consequences for international or bilateral relations. Using Australia and China as a case study, this paper critically examines the dynamics and complexities of these competing political and ideological relationships—confrontation and peaceful coexistence—between 1996 and 2022. It examines how Canberra has pursued a strategy of ideological taming towards China, how China has adopted countermeasures against Australian taming, and the interaction between Australian taming and Chinese counter-taming. It describes and explains how the China-Australia relationship has shifted from ideological coexistence towards ideological confrontation since 2016–2017. It also critically examines the issues linked to the confrontational model, discusses conditions for a modus vivendi liberalism and better management of value differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper unpacks the multi-level efforts to establish, promote and implement China standards in overseas contexts through an examination of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Africa. Drawing upon document analysis of government policies, institutional guidelines and corporate reports from four case companies, as well as field research in Ethiopia, it identifies ways that Chinese corporate actors interpret, incorporate and initiate CSR standards through strategic planning and during overseas business activities. Analysis of both first-hand and secondary data shows the development of Chinese CSR standards is a co-production of international, national and local standards, which involves diverse actors and institutions and is driven by multiple considerations to fulfill commercial, political, social and diplomatic objectives for overseas companies and Chinese government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the police have been the single dominant player in criminal cases, while the procuracy and the courts have played only complementary roles. More often than not, as long as the police have launched a criminal investigation, the procuracy will prosecute the targeted person and the courts will return a guilty verdict. In the shadow of policing power, the Chinese criminal justice system operates with unique characteristics, with both the procuracy and the courts mostly coordinating with the police to address crime, but rarely practising 'mutual constraint'. If a criminal prosecution encounters an irregularity, the three agencies coordinate with one another first and seek a solution that benefits all. Under this operational mode, both defendants and their lawyers are entirely excluded from the core decision-making process of the criminal justice system, in which they have no choice but to passively accept the result of the coordination between the police, the procuracy and the courts. Through an analysis of courtroom discourses, this paper unfolds the dynamics of criminal trials and the interactions between the defence, prosecutors and judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concept of green nationalism in the authoritarian context of China, where the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted the rhetoric of ecological civilization as a means of promoting environmental protection and securing global legitimacy. The authors argue that the CCP's performance legitimacy is closely linked to its ability to address environmental concerns in the context of climate change, and that the development of green nationalism is a rational choice for leaders seeking to maintain this legitimacy. However, the authors also highlight the role of actors such as social entrepreneurs, academics, and environmental NGOs in promoting green nationalism from the bottom-up. Using constructivist political theory, the paper explores how the intersection of different green narratives at various levels can be used to rethink the nation and make claims to legitimacy. Overall, the paper contributes to theory-building by providing a framework for understanding the complex relationship between environmental protection, nationalism, and authoritarian politics in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how the phenomenon of naturalized athletes has caused unprecedented domestic discussions on issues of national identity in China. Using online data collected from Sina Weibo, it discusses how the Chinese public reacted to prominent cases of naturalization of athletes in such different sports fields as men's football and a variety of winter sports. It interrogates how Chinese citizens view the possibilities and realities of this particular category of immigrants, and how the appropriate boundaries of 'Chineseness' have been debated and contested. The paper found that Chinese public reaction to naturalization of foreign athletes is overall mixed, which is conditioned on an ethno-racial view of Chinese descent, cultural heritage and linguistic affinity. The paper concludes with reflections on the ethno-racial foundation of the Chinese national identity and the challenges the country will face in a future of accelerated international migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensions between China and Taiwan have been heightened significantly lately. This paper is aimed at investigating the cross-Strait relations from Taiwan's perspective concerning, in particular, Taiwan's economic policy toward China. Indeed, China has long been Taiwan's largest trading partner; yet, political relationship between the two has fluctuated over time. On the one hand, China has been an attractive market for Taiwanese businesses, but one the other hand, there have also been economic and security concerns about Taiwan's dependence on China. This paper shows the connections between political and economic factors which jointly affect Taiwan's economic policy toward China. It argues that there may be a general equilibrium—a median voter—but it has often been distorted by the institutional constraints in Taiwan's political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the full implementation of the ‘one-shoulder pole’ policy in 2019, village secretaries are now expected to concurrently serve as village heads. Simultaneously, the question arises as to how village secretaries can be guaranteed to be elected as village heads. Drawing on an in-depth case study of Y County, this paper shows that the local government has adopted an approach I call ‘first democracy, then centralism’ to ensure that village elections involve democratic elements, such as open nomination and candidate competition, yet also produce a designated winner who is, in the government’s view, most qualified to govern the village. Such an approach has generated two consequences on village elections: First, the significance of village Party elections has greatly increased. Since the result of village committee elections is already certain, Party elections become the key phase that determines who will hold village office and in which candidates still have an opportunity to compete against one another. Second, it is now imperative for candidates to earn support and approval from the local government in order to become the village leaders in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant literature has not fully accounted for the changes underway in China's perspectives on the ethical risks of artificial intelligence (AI). This article develops a community-of-practice (CoP) approach to the study of Chinese policymaking in the field of AI. It shows that the Chinese approach to ethical AI emerges from the communication of practices of a relatively stable group of actors from three domains—the government, academia, and the private sector. This Chinese CoP is actively cultivated and led by government actors. The paper draws attention to CoP configurations during collective situated-learning and problem-solving among its members that inform the evolution of Chinese ethical concerns of AI. In so doing, it demonstrates how a practice-oriented approach can contribute to interpreting Chinese politics on AI governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the Chinese government define cybersecurity? Security in the digital realm has gained increasing prominence in recent years, both within China's domestic policy landscape and in its participation with global digital governance. However, the Chinese conception of this term is different from the Western one, and is embedded within the country's distinctive political, economic and technological context. Drawing on Chinese government documents, this paper will trace the evolution of how successive generations of Chinese leaders have identified digital security concerns, and how they have deployed institutional, regulatory and policy tools to respond to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government is rapidly expanding its navy to achieve the goal of becoming a ‘strong maritime state’. China’s government leaders emphasise that a strong Chinese maritime state bears no resemblance to historical naval powers, and argue that naval expansion is for ‘strategic support’ of maritime power building. This article interrogates official claims about the distinctiveness of China’s naval build up. Through an analysis of Chinese policy papers and scholarly literature produced between 2003 and 2023, the study identifies major themes of China’s maritime power. It concludes that the development is mostly aligned with the typical conceptual framework of maritime power building, even though its official discourse has pushed the concept of maritime power in novel and expansive directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's defense white papers have long been dismissed as lacking substance and offering little useful information on China's real strategic intentions and military capabilities. Nevertheless, since 1998 Beijing has continued to issue defense white papers on a regular two-year frequency. Indeed, in recent years it has accorded greater importance to these documents. This paper argues that China's defense white papers warrant more attention than they have received so far. An examination of the making of the white papers, the functions designated for these documents and their evolving content and structure reveals not only the different nature and purpose of the Chinese white papers compared with their counterparts in Western countries, but also important changes and continuities in China's strategic outlook and its evolving perceptions of the role of the use of force in the context of the country's re-emergence as a major player in international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to discuss China's behavior in the developing world through the lens of the domestic model of governance. It does so by seeking analogies between three forms of Beijing's political approaches in domestic affairs: generating enthusiasm through slogan politics and promised incentives, informal networks, and coordinated development in China-led multilateralism with Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. By discussing the domestic-foreign policy nexus, the paper introduces the concept of China's vertical multilateralism. Finally, by broaching a new theoretical understanding, the paper decodes China's behavior in the regions mentioned above and provides an alternative model for understanding China's foreign policy in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, where relations with China define the major political cleavage, voters have distinct preferences on the issue of independence. Do Taiwanese favor a symbolic or pragmatic approach to the Taiwan independence issue? What are the factors that account for their political preferences? We identify two types of voters, symbolic and pragmatic, according to whether their preferences on independence are conditional or unconditional on China's potential counter actions. Specifically, symbolic voters have unconditional preferences on independence, while pragmatic voters are more agreeable to independence under more favorable conditions. Using multiple wave data from the Taiwan National Security Surveys (TNSS 2002–2022), we investigate the individual- and macro-level factors and find that gender, age, education level, ethnicity, partisan strength, and economic growth rate shape the types of voters in Taiwan. This paper contributes to the study of political attitudes in Taiwan, and have important implications on the regional stability in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's 'Xi-Li era' is said to be defined by both the concentration of power in the center and the strengthening of Party authority. In this paper, we ask whether these trends have been evident in local appointment practices since Xi Jinping took office in 2013. By comparing the career histories of 3,682 prefectural mayors and Party Secretaries under the Hu-Wen and Xi-Li administrations, we find that while appointment practices have shifted, the observed changes are not wholly consistent with the center- and Party-strengthening narratives. First, developments in the Xi-Li era suggest that while provincial authorities are increasingly using prefectural appointments for their own ends, the center remains high and far away in these decisions. Second, we do not find evidence that cadres with a strong Party background have a particular advantage in the Xi period. Instead, cadres with strong track records in key functional xitong, particularly those with an economic profile, are still the most likely to attain leadership positions. These findings contribute to the current debate on the nature of power reconfigurations unfolding in Xi's China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patriotic campaigns and mass mobilization draw on existing xenophobic attitudes of the public, reinforcing the 'us vs. them' dualism between China and 'the West'. However, patriotic campaigns are not always top-down, state-led, nor are they always primarily driven by political ideology. Patriotic content appeals to a growing nationalist audience who consumes a mixed feeling of perceived victimization at the hand of foreign aggression and the pride arising from being a Chinese citizen. This paper argues that the profitability of patriotic content circulating on social media exacerbated the tension between market-driven grassroots patriotism and state-led patriotic campaigns. The tension grows out of, and is manifested in, the online popular debate around economically driven, grassroots 'patriotic' content that can challenge the state state-led patriotic rhetoric. While the state sometimes strategically co-opts some patriotic contents into its own patriotic narratives, it also delegitimises other undesired ones through labels such as 'high-level black' (gaoji hei) or 'low-level red' (diji hong). These labels were initially used to differentiate meticulously crafted political satire and parody from incompetent, illogical and vulgar propaganda pieces that unintendedly blemish the state's patriotic campaigns, but later evolved into an exercise of power to distance the CCP from undesired patriotic content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since late 2016, Ningxia has drawn attention as a new target in Beijing's drive to 'Sinicize Islam.' The removal of overt signs of the Islamic faith and Arab influences is viewed as representing a new front in the CCP's sweeping rollback of religious freedom. Is Ningxia another Xinjiang as both the party and its critics fear? This paper argues that it is not at the empirical level but shares with Xinjiang key underlying dynamics at the systemic level. At the empirical level, Ningxia's 'Islamization' stemmed largely from local authorities' use of the Islamic part of Ningxia's heritage as a developmental strategy, leading to so-called pan-Halalfication, Saudization and Arabization. In contrast to more complex social dynamics in Xinjiang, Ningxia's 'Islamization' can be more easily dealt with by withdrawing the local state's own promotion. At the systemic level, the rise and fall of Islamization in Ningxia share with Xinjiang's case the critical role of the state in affecting the fate of religion for significant ethno-religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a nine-city cell phone survey in 2019, this paper systematically examines which groups showed stronger support for armed unification with Taiwan and what factors and mechanisms might contribute to their support. The bivariate analysis shows the politically, economically, and socially privileged groups and those with stronger national pride and more understanding of Taiwan were more pro-armed unification, while residents of the two coastal cities, Xiamen and Guangzhou, were less supportive. Further analysis indicates education and unfavorable view of the Taiwanese government were the two most powerful factors contributing to the support. Possible contributing mechanisms might include both top-down mechanisms, such as political indoctrination and propaganda, and bottom-up ones, such as the respondents' interest and identity considerations influenced by their city's proximity to Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what end is China’s Vietnam policy? As a rising power, China has sought to drive a wedge into the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to prevent Washington from using Vietnam as a platform to challenge China’s influence. How then did China drive a wedge? China coerced Vietnam’s external security via the use of force and accommodated Vietnam’s internal security via political and economic cooperation. China wanted to show Vietnam it cannot trust the U.S. protection and Vietnam benefits more from a friendly China-Vietnam relationship. China aimed to reinforce Vietnam’s neutrality amid increasing Chinese assertive behaviors against Vietnam at sea. This paper traces China’s actions and reactions to major diplomatic events in U.S.-Vietnam and China-Vietnam relations from 2013 to 2022 to study China’s wedge strategies targeting Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding profile of Chinese international development aid has generated strong academic and policy interests. A growing literature has emerged on Chinese foreign aid's motivations, modalities, and impact. However, a significant lacuna remains in the domestic politics relating to this phenomenon. This gap is especially glaring in public opinion concerning China's growing foreign aid programs. By analyzing empirical data gathered from a variety of sources, including a well-established online forum, social media sites of two influential media organizations, and multi-year surveys of residents of Beijing, this paper presents a nuanced picture of what the Chinese public thinks of Chinese foreign aid and tests two popular explanations of public opposition to foreign aid—perceived budgetary trade-offs and more general dissatisfaction with government policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how China has been portrayed in international cinema throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Using the Internet Movie Database, the authors extract the plot synopses of 4,927 China-related films. The authors apply the word embedding technology and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to explore the cinematic plots, as well as achieve the sentiment score and ascertain the socioeconomic factors of score change. The findings indicate that the image of China in international cinema has been associated with gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment. The image of China changed from the barbarian to the schemer, and finally to the civilized great power, giving the insight into cultural trends that traditional research methods cannot capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China-ROK boundary disputes in the Yellow Sea and the associated fishing conflict are often neglected in the rich body of literature on China's maritime disputes. This article examines the question of why and how China has persistently pursued a de-escalatory posture in the Yellow Sea in the past decade despite having considerably hardened its posture in the East and South China Seas. I argue that the high stakes China has in its bilateral ties with South Korea create strong incentives for Beijing to deescalate maritime controversies whereas the absence of broad-based hawkish pressure at home creates a permissive domestic political climate for Beijing to pursue de-escalation. This paper also evaluates conditions that may facilitate a hardening Chinese position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since China initiated the Go Out (走出去战略) policy in 1999, its increasing presence and influence in Africa have led to controversial debates among scholars. This article systematizes the different perspectives on the relationship between Africa and China in the contemporary academic literature, and how these debates differ from representations of Africa's relations with Western actors. Based on Content Configuration Analysis, the results indicate that China in Africa is constructed in relation to Africa and the West. Academic papers tend to impose a Western perspective on China's involvement with Africa, most notably marked by neo-colonialism and development cooperation. This research highlights the shortcomings, limitations, and risks of this Eurocentric approach, and outlines alternatives to better understand China's engagement in and with Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a re-examination of China's engagement with Africa. Rather than offering broad continental generalisations, or concentrating only on individual country case-studies, researchers and analysts would be better served by recognising and understanding the specific and varied regional contexts in which relations occur. Utilising Hettne's conception of regionalism and regionalisation processes, and over 100 field work interviews, the paper presents a broad continental overview of China's role in Africa followed by a more detailed case study of China's role in East Africa. The paper argues that the regional reality of African security dynamics enmeshes China into intra-regional geopolitics and complex local level security issues, and sees the relationship greatly affected by the varied behaviour and agency of the African leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the current level of human capital in China and seeks to identify a number of education-related challenges that may slow down the nation's economy from transitioning to high-income status. Relying on recent census-based data from OECD for the rest of the world and using data from the 2015 Micro-Census for China, the authors show that the low levels of education of China's labour force is really a problem that has its roots in the past (in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s). In recent years (since 2000), China has been investing heavily in education as shown by the increasing the share of youth, including rural youth, attending high school. Despite this recent effort to raise the nation's human capital, the education system still faces several challenges in trying to provide high-quality education for all youth. First, the government must figure out a way to overcome the relatively low rates of participation in high school by rural students. Second, there is concern that many vocational schools, especially those in rural areas, cannot deliver quality education. Finally, the paper will show that many rural students may be unprepared due to poor early childhood development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concept and practice of meritocracy in Chinese national oil corporations' (NOCs) graduate recruitment and selection. It focuses on the post-2008 NOC reform period, which sees NOCs place increasing rhetorical emphasis on meritocratic or 'fair' recruitment and selection. However, this paper argues that, in practice, these sentiments remain unrealized. The NOCs continue to use some sub-optimum applicant assessment measures and misuse or misunderstand the more optimum ones. Likewise, the prioritization of certain criteria, such as elite education, has merely advantaged graduates with strong Bourdieu capitals. Hence, this produces a flawed meritocracy that neither maximizes fairness nor efficiency, but strengthens elitism. Moreover, its capacity to serve political interests is questionable too. These insights, then, enhance existing academic debates over China's engagement with meritocracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shanghai, like other large Chinese cities, has multiple business districts. This paper examines the construction of one of its largest, at Hongqiao in the west of the city. Its specific focus lies in the central role played by one state-owned company, Shenhong, in the financing and construction first of the Hongqiao transport hub and then of the business district that jointly make up this new development pole. The paper examines in detail Shenhong as an organization as well as the tasks it has undertaken and the funding difficulties it has confronted. It argues that Shenhong is representative of the seldom discussed state-owned urban investment and development companies that have led the urbanization of China. Finally, it anchors these companies into theoretical debates, arguing that their ubiquitous involvement in China's property-led process of urban transformation combined with their ambivalence as state companies operating along similar lines to private enterprises means that they can be seen as central players in a form of state corporatist urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Indonesia, Chinese voluntary associations took on a new level of importance after the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime in 1998 that ushered in a revival of Chinese identity politics. At the same time, Sino-Indonesian relations are blossoming, and the rise of China as a global power means that Indonesia can only benefit from stronger ties with China in the future. In this new atmosphere of cooperation, I argue that Chinese Indonesian individuals and voluntary organizations play a crucial function as trade and cultural intermediaries. Drawing on both empirical and qualitative fieldwork data, in this paper, I examine how members of Chinese voluntary organizations view their ethnicity, national belonging, and strategic position in the contexts of post-Suharto Chinese identity politics and Sino-Indonesia relations. More broadly, this paper also offers a critical analysis of the internal dynamics of contemporary Overseas Chinese voluntary organizations and the role they play in building trade and sociocultural relationships between China and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the beginning of bilateral ties in 1950, the China–Pakistan relationship has grown significantly. Known as Pakistan's 'all-weather friend', bilateral economic cooperation has been advanced by the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement, worth US$62 billion of Chinese investment in Pakistan. Due to its geo-economic and geopolitical importance, the CPEC is considered a 'game changer' by Beijing and Islamabad. However, since its initiation in 2015, the CPEC has also been a source of tension between centre and provincial governments in Pakistan. This paper analyses the impact of the CPEC on nation-building in Pakistan. In the light of nation-building theories, it further argues that the CPEC has provided Pakistan with much-needed opportunities to address inter-provincial and federal–provincial discord through dialogue and compromises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the magnitude, motivations, and mechanisms of the globalization of Chinese finance for energy. Like the national development banks and export-import banks of industrialized countries before them, China's policy banks have provided large amounts of financing to Chinese energy companies to enter global energy markets. What is more, China's two global policy banks, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, now provide as much energy finance to foreign governments as do all the multilateral development banks combined. This paper outlines the extent to which Chinese energy finance has become globalized and examines the state priorities and institutional pathways that drive the globalization of Chinese energy finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most interesting phenomena in contemporary international relations is the growing role of local government entities in forging and intensifying cross-border interactions in the social, economic and cultural arenas. Lamentably, this aspect of international relations, which I conceptualize as local liberalism, has not received sufficient scholarly attention. This paper attempts to fill in the gap by describing and analyzing how local liberalism has played a role in China's relations with Southeast Asia. The paper argues that local governments in Yunnan and Guangxi have played an important and positive role in cementing the relations between China and Southeast Asia. The paper suggests that debunking the China ‘black box’ to examine the different units in China, including the sub-national governments, may provide more useful insights for our understanding of China–Southeast Asian relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The PLA's role in Beijing's foreign policy-making process is a closed book but it is a key research topic in our study of Chinese diplomacy. This paper argues that generally the PLA abides by a fine division of labor with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in managing Beijing's international pursuits. The civilians are in charge of China's generic foreign affairs and daily diplomacy. The Central Military Commission (CMC) is responsible for security/military-related foreign affairs and defines the bottom-line for employing force in conflicts. Institutionally the PLA's role is more directional than detailed and is often behind the scenes. This complicates our research of the subject matter, as the line between this division of labor is thin over many diplomatic issues. Often times it is hard to demarcate where Beijing's normal diplomacy ends and where security/military dynamics begin. This paper adopts a two-layered analysis on civil–military interaction on foreign and security affairs: the broad consensus of CCP–PLA leaders on CCP regime stability at a time of drastic domestic change and world pressure; and the PLA's directional role in China's security/military-related foreign affairs under a generic civilian guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews the perceptions of the CA states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) towards the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and conceptualises the CA states' motivations and concerns in engaging in cooperation within the SCOvis-à-visChina. The message that this paper aims to deliver is that, for the majority of the CA leadership and public, China within the SCO represents the CA states' ‘other’, with decolonising but increasingly dominating features. These perceptions of China in the CA region elucidate the ways in which China's involvement in Central Asia has a paradoxical and contradictory impact on the potential for the SCO to move beyond functionalism and towards the creation of a broader SCO identity. Consequently, the future of the SCO may be more limited than the West fears and Central Asia hopes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using complementary information from two national surveys conducted in 2008, i.e. the China Survey and the ABS II Mainland China Survey, this paper presents a comprehensive picture of the media channels that Chinese citizens use for political information, as well as their relative importance as assessed by the Chinese people. Moreover, assisted by multiple regressions, this paper also identifies which groups of Chinese are more likely to use each of these channels for political information. This paper contributes to our understanding on (1) the relative significance of various media channels in contemporary China's political communication; and (2) how Chinese citizens select themselves into specific channels for political information, given their increasing autonomy in acquiring such information from China's changing media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aggregates the state of India–China economic relations with a specific focus on trade at the borders. It explicates the potential for economic activity at the border regions to generate self-sustaining and/or externally linked local development for both countries. By an examination of the existing trade and investment policies and practices, it shows how geographical contiguity is yet to be transformed into opportunity along the India–China border, a practice consistent both with the history of these regions as well as with the blueprints being drawn up for the future of these regions. Informed by the Liberal school of IR theory, the paper studies border trade through the paradigmatic optic of being an important, yet underutilized, avenue of dyadic interaction, and makes a case for upgrading the status of border trade in the overall schema of bilateral trade relations between India and China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper depicts the transnational ethnic and religious ties between China and Southeast Asia and examines the cultural, political and economic implications for state–minority relations in Southwest China. It documents how transnational ethnic and religious ties facilitate cultural revival among the ethnic Dai people in Southwest China and examines the impact of Buddhist networks on local governance. In particular, it portrays the cooperative relationship between the Chinese state and the Buddhist Sangha on social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and care. The paper argues that the Chinese state is more willing to cooperate with transnational ethnic and religious groups when the latter can help improve local governance and generate economic development, under the condition that they do not challenge the state's ultimate legitimacy and authority. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Decentralized governance is often viewed as an effective way to improve public services and government accountability. Many also document the negative dimensions of fiscal decentralization, especially in transition economies; thus, the combination of decentralization and centralized control has gained currency in some countries in recent years. Based on first-hand data and other documentary sources, and using civil service remuneration as an example, this paper attempts to explore how decentralized governance works in China and what hinders decentralization from performing better. The findings show that Chinese centralized control over expenditure in public sector remuneration primarily serves to enhance ministry control. Local bureaucrats, meanwhile, exploit better remuneration to boost their personal interests. This paper argues that political commitment rather than central transfer is greatly needed for utilizing the benefits of decentralized governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper asks: do most Uyghurs perceive themselves to be middle class or lower class? What are the major determinants of their perceptions? Data are drawn from a 2007 survey (N = 900) conducted in Ürümchi in China. This paper focuses on individualized and subjective hierarchical differentiation and reports three main findings about class identity among Uyghurs. Firstly, class identity is not closely linked to occupational attainment and income among Uyghurs. However, education is a key determinant of Uyghur class identification. Secondly, psychological well-being measures are not predictors of the choice of class label by Uyghurs. Thirdly, ethnic consciousness is closely related to class identification among Uyghurs, holding main background characteristics constant. Uyghurs give more attention to their group concerns (discrimination, prejudices, intergroup inequality, etc.) than to their individual worries (such as unemployment or stress) when choosing a class label. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper argues that China's global expansion and calls for its use of soft power are provoking an ideological crisis which is becoming one of the most critical challenges of the present time. Revolutionary ideology legitimated the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for 60 years, but it has become increasingly at odds with the rapid socio-economic development that began 30 years ago. This paper examines four aspects of contemporary Chinese culture: first the discrepancy between the CCP's ideological rhetoric and its pragmatic policies; second, the fragmentation of the state, the intellectual elite, and the grassroots population in terms of cultural expressions and values; third, the consumer culture which has unleashed materialistic desires; and finally, the emergence of a ‘post-80s’ generation urban youth culture amidst these tension and contradictions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines how debates in the media are providing the discursive conditions for, and thereby giving impetus to, diverse strategies of ‘so-called primitive accumulation’ in China. Taking as its empirical referent Chinese news and journal articles on land enclosure, the paper analyzes three frames in which policy entrepreneurs craft varying class positions for land-losing villagers. Grounded in different ontological premises, problem diagnoses and recommendations centering on the adoption of either a statist, neo-collective or liberal rural land regime, and backed up by evaluations of local policy experiments, the frames illustrate the diversity of ideational, political and institutional configurations that could facilitate the separation of peasant producers from the land, place land-losing villagers in different relationships with the state and capital, and sustain accumulation. In foregrounding these debates over land-losing villagers' future class positioning, the paper aims to offer a corrective to the historical determinism implicit in contemporary analyses that characterize enclosure in China as simply one national manifestation of homogenous, global neo-liberal projects of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ or ‘gangster capitalism’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The massive worldwide protests initiated by China's angry youths (Fen Qings) over biased reports on the Tibet issue in the West in 2008 and perceived unfriendly actions toward China's Beijing Olympic Games shocked the world. Although scholars and the media have shown great interest in China's Fen Qing phenomenon, there is no serious scholarly research. Based on interviews, investigative field trips, and an exhaustive web search, this paper explores the Fen Qing phenomenon. Through an analysis of three cases, namely, the anti-CNN Web, the Han Han phenomenon, and the ‘69 Holy War’, it distinguishes three types of Fen Qings: nationalistic, China-critical, and resentment-venting. These Fen Qings vary in the people who constitute them, the causes of their anger, and their targets. The paper places the Fen Qing phenomenon in the broader context of China's socio-economic transformation and its relations with other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper identifies imaginings since the early 1990s to reposition Yunnan from a peripheral province in the PRC to the centre of various regional constructs which involve territories across the PRC's borders, primarily in what are now known as southeast and south Asia. These narratives, which change over time and between actors, are justified using Yunnan's past linkages with territories along the ‘southern silk road’ and through a naturalized presentation of its geographical location and characteristics, are based on the premise of good neighbourly relations, and are driven by imperatives of development. They find practical expression in provincial engagement with regional institutions, and in infrastructure and other programmes. However, the imaginings to reposition the province which these narratives spell out are at the same time constrained by the demands of territorial integrity and national security: a desire not to compromise Yunnan's national belonging. The paper concludes by commenting on implications for understanding ‘China's borderlands’ and their global interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper tries to explore the opportunities for and challenges to forging a partnership between China and the United States in the twenty-first century. It explains why China has become more adamant in protecting its core national interests and argues that China's core concerns over Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang should be accommodated as this affects Beijing's trust with Washington. Meanwhile, it argues that the two countries should expand their cooperation in areas of common interests, such as promoting peace, stability and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula; securing strong, sustainable and balanced global economic growth; and creating a new global environmental protection regime. The paper also highlights some of the major challenges to partnership-building between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why does the EU–China partnership encounter so many problems? What are the causes of these problems? Can they be overcome? What kind of partners are the EU and China? Can the partnership be maintained despite the increasing problems? To answer these questions, the paper will first look at the differences between the EU and China in terms of history, economic development levels, their nation-building trajectories, and their understandings on some key concepts such as sovereignty. In the second section, the paper will then study their strategic visions, economic and trade cooperation, and climate change policies. It will then analyze the challenges in EU–China relations. While there is no doubt that both sides wish for stable bilateral cooperation, the different interests in many areas may interrupt development in one way or another. It is not easy for a genuine partnership to be established between the two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 5 July event in Urumqi inspired rethinking about Beijing's policy towards Xinjiang. This paper will examine Beijing's interests in Xinjiang from historical, political, economic and security perspectives, and the challenges Beijing faces in pursuing and protecting its interests. By examining the tensions between the Han and ethnic minorities, especially the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the paper argues that the Xinjiang issue involves China's core interests and the most serious challenge Beijing faces is how to cope with ethnic tension in a highly sensitive region surrounded by big powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a special section (in two parts) bridging the study areas of borderland studies and foreign relations contextualizing China. The four other papers in this special section cover China's northeast, northwest and southwest. They offer comprehensive and updated analyses of the ways in which Chinese leaders conceive the issues of the borderlands, which have implications for China's international relations. Meanwhile, the response of Chinese leaders to the challenges arising from the borderlands will be examined. The issues discussed include: sovereignty, state security, energy and resource exploration (the paper on Xinjiang by Yufang Hao and Weihua Liu); the disputes over the interpretation of regional history (the paper on China's northeast by Dingding Chen); online public opinions of China–North Korea relations (the paper by Simon Shen); and regional integration and development (the paper on Yunnan by Tim Summers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central government's pouring of money into the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) or other Tibetan autonomous areas is apparently not really easing the tension in these regions. In response to Western criticism of the Chinese government policy in Tibet, President Hu Jintao says that the Tibetan problem is not about ethnicity, religion, or human rights, but about national unity or integrity. In fact, the Tibetan problem is about all of these things, and they are intertwined with one another. This paper attempts to understand each of them from an institutionalist perspective and to see in what way such an understanding of the problems may help solve them. Specifically, I first explain new institutionalism. Then I analyze the following problems from mainly a sociological new institutionalist perspective: (1) sovereignty and autonomy; (2) ethnicity and human rights; and (3) culture and religion. Finally I look at the possibility of social change under the institutionalist constraints. It is true that much research has been done on the Tibetan issue and the solution of it, but rarely do we see an institutionalist analysis. I hope that such an analysis will shed light on the understanding of the problem and help avoid the scene we see in the quote at the start of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]