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Compared with similar research mainly focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Australian mainstream media using discourse analysis, this paper explores the reasons for the narrative shift by conducting semi-structured interviews with leading and well-known Australian narrative producers. This paper takes two conditions as a given. Firstly, the BRI narratives in Australian mainstream media shifted in tone from mostly positive to highly critical. Secondly, the Australian mainstream media's increasingly negative attitudes towards the BRI are essentially not just about the BRI but the Chinese government. Based on my analysis and interviews, this paper makes contributions by filling in the gap of finding out reasons to explain this narrative shift. More concretely, this paper finds out that while mainstream media is influential in many areas of national policy making, mainstream media reporting on foreign affairs is less so. By comparison, the Australian government's BRI or China policy has a significant impact on Australian mainstream media reporting. This narrative shift has been driven by international politics and Australia's China policy, influenced by Australian audiences' preference of local news and their local position, and its democratic responsibilities. Meanwhile, the vagueness and constant changing characteristics of the BRI do not help the understanding of the BRI in Australian media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientists and diplomats have significant differences in professional skills, activity time and work content, but they should work together. With the deepening impact of science and technology (S&T) on socio-economic development and international relations, S&T has become a crucial component of national strategies, particularly for diplomacy. There is a need for scientific evidence and advice, meaning that mastering more knowledge and skills in S&T would be helpful in negotiations. This paper analyses the ideas of S&T diplomacy, including a review of its 40-year history in China, its definition (with detailed connotations) and its characteristics. The paper focuses on the significant role of people-to-people communication in S&T, which may inform future work. Five suggestions are given to strengthen the strategic planning of S&T diplomacy: (1) A more clarified, strategic goal of future-oriented S&T diplomacy is required; (2) It is important to build a theoretical system for China to describe S&T diplomacy; (3) The creation of a global S&T cooperation map that adapts to the new type of international relations would be valuable; (4) Fairness and justice shall be maintained, while a reform of the global S&T governance system is promoted; (5) It is a must to adhere to bottom-line thinking and strengthen risk prediction and emergency responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to comprehend China's foreign policy as the nation takes on the status of a great power. By adopting the Chinese concept of "face" as an analytical tool, my paper illustrates why face as a cultural expression of desire for collective "self-esteem" has been increasingly important to China's current foreign policy, and how the cultural mandate of face informs China's interactions with other nations in order to strive for national self-esteem. It reveals the motivational, cognitive, and behavioural logic behind China's decision to participate in global governance and partnership diplomacy, as well as its use of coercion. The article suggests that China as a great power is neither innately pacifist in maintaining the status quo nor hardwired with revisionist aims to overthrow the existing international order. Instead, its behavioural tendencies largely depend on how other parties can fulfil its desire for face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China Story, also known as Xi Jinping's Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation, is widely accepted as the central narrative for the leadership's ideological and political legitimacy-building efforts. Despite its significance and the widespread attention it has received in the decade since its inception, surprisingly little literature has examined the Chinese Dream through the lens of narrative theory. This article seeks to close this gap by offering a structural narratological analysis of the China Story. It illuminates how the narrative comprises policy-oriented rhetorical frames that form overarching themes that direct party-state actions and support Xi Jinping's status as the 'core' leader. The paper argues that as a 'master narrative', it seeks to provide a spiritual foundation and a compelling vision of a strong, prosperous, and unified China under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper frames the contemporary challenge of the People's Republic of China in the context of Cold War history. It shows how apparent echoes of the past—Beijing's continued embrace of "socialism;" a partnership with Russia that recalls the Sino–Soviet alliance—help illuminate the sources and nature of present-day East–West conflict, and suggests that Francis Fukuyama's much-pilloried "End of History?" has been misunderstood. Viewing the twenty-first-century standoff with Chinese (and Russian) authoritarianism in historical perspective, the paper concludes, casts prospects for the West more positively than recent conventional wisdom would suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large-scale investments of both China and the EU in climate-change mitigation and renewable-energy promotion, the prevailing view on China-EU relations is one of conflict rather than cooperation. In order to evaluate the prospects of cooperation between China and the EU in these policy fields, empirical research has to go beyond simplistic narratives. This paper suggests a conceptual apparatus that will help researchers better understand the complexities of the real world. The relevant actors operate at different levels and in the public and private sectors. The main message of the paper is that combining the multilevel governance and value-chain approaches helps clarify the multiple relationships between these actors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on Peace Science Society executive secretary Stuart Bremer on issues of war and peace. Assessment of the dyadic approach to interstate conflict processes; Exploration of the impact of a state’s civil war experience on its interstate war experience; Ramifications of more assertive Chinese policies in the South China Sea area; Analysis of third-party intervention based on the cases in the militarized interstate dispute dataset.

It has long been recognised that the actors involved in crafting and implementing China's foreign policy are not always in agreement. This paper argues that the prioritisation of commercial outreach over purely political objectives in Africa has led to a shift in influence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). To that end, the paper examines the rising prominence of China Exim Bank's concessional loans as a foreign policy instrument in Africa along with the process through which they are negotiated and implemented. Using the case of Angola, this paper shows how despite formal institutional equality, the MOFCOM is playing a far more influ- ential role than the MFA is in defining the direction of China's foreign policy toward Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China–Pakistan relation has historical underpinning. By establishing diplomatic relations in 1951, each passing decade has witnessed that China–Pakistan relations coalesce into a dependable friendship. This relationship has gone beyond the usual diplomatic and political comfortability transcending to a broad-based framework incorporating economics, trade and defence dimensions. In the given context, this paper is an empirical study aiming to examine the historical process in the gradual culmination of China–Pakistan relations into a broad-based partnership. It further evaluates the present nature of relationship between the two countries and the prospects it holds in the wake of changing world scenario. By primarily focusing on the secondary sources of data and interviewing key people from the decision-making circles, this paper argues that the China–Pakistan relation is deep-rooted in the history and the on-going collaboration between China and Pakistan in defence and economy is the natural evolution of their mutual ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has gained experience with voluntary agreements. In this paper the experiences in China will be analysed and compared to the factors contributing to the success of this model in the Netherlands. Are voluntary agreements an alternative for the Chinese command and control system? We distinguish different types of voluntary agreements and compare those in China and the Netherlands on a number of dimensions. The hypothesis is tested that voluntary agreements are more effective in achieving pollution control than the traditional command and control approach. It is found that indeed most voluntary agreements score good in China as well as in the Netherlands on a number of chosen indicators. Voluntary agreements are effective in achieving ambitious energy saving targets in a flexible and cost-effective way. Voluntary agreements have the function to mobilise support for energy saving, which is not easily mobilised through the traditional command-and-control approaches. There are however some important differences between the functioning of the system in China and in the Netherlands, where a more bottom-up approach is common. The Netherlands has a tradition of stakeholders' involvement and experience over a longer time of monitoring the effectiveness of the project and adjusting them if necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of the evolution of the Japanese, Chinese and South Korean narratives of the Silk Road, this paper argues that the content and the nature of these Silk Road strategies changed with time and the international environment. Thus, this paper claims that, the notion of the Silk Road has changed from a static concept of a historical trade route into a product of social construction of a number of powerful states – strategies that are constantly shaped, imagined and re-interpreted. In this sense, the Silk Road is not a foreign policy doctrine but rather a discursive strategy of engagement that largely exists in the realm of narration. This narration is also a matter of social construction that is subject to change depending on the international environment of the country (China, Japan, Korea, etc.) that produces such narratives, context of a receiving region, the alternative narratives that compete for wider international acceptance and the country's vision of “self” and the “other” in the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a less-powerful state threatened by a rising China in both security and economic domains irrespective of increasing economic cooperation and sharing a border and political affinity with China, Vietnam is expected to warmly welcome the United States (US) -led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) The country, nonetheless, has remained low-key in responding to the IPS. The article argues that Hanoi is truly interested in a regional rules-based order promoted in the IPS, but it has proposed a hedging response to this strategy through cautious statements and limited engagement in into this strategy. Vietnam’s hedging response to the IPS is framed by its post-Doi Moi foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, and diversification. The year 2023 marks a milestone in bilateral relations between the US and Vietnam as both states upgraded their diplomatic relations to comprehensive strategic partnership which is the highest level in Vietnamese diplomatic ranking. This may become a favourable catalyst for further cooperation between Washington and Hanoi under the IPS within the context of a rising China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the Philippines’ evolving and changing grand strategies in confronting China’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea. From 2010 to 2016, under the Aquino administration, the Philippines challenged China’s extensive claim over the disputed waters by adopting a hard-balancing approach. In 2016, the succeeding Duterte administration pursued an appeasement policy; in 2018, it shifted to a limited hard balancing policy because of (a) continuing Chinese coercive actions against Armed Forces of the Philippines units in Philippines-occupied land features in the South China Sea and (b) China’s failure to deliver on its promised public investments in the country’s infrastructure building programme. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr initially adhered to his predecessor’s strategy of limited hard-balancing. Seeing no change in China’s stance on the maritime issue, he resorted to a hard-balancing policy. He has vigorously supported the steady modernisation of the Philippine military and strengthened the country’s defence ties with the United States and other like-minded security partners while maintaining cordial diplomatic and economic relations with China. This article argues that the Philippines’ evolving grand strategy has the following elements: (a) Admitting that China’s maritime expansion is the quintessential threat to Philippine national security; (b) pursuing a policy of maintaining the status quo in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea; (c) acknowledging the urgency to shift the focus of the Philippine military from internal security to territorial defence; and (d) fostering its alliance with the United States and its security partnerships with other American allies and partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that since at least the mid 1980s, there has been an observable negative attitude among the people of Burma against the Chinese. Such sentiment is not just transient public opinion, but an attitude. The author measures it by studying contemporary cultural and media works as found in legally published expressions, so as to exclude any material rejected by the regime's censors. The causes of such sentiment are various: massive Chinese migration and purchases of real estate (especially in Upper Burma), Chinese money that is inflating the cost of everything, and cultural "intrusion." The sentiment extends to the military, as well: the article examines a dozen memoirs of former military generals and finds that Burma's generals do not trust the Chinese, a legacy of China's interference in Burma's civil war until the 1980s. The public outcry over the Myitsone dam issue, however, was the most significant expression of such sentiment since 1969, when anti-Chinese riots broke out in Burma. The relaxation of media restrictions under the new government has allowed this expression to gather steam and spread throughout the country, especially in private weekly journals that are becoming more outspoken and daring in pushing the boundaries of the state's restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Han Fuju was the most senior military figure to be executed for treason during the wars that engulfed the world between 1937 and 1945. His crime was to withdraw his troops in the face of the invading Japanese armies. His execution helped to strengthen Chinese resolve to resist Japan. This paper looks at Han's career, and at his end. It compares him to other failed commanders of the Second World War, Vlasov, Percival and Kimmel. The paper also notes the strange twist of history that has left Han celebrated for his humour as much as for his treachery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining China's policy towards Latin America from 1949 to the present day, this article uncovers a puzzle about China in Latin America: while the guiding doctrine of China's policy towards the region has never changed (i.e. "South–South Cooperation" on the basis of the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence"), there is a difference in terms of its policy goal between then and now (i.e. a very revisionist and politically focused goal until the late 1970s as compared to a less revisionist and economically focused one today). Based on the theory of systemic constructivism, this article demonstrates that the change of the interactions between China and other countries in our world (from isolation and confrontation to engagement and interdependence) has changed China's perception about the nature of the international system, as well as its identity and interests in the system, which in turn has changed its policy goal towards Latin America and the "Global South" in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that lack of interpersonal interaction between media professionals in Europe and China partly accounts for continued misperceptions and gaps in understanding between both the nations. Investing into people-to-people dialogue is essential for journalists to overcome prejudice and to improve mutual knowledge. Days during which journalists are immersed into another country’s culture and media scene have great potential to induce changes in perceptions, both at the individual and societal level. This can be attributed to the built-in multiplier effect of media publications reaching wide audiences. Drawing on the “Europe-China Media Exchange ” set up, developed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the article presents achievements (but also lessons) learnt from interpersonal exchange programs developed for European and Chinese journalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China is the most important development in East Asia in recent times. It presents major opportunities and challenges, if not threats, for ASEAN as a collective entity, and for the individual countries that compose it. Whether ASEAN can develop a collective, let alone effective response is far from clear. This paper explores and analyses the forces that are likely to determine the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a key factor in Myanmar's new approach towards China since 2011 has been the Myanmar government's foreign policy goal to reintegrate itself into the international community. The success of this approach is dependent on Myanmar's rapprochement with the United States, which requires both domestic political reforms and a foreign policy realignment - a need to reduce Myanmar's dependence on China, particularly in the context of US-China strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region. In the context of China-Myanmar relations, the factors that have influenced Myanmar's China policy since 2011 are growing anti-China sentiment in Myanmar, growing concern over China's interference in Myanmar affairs, and the rapprochement with the United States. Myanmar's China policy shift, in terms of direction, is by no means to seek to be independent of China, but rather for there to be an increased interdependence between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a framework for China's gradual global integration. From historical exclusion, China became initially and partly incorporated to the world in the 1950s and 1960s while ignored by most of the countries. A quantitative breakthrough in the 1970s has led to a universal recognition, still formal and restricted throughout the 1980s and 1990s, making China a great power by the early twenty-first century. China's rise and gradual integration in the international community is interpreted here based on Marx's theory of ownership and Professor Charles Taylor's theory of recognition. Both regard status as a property which is an outcome not just of a unilateral individual claim but of multilateral social relations. Adapted to the international society, these theories underscore China's global integration. Therefore, China is now entitled to, and capable of, playing a more active and, moreover, leading global role, not just because of its unilateral claims and remarkable achievements, but also, and perhaps much more, because of its multilateral recognition—not in the formal diplomatic sense—of China's entitlement and capabilities of doing it. Also, in addition to joining, and occasionally heading, international organisations, China introduced its One Belt One Road initiative as a unique contribution of a model for the West, and especially for less-developed countries. While it is post-Mao China's domestic reform which attract most international attention and are regarded a revolutionary breakthrough with the past, the real and most innovative breakthrough is China's integration in the world. Domestic reforms were undertaken throughout Chinese history; international integration is new and unprecedented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, China has been the leading exporter and donor of COVID-19 vaccines in the world. Based on a survey of 460 Chinese participants conducted in mainland China in March 2021, the results showed that the participants' value-expressive attitudes (i.e. their responsibility to help) and esteem attitudes (i.e. China's image and status) were strong predictors of their support for vaccine exports and donations, whereas attitudes related to prevention and a possible vaccine shortage in China were weak predictors. Fairness and ingroup loyalty were the major moral foundations of their support for such international efforts; the influence of fairness and ingroup loyalty was both direct and mediated by value-expressive and esteem attitudes. Collectively, the present results show that support for international efforts can be analysed from a moral, altruistic perspective and thus extend the previous theorising that focused on the transactional nature of international outreach efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As discussions of a 'new cold war' between China and the West intensify, it has never been more important to understand how China engages internationally. Crucially, as of 2022, China has established 110 'strategic partnerships', without stipulating any formal treaty of alliance, but we know little about strategic partnerships and how China uses them, despite their centrality as a foreign policy tool. Departing from the assumption of the state as a unitary and monolithic actor in international affairs, this article proposes a new framework of strategic partnerships which incorporates sub-state entities as well as an ideational component, highlighting the image-building purpose that these partnerships serve. Empirically, the analysis focuses on the evolution of the Sino-Italian strategic partnership, drawing on a critical discourse analysis of 1294 news articles published as part of the agreement between the Chinese and Italian news agencies Xinhua and ANSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, the global feminist movement launched a dramatic protest against the Chinese government's attempt to move the NGO Forum for the Beijing Women's Conference to the remote location of Huairou. The first international feminist protest to rely on digital technology, this unprecedented mass action by women throughout the world exposed both the promise and the pitfalls of using faxes, email, and the internet to rally a social movement around a common cause. Over the course of the protest, the same technology that linked feminists across national boundaries and enabled them to conduct an effective campaign had the potential to exacerbate power differentials between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the complex ecumenical, missionary and international church relations of Chinese Protestant Christians. It argues that the inter-church relations to other parts of Asia are overshadowed by relations to Christians in the West, thus reflecting a political preoccupation with relationships to the West. This is evidenced by an analysis of worldwide and Asian ecumenism as well as bilateral church and missionary relationships. The dominance of contacts with the West not only contradicts the idea of a multipolar world and increased South-South contacts, it also stands in contrast to the reality of growing and increasingly important Christianity in Asia. Methodologically, this paper analyses different kinds of international relations (multilateral and bilateral, inter-church and missionary) and develops a typology of different interchurch and inter-state relations to assess international church relations in Asia today. The typology shows how China's international church relations support its political relationships with its neighbours and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has re-emerged to become a dominant foreign player in Cambodia. Politically, Cambodia is one of China's oldest and closest allies. Economically, China is Cambodia's top foreign investor, a major donor, and an increasingly important trading partner. Culturally, Chinese values are deeply embedded in many aspects of Cambodian society. However, China's dominance is surrounded by renewed controversies. While the government warmly welcomes Chinese aid, saying that it comes with no strings attached, many experts are concerned that China is providing aid for more nefarious reasons. Critics also accuse Chinese investment and aid of having exacerbated corruption, weakened governance and harmed human rights, and of ruining Cambodia's natural resources and environment. With such controversies, it is relevant and significant to assess the roles that China has played and continues to play in Cambodia's socio-economic development. Using expert interviews, media analysis and an extensive literature review, this paper uniquely contributes to the existing discussion on China-Cambodia relations by closely examining the controversies of China's investment and aid, critically analysing China's interests in Cambodia, and asking if the relationship between the two nations is a positive-sum game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that ASEAN's policy toward Myanmar has been predominantly responsive, dictated by China's activism in the region. It posits three arguments: First, that the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, may have been a tactical move to convince ASEAN to award it the 2014 chairmanship and thereby consolidate the legitimacy of the current regime; second, that Thein Sein's suspension of the Myitsone Dam was a strategic move intended to please both domestic and ASEAN constituencies; and third, that Myanmar's chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014 will help justify the organisation's past approach to Burma as well as accelerate the process of community-building. The paper argues that in spite of the growing interconnectedness between ASEAN and China, ASEAN is locked in a strategic tug-of-war with China over Myanmar. Myanmar has, on multiple occasions, played upon ASEAN's suspicion of China by playing the "China card," as I term it, forcing ASEAN to continually legitimise it through public statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the China-Myanmar 'comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership' in the framework of China's diplomacy in the post- Cold War era and concludes that the partnership has no 'significant negative impact' on regional relations. China pursues its partnerships with Myanmar and other states to create a 'stable' and 'harmonious' surrounding environment, itself a 'major' prerequisite for China's peaceful development. The author argues that China has not focused its diplomacy on Myanmar at the expense of other states; rather, he notes that in fact China established a 'comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership' with three other ASEAN states (Vietnam in 2008, Laos in 2009, and Cambodia in 2010) before it did so with Myanmar in May 2011. The article argues that the scope and depth of China's partnerships with states such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are actually above that of its partnership with Myanmar. It also argues that Myanmar's strong nationalism will prevent China from, for example, building a base on Myanmar's soil. The author also asserts that China does not seek to use Myanmar as an ally to weaken or dilute ASEAN or its unity on the South China Sea issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the historical role of geography in the Sino- Burmese relationship in the context of the Cold War, both before and after the Chinese-American détente and rapprochement in the 1970s. It describes Burma's fear and distrust of China throughout the Cold War, during which it maintained a policy of neutrality and non-alignment. Burma's geographic location, sandwiched between its giant neighbours India and China, led it to adopt a realist paradigm and pursue an independent foreign policy. Characterizing China's threat to Burmese national security as "grave" during its period of revolutionary export, the article notes that Burma was cowed into deference and that it deliberately avoided antagonizing China. It also looks at the history of China's attempts to break out of U.S. encirclement after the Korean War and its successful establishment of Burma as an important buffer state. After the U.S.-China rapprochement in 1972, however, Burma's geographical significance for Beijing declined. In this context, Burma's closed-door policy of isolation further lessened its strategic importance for China. Since 1988, however, Burma's strategic importance to China has been on the rise once again, as it plays a greater role as China's land bridge to the Indian Ocean and in its energy security and expansion of trade and exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In twenty-first-century international relations, the telling of stories is as important an instrument of national power as are military strength or economic prowess. Geared not towards coercion or inducement but rather drawing on the forces of attraction and persuasion, such practices can be attributed to the realm of soft power, which plays a key role in today's great-power politics. Starting from these premises, the article explores the role of memory and its relation to soft power. By way of an empirical example, it argues that the recourse to and utilisation of memory constitutes a crucial component in China's quest for global power. In so doing, the article first establishes a conceptual bridge between soft power and memory in international relations. Subsequently, by taking into account contemporary empirical evidence, it identifies and discusses two select narratives – colonialism and tianxia – as core components of Chinese mnemonic soft power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been considered to be a sleeping giant but is now actively playing its role in regional and world politics. There are many reasons behind the shift in China's foreign policy from ignoring multi-lateral diplomacy to owning it, one of which is the economic rise of China due to its increasing energy demands. The "good neighbor policy" was introduced by Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2003, making China endorse interdependence regionally and internationally, instead of competition. This policy of China's turned its surrounding regions into a trading hub. Pakistan has always had a very friendly foreign policy with its neighboring country China. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is proof of the Pak–China friendship in the 21st century. This corridor is not only advantageous for China and Pakistan but will bring stability to the South Asian region as well. This descriptive-analytical study dichotomizes the concept of "win-win cooperation" by applying it to CPEC as a win-win outcome for both China and Pakistan. The study describes that CPEC is a chance for Pakistan to become stronger as a country in the international community and will work as a booster for China in becoming the topmost economy of the world. The study highlights the key objective of CPEC by substantiating that better logistics, developed infrastructure, and improved transportation among countries are vital for economic stability and progress. Further, CPEC can revitalize the economy of Pakistan by enhancing infrastructural and social progress while giving a secure and short route to China as a replacement for the Strait of Malacca, increasing and speeding up the trading and investment activities of China throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science diplomacy has played an important role in Chinese history, including in the history of science and technology (S&T) development. While we may consider science diplomacy as simply a part of China's Reform and Opening-up policy, the fact is that even in the Kuomintang period (1925–1949) or the Maoist period (1949–1976) it was a key element of Chinese foreign relations. The targets and nature of science diplomacy were shaped by the prevailing politics and economic issues of the times. For example, the Cold War limited the breadth and depth of S&T cooperation between China and the West. Nonetheless, the People's Republic of China pursued cooperation with the Soviet Union and newly independent countries in a very steadfast manner and continues to engage with Russia and developing countries today. This article analyses the nature of science diplomacy as an element of both China's S&T development and its foreign relations. The interactions and practices at the intersection of science and foreign policy in China are manifold. In addition to providing a comprehensive overview, this article also highlights evolving trends, especially in terms of the deepening of China's linkages across the international S&T system. Finally, the article examines the recent impact of the apparent rise of techno-nationalism and how this has affected the nature of China's international S&T activities regarding Beijing's use of science diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, international relations (IR) literature on the pandemic's implication on global politics has generally increased, while studies on small businesses and human developmental consequences in the developing world have lagged. In this context, through a micro-level analysis, this article investigates the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic affects the economically bottom-class citizens and their businesses, focusing on small-scale vendors in Ghana. It utilises content analysis to examine 384 small-scale vendors in four cities/towns (Accra, Tema, Sunyani, Ho) in Ghana between August and October 2021. We show that the pandemic has negatively affected economic life and ordinary living conditions by increasing poverty among economically bottom-class citizens, likely to have dire long-term consequences nationally. Further, we contend that the small-scale vendors and entrepreneurs recognise leveraging the increasing Chinese global economic influence. Thus, China provides an exit point through which the people can navigate themselves out of the COVID-19 predicaments. Our study is novel for its first-level—individual—analysis of the impact of COVID-19 in the Ghanaian market space from an IR perspective. It also provides policy relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key to the local audience’s conceptions of the global spectacle, the marketized regional press in China has been increasingly confronted with a complex world to cover as China finds itself integrating steadily into the global marketplace and rising as a formidable power in the post-WTO era. Using the data collected from five Chinese regional newspapers in 1989 and 2009, this study indicates that the consequences of spillover in China’s growing integration with the global system and the ever-increasing media marketization have been carried into the domain of international news, particularly in terms of a more neutral journalistic perspective and a widened range of vision at the local level. The results also show that the regionalization of international news reporting is still contained within the orbit of the party-state. The comparison over a 20-year time span suggests that China’s integration into the world capitalism system has opened up a larger global landscape for the local press, but not necessarily a wider latitude to negotiate the terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We take advantage of China’s relationship-based institutional setting to investigate whether and how firms’ disclosure decision is affected by political patronage and associated political costs considerations. Using a sample of 65 firms involved in the Shanghai Pension corruption scandal of 2006, we find that relative to benchmark firms, the connected firms are associated with lower levels of disclosure prior to the scandal. However, they significantly increased their disclosures in the year immediately following the public exposure of the scandal. A content analysis indicates that the increased disclosures are value-relevant, and are not merely used as a public relations effort to subdue public outcry in the immediate aftermath of the scandal. Cross-sectional analyses further reveal that the increase in disclosure is positively associated with the extent of firm’s guanxi dependence and type/severity of involvement in the scandal. We conclude that the increased disclosures are in response to the heightened risk and potential costs of regulatory and public scrutiny in the wake of a major event involving high political and public sensitivity. The evidence is supportive of the political costs hypothesis, and has important managerial and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Race poses a challenge to the ruling Communist Party of China. Contemporary news reports about China's relationship with various African states warn of a reestablishment of 19th century colonial relations, with China standing in the shoes of England or France. When indictments of neo-colonialism are promoted, China recalls a historical brotherhood with African states under the banner of Third World solidarity. This paper attempts to shed light on both sides of this argument, demonstrating that for China, the issue of race in foreign relations poses both a question of motives and a problem of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the emerging patterns of contemporary media-based engagements between China and Africa and argues, after an examination of current media systems in both China and Africa, that, despite expressed worries to the contrary, because of reasons spanning from history to geo-politics, the Chinese model of media system as it currently stands does not stand a chance, at least in the foreseeable future, to be exported to Africa – a continent whose current media landscape is, and will arguably remain, significantly Western-oriented. The article concludes with a call for scholars to exercise analytical restraint in their examination of the potential impacts of recent China–Africa media relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1976 India and China resumed their diplomatic interactions, which had been interrupted by the 1962 War. For the ensuing three decades both sides have been engaged in discovering a process that can identify the contours of a solution to the boundary question. The orthodox historiography of the post-1976 phase portrays India as a relatively intransigent actor still clinging to the past (pre-1962) and unwilling to truly explore a solution to the dispute. India is also painted as an unimaginative interlocutor, unable to offer proposals or counter-proposals; it is China that has supposed to have steered India toward a common position. This paper offers a nuanced corrective. India was not the only unyielding actor in this dyad; China too, despite its oft-expressed intent for a comprehensive settlement has been less than enthusiastic in translating its principles toward concrete proposals. Nevertheless, a modicum of progress has been attained, which is reflected in important bilateral agreements in the 1990s and 2000s. The author gets to the essence of the dispute and attempts to interpret the negotiating postures of both sides and conjectures why progress might have stalled since the mid-2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the role played by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regarding the bilateral relations among the great powers in Asia, China-U.S., China-Japan, and China-India. It is stated that China has remained a strong supporter of ASEAN's central position in regional organizations since the 1990s, and the two sides have developed an extensive framework for bilateral cooperation. The ASEAN countries themselves promote good relations within these major powers.

The article focuses on the political condition in China under the leadership of Hu Jintao between the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth Party Congress. It discusses two critical issues including the power viewed within party politics and actual policy changes that may have emanated from a mandate with full of expectations. It highlights the country's foreign affairs and national security.

The author reflects on the role of China in the global economic perspective as well as its intervention in Africa. The authors relate that the country has been criticized for their continuous expansion and for being a leader in the market, especially among Western countries due to the notion that they are competing against the U.S. They affirm that such remarks offers a great deal of interest over the matter.

The local ‘touchdown’ of globalization gives rise to many complex global-local nexuses, and understanding their nature, structure, and consequences presents a major analytical challenge for globalization research. This paper attempts to untangle one global-local nexus by examining the ‘sorting’ of people into residential or neighborhood spaces in globalizing Shanghai as a function of individual demographic and socioeconomic attributes and by examining personal global connectivity as a key relational variable. We begin with an overview of how local residential differentiation in general and particularly in Shanghai has evolved through the current phase of accelerated globalization and through the city's booming decade of the 1990s. Then, using survey data from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai in 2001, we present a statistical account and analysis of the increasingly varied and layered residential spaces of Shanghai into which people are ‘sorted’ by both internal local and extralocal factors. The analysis shows that, net of a number of demographic and socioeconomic variables, personal global connections have an effect on people living in different neighborhood areas, especially in more expensive and exclusive housing estates. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings for how the individual-level impact of global connectivity could reinforce local spatiosocial stratification in rapidly globalizing cities like Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on one of the most fascinating features of contemporary Chinese foreign policy, namely the use of economics as a tool of national power. This article seeks to provide a foundational context for the study of China's economic statecraft. The first portion of this article builds upon existing work to frame the phenomenon of China's post-Cold War economic statecraft. I then offer a rough periodization of this post-Cold War era highlighting key events and strategic turning points for China. I distinguish three major periods: integration into the global economic system following the post-Tiananmen isolation (1989–1997), a decade of win-win diplomacy (1998–2008), and emerging great power economic statecraft (2008–2017). The piece concludes with a proposition that we may be witnessing the early stages of a fourth phase as well as some considerations for the future study of Chinese economic statecraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the interplay of status, imitation and affective dissonance in international relations. Some states and nations selectively imitate others to correct perceived status deficits. Over time imitation can diminish ideals of group distinctiveness and independence from models and norm-setters, stimulating a condition we term affective dissonance. This complex of processes underlies some tensions in contemporary world politics. We apply the propositions to case studies of Russia and China whose leaders assert themselves as the principal loci and prescribers of national authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting lateness—that is, meetings starting past the pre-scheduled time—can be viewed as a disruption to the temporal pacing of work. Previous research in the United States indicates that late meetings produce less optimal outcomes, but empirical insights concerning the extent to which experiences of meeting lateness are similar or different across different cultures remain sparse. While prior work suggests differences in how individuals from different cultures experience time-related phenomena, globalization trends suggest increasing similarities in employees' work experiences, and potentially similar experiences of meeting lateness across different cultural settings. We explore this idea in a cross-cultural study of meeting lateness in China, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. We empirically establish the cross-cultural relevance of meeting lateness and their generally negative outcome. We show how meeting lateness relates to perceptions of impaired meeting processes, meeting outcomes, and group-related attitudes across cultures. We discuss these findings in light of extending meeting science to different cultures as well as contributions to the debate between cross-cultural differences versus globalization tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-building has been an important goal of China's foreign policy. Humanitarian diplomacy provides a useful instrument to build a benign international image, given the altruistic nature of humanitarian action. China's humanitarian diplomacy has undergone changes in recent years, such as substantial increases in humanitarian spending, institutional reforms and the emergence of Chinese non-state actors. The existing literature on China's humanitarian activities is scant due to the country's limited engagement in global humanitarian action previously. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship by examining China's humanitarian activities in Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of image-building. Specifically, it answers the questions of how China uses humanitarian action to improve its international image and how effective such efforts have been. This article finds that the outcome of China's image-building through humanitarian activities is influenced by the severity of the crisis, the national response of the country affected and the perceived legitimacy of China's action. It concludes that China's humanitarian diplomacy has achieved mixed outcomes in Southeast Asia. While China has been recognized as a major provider of help during the pandemic, its assistance has not substantially improved its image in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis discusses domestic sources of China's diplomatic offensive in Europe following the outbreak of Covid-19, with a focus on the central and eastern parts of the continent. By examining selected case studies of countries competing for Chinese medical supplies in the time of the global crisis, it demonstrates how the party-state leadership with "Xi Jinping at the core" has been promoting the narrative of its transparent and timely response to the outbreak of the pandemic, while at the same time nurturing its image as a (benevolent) global leader in the struggle against the coronavirus. The article argues that mask diplomacy has served two overlapping domestic and foreign policy goals: aiming to cover up China's leadership's failure to contain the pandemic in its initial stage, while also turning acts of foreign gratitude to its advantage in seeking domestic public approval and the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the growing role of think tank experts in Chinese media coverage on international issues and determines the degree to which voices in this spectrum diverge from each other as well as the official line espoused by China's central media organs. It combines a large-sample sentiment analysis of commentaries published by three major institutes that have developed significant public profiles with an in-depth discussion of selected pieces written by especially prolific experts. Based on the results, I argue that Chinese expert commenters sometimes enrich media coverage and show a substantial variety in opinions among them, but prevailing political constraints, skewed incentives, and a slanted media environment keep them from realizing their full potential as public intellectuals. This limits their usefulness both for improving policy outcomes and for managing public expectations about China's rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Have China's international relations changed fundamentally under Xi Jinping? Or is it rather a matter of heading in the same direction as before, but with a considerable increase in pace accompanied by a greater confidence in outlining where this journey is taking China (and as a consequence, the world as well)? This introduction outlines some of the collective conclusions of the special issue as a whole, and in explaining the rationale for constructing it, pays tribute to John Peterson's contribution and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewed through the standard prisms of international politics, escalation of security tensions is the definitive feature in the evolution of relations between China and Southeast Asia over the last decade. Disagreements over territorial ownership of and rights to the South China Sea sharpened and arguably became the defining feature of regional geopolitics. Yet, China and Southeast Asia have also managed to prove predictions of fateful conflict to be premature. In this article, we study Chinese and Southeast Asian strands of security discourse, which provide political and diplomatic cover for cooperative interaction in parallel with little or no compromise on security principles. Then we select interactions between China and the Philippines and China and Vietnam as cases to illustrate our observations. We conclude by postulating that, at least in the maritime space, tension management rather than conflict resolution is more likely to be the continuing feature into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the most complicated issues in contemporary Chinese foreign policy is that of the Korean Peninsula and North Korea in particular. Critics have long complained, often internally, that China dare not use, and did not know how to use, the leverage it possessed. Why was this the case given that the relationship with North Korea is an asymmetric one with China the much more powerful side? Has China managed this asymmetry better more recently, and why? This article tries to address these questions. The relationship changed significantly in recent years when the Xi Jinping leadership decided to take unprecedented measures. Those actions have been consequential. China has emerged from being embarrassed by North Korea's nuclear and missile development to re-establishing itself as central to Korean and Northeast Asian security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]