Chinas Changing Regional Policies In Asia

Download or read book China's Changing Regional Policies in Asia written by Fujian Li and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conduct and content of China's foreign policy has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last few decades. From being a relatively isolated and marginal player in international affairs only a few decades ago, China is once again a great power, especially in Asia where it has historically been the dominant force. One of the key challenges this transformation in China's international standing presents, however, is the way it manages its relations with its regional relations, many of which have been difficult and, at times, even dangerous. Although there is now growing interest in China s international role, surprisingly little research has been conducted on its pivotally important regional relations in a comparative perspective. This dissertation addresses this lacuna by analysing the evolution of China's regional foreign policies in Asia from 1991 to 2011. The emphasis in the dissertation is on policies rather than policy because there are subtle but important differences in the content and conduct of regional policy in different regions and across different issue areas. Indeed, policy in some regions, I argue, is distinctively shaped by a contingent, historically-specific array of factors that produce significant variations in policy goals and outcomes. I develop this hypothesis through a detailed analysis of the conduct and content of China's policies in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific. To explain these differences in policy outcomes, I employ an increasingly influential approach to international relations theory known as 'analytical eclecticism'. This methodology, which draws on insights from the main theoretical paradigms to develop a more complete picture of international behaviour, is especially appropriate in China's case where a complex array of factors are at work in shaping Chinese foreign policy. Crucially, however and the reason analytical eclecticism is especially useful and illuminating these factors have different weights and degrees of influence in different regions. Simply put, the argument of this dissertation is that China's increasingly sophisticated regional policies are driven by multiple factors. While there may be some common themes in the pursuit of China's 'national interest' and the articulation of its 'grand strategy', such ambitions and goals are articulated and realized in different ways in the various sub-regions of Asia. Thus, China s policy priorities are different in subtle but important ways. The principal contribution of this dissertation helps us to understand how and why.