Jae Ho Chung

China's “City System” in Flux: Explaining Post-Mao Administrative Changes

Chinas urbanization has accelerated during the era of reform. While there has been real progress in urbanization, the process has also been skewed by several administrative measures designed to foster urbanization and economic growth. According to a popular view, as many as 70 per cent of Chinas administrative jurisdictions now come under the rule of urban governments. This must be an exaggeration given that many parts of China are still essentially rural. This article examines three measures – turning prefectures into cities ( di gai shi ), turning counties into cities ( xian gai shi ), and turning cities and counties into urban districts ( xian shi gai qu ) – that have contributed to “inflated urbanization.” Five propositions – budgetary, urbanization, regulatory, organizational streamlining and policy incentive – are discussed to see if the three measures have either originated from or have affected them. We find that while the regulatory observation is relevant only for the measure of xian shi gai qu , the other four propositions are useful, though to varying degrees, for understanding the logic of the changing “city system” in the past two decades.

Between ally and partner : Korea-China relations and the United States

List of TablesPreface1. The Rise of Korea-China Relations and the United States2. A Sketch of Sino-Korean Relations3. Perspectives on the Origins of the South Korea-China Rapprochement4. South Korea-China Relations Before 19885. The Political Economy of Rapprochement, 1988-19926. The Politics of Normalization: Actors, Processes, and Issues7. Beyond Normalization: South Korea and China in the Post-Cold War Era8. The Rise of China and the U.S.-South Korean Alliance Under Strain9. Between Dragon and Eagle: Korea at the CrossroadsNotesIndex

Assessing China’s Power

Few would argue against the fact that China today is on the verge of becoming a great power defined as a nation that is capable of wielding a considerable degree of influence over the making and diffusion of the structures and rules of international politics and economics.1 Yet, more than three decades ago, when China first embarked upon the path of systemic reforms, the international community cast many doubts and posed as many questions regarding whether the Communist regime could break out of the ideological cast and whether Beijing’s ambitious policy platforms could really work.2 Worse yet, the downfall of Deng Xiaoping’s hand-picked successors, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, and the tumultuous Tian’anmen tragedy of 1989, along with the implosion of the Soviet Union and the demise of the East European bloc in 1991, jointly gave birth to a so-called China collapse thesis, making China’s reform appear less likely to succeed.3

China and Northeast Asia: A Complex Equation for ‘Peaceful Rise’

This article tackles the question: has China become more proactive and willing to resolve regional problems unilaterally, bilaterally or multilaterally? It suggests that, while China has clearly become more proactive in facilitating regional stability and co-operation, it still has to overcome certain perceptual hurdles and constrain its impulse to be the ‘centre’ of the world. Consisting of three sections, this article first discusses the nexus between post-Mao Chinas ‘new’ diplomacy and Beijings proactive posture towards Asia and notes the troublesome nature of the regional dynamics in Northeast Asia. It then explores three case studies in which Chinas activism has varied in resolving intricate regional and inter-state problems: namely, Sino—Japanese discord, the Koguryo controversy between South Korea and China and the North Korean nuclear conundrum. The final section offers some concluding observations regarding Chinas diplomacy towards Northeast Asia.

Sino-South Korean economic cooperation: An analysis of domestic and foreign entanglements

One of the most explicit manifestations of post-Mao China’s pragmatic foreign policy has been the significant shift in Beijing’s position vis-à-vis Seoul from a “non-policy” todefacto economic diplomacy. Despite the extent of cooperative endeavors, Sino-South Korean economic relations have been circumscribed by various domestic and external factors. While a further intensification of the cooperative relationship is projected for the second decade of Sino-South Korean economic diplomacy, the actual materialization of such prospects depends on how China and South Korea are going to maintain economic complementarity. More importantly, it also depends on when and how China is going to accommodate politically its economic relations with South Korea by resolving the issue of “two Koreas,” thus maximizing the potential benefits from its ties with Seoul and simultaneously minimizing the negative effects from the entanglements of various domestic and foreign factors.

South Korea’s Evolving Relations with a Rising China: Symbiosis or Mere Cohabitation?

The rise of China has become an issue of interest the world over. Fusses about the collapse of China have clearly given way to debates on what the future holds for international politics involving China as a responsible “stakeholder.” Regions across the world are busy figuring out how to respond to the ascendancy of China as the single biggest variable in global affairs.2 Irrespective of China’s intentions and designs—whether or not it is and will become a revisionist threat—neighboring states are bound to have different perceptions and modes of dealing with a rising China.3