Mingjiang Li

China and Maritime Cooperation in East Asia: recent developments and future prospects

Future international relations in East Asia are likely to be largely shaped by the maritime strategies and policies of various actors. This paper examines Chinas policy and behavior in maritime cooperation in the East Asian region in recent years, a topic that has been insufficiently understood. I suggest that while it is necessary and useful to take into account Chinas naval power, more attention to Chinese intentions and policy on East Asian maritime issues is warranted to arrive at a more balanced, and arguably more accurate, understanding of Chinas role in East Asian maritime affairs. This paper takes stock of Chinas changing perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in maritime cooperation in the region. I describe Chinas new policy moves in the South China Sea and East China Sea. I also address some of the major Chinese concerns for further maritime cooperation in East Asia. I conclude that while a grand cooperative maritime regime is still not possible from a Chinese perspective, China is likely to agree to more extensive and substantive maritime cooperation in many functional areas, most notably in the non-traditional security arena.

Local Liberalism: China's provincial approaches to relations with Southeast Asia

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 Chinas 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.

The People’s Liberation Army and China’s Smart Power Quandary in Southeast Asia

Abstract China has a strong interest in pursuing a smart power strategy towards Southeast Asia and has worked laboriously to engage with regional countries economically, socially, and politically. But China has been only partially successful in achieving its goals in the region. This paper argues that China’s security policy towards Southeast Asia significantly contradicts many other objectives that Beijing wishes to accomplish. Given the deep-seated, narrowly-defined national interests of the Chinese military in the South China Sea disputes, it is likely that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will continue to pose the main obstacle to the effective implementation of a Chinese smart strategy in Southeast Asia.

A China in Transition: The Rhetoric and Substance of Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping

ABSTRACT Has China under Xi Jinping bid an official farewell to Deng Xiaoping’s “lying low” international strategy (taoguang yanghui) in pursuit of a more ambitious foreign policy agenda? In this article, we contend that Xi’s foreign policy is indeed beginning to show signs of departure from that of his predecessors. Beijing has displayed intentions to gradually create new rules in international politics and reform major international institutions to better suit Chinese interests. However, Chinese foreign policy in the first term of Xi’s administration has remained in a transitory phase. Continued domestic preoccupations, China’s lack of experience in undertaking more international responsibilities, as well as conflicting economic and security imperatives in China’s neighborhood have constrained the Chinese leadership’s ability to completely abandon its “lying low” international strategy.

China-EU Relations: Strategic Partnership at a Crossroads

China-EU relations, after more than a decade of steady growth since the mid-1990s, are becoming increasingly more fluid and unpredictable. Observers who had been optimistic are now starting to warn of an impending downward spiral in Sino-European ties. This paper attempts to address these two questions: How do we understand the emerging dynamics in Sino-European relations? Is the Sino-European relationship inevitably moving towards an era of friction and contention, or will it be able to overcome the current challenges to get back to a new honeymoon? This article examines the key factors that have shaped and are likely to continue to play a significant role in China-EU ties, notably common economic and strategic interests. It also outlines some of the negative trends that have emerged in bilateral relations in recent years. It is argued that a sense of cautious optimism perhaps best reflects the reality in China-EU relations.

New Trends in Chinese Foreign Policy

ABSTRACT This special issue attempts to examine some of the major new developments in China’s international relations since the 18th Party Congress in 2012. We suggest that new nuanced patterns in Chinese foreign policy have emerged. These include but are not limited to: subtle shifts in Beijing’s strategic thinking; an omni-directional peripheral policy that is increasingly “rebalancing” westwards; an evolving and more “flexible” brand of Chinese foreign policy assertiveness; a more sophisticated approach towards the handling of its maritime disputes; and new attitudes and ideas towards global governance.

From Look-West to Act-West: Xinjiang’s role in China–Central Asian relations

Abstract China has been quite successful in developing its relations with Central Asian states and expanding its influence in the region since the 1990s. Most analysts contribute the success to the strategy and policy of China’s national central government. This observation certainly has a lot of truth, but at the same time we should not neglect or downplay the role that the local government in Xinjiang has played in cementing China–Central Asian ties. Xinjiang has functioned as an indispensable actor in China’s look-west and act-west policies towards Central Asia and beyond. With Chinese foreign policy elites increasingly interested in using the act-west policy as part of their counter-hedging strategy in Asia, Xinjiang appears to enjoy many more opportunities and play an even more significant role in China’s relations with countries in its western flank.

China's Search for a Multilateral World: Dilemmas and Desires

While China will probably become more proactive in its multilateral diplomacy and increase its influence in global multilateral settings, various concerns and constraints make it unlikely that it will completely overhaul or even dramatically reshape the multilateral architecture at the global level. Stuck in defining its identity, China is caught up between posturing as a leader of the developing world on some policy issues and siding with the developed countries on others. China’s involvement in global multilateralism is likely to be guided by pragmatism rather than grand visions.

A process-based framework to examine China’s approach to transboundary water management

ABSTRACT As China emerges as a regional and global power and its interest in utilizing the transboundary water resources within its borders continues to grow, a better understanding of China’s policies and practices towards transboundary waters is of critical importance. Scholars have explored various approaches to the study of this subject, including the legal perspective, the socioeconomic-environmental lens, the foreign relations/neighbourhood diplomacy angle, and international relations theories. Each approach has its merits and weaknesses. On the basis of all the existing analytical studies, this article proposes a process-based framework to study China’s policies towards transboundary water management.

China-Eu Relations: Rivalry Impedes Strategic Partnership

China-European Union (EU) relations have been stable and growing steadily since the mid-1990s, prompting significant optimism in both China and Europe until a few years ago. The momentum of the Sino-EU comprehensive engagement was since 9/11, particularly in the wake of the Iraq War, that the United States began to worry that the Sino-EU partnership would weaken the transatlantic alliance.1 In 2004, David Shambaugh, a seasoned China watcher, even raised the issue that China and Europe might forge an axis in global politics.2 Others speculated whether China and the EU would attempt to develop an “exclusive partnership.”3 In recent years, however, bilateral ties have been increasingly challenged by a number of problems. Sino-EU relations are becoming increasingly more fluid and complex. Observers who were optimistic have now started to be concerned about the long-term prospects for Sino-EU ties.4 Other scholars are questioning whether China and the EU can really join hands to shape a new world order.5 Indeed, nowadays, negative reports and not-so-sanguine views frequently appear in news reports, various forums, and the remarks of political leaders. From all accounts, it seems that a new dynamic is emerging in Sino-EU relations, generating significant uncertainties in the bilateral ties.