How China Sees The World: Insights From China’s International Relations Scholars

139 Pages·2019·2.53 MB·English

by  Huiyun Feng, Kai He, Xiaojun Li

How China
Sees the World
Insights From China’s
International Relations Scholars
Huiyun Feng · Kai He · Xiaojun Li
How China Sees the World
Huiyun Feng • Kai He • Xiaojun Li
How China Sees
the World
Insights From China’s International
Relations Scholars
Huiyun Feng Kai He
School of Government and Griffith Asia Institute
International Relations Griffith University
Griffith University Queensland, QLD, Australia
Queensland, QLD, Australia
Xiaojun Li
Department of Political Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada
ISBN 978-981-15-0481-5 ISBN 978-981-15-0482-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0482-2
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A
cknowledgments
This is a small book on a big issue. China’s rise generates unnerving ques-
tions: Are China and the United States doomed to fall into Thucydides’s
Trap? Is China going to challenge the world order? The mainstream inter-
national relations (IR) field is rife with discourses on potential conflict
between China and the United States. However, do Chinese IR scholars
see it the same way as Western scholars? How Chinese scholars see the
world, China itself, and its relationship with the United States in the inter-
national system has significant implications for understanding China’s rise
and its ramifications for Asia and the world. Chinese scholars also tell
Chinese IR stories in their own publications. Although it is still debatable
to what extent Chinese scholars’ views have an impact on Chinese decision
making, it is undeniable that this group of political elites has significant
influence on policy makers and Chinese society. This book is one of the
first efforts to measure Chinese IR scholars’ perceptions of key IR con-
cepts and issues such as power, threats, relations between great powers,
the international system, territorial conflict, and Chinese foreign policy.
This project would not have been possible without the generous sup-
port of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Grant No.
16-1512-150509-IPS). Kai He received an Australian Research Council
Future Fellowship (Project ID: FT 160100355) in 2016, which also pro-
vided him precious time to work on this project in 2017–19. Griffith
University has collaborated successfully with Tsinghua University’s
Institute of International Relations to conduct four years of opinion sur-
veys in Beijing. We appreciate the institutional support from Griffith
University and Tsinghua University. This project benefited tremendously
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
from a large professional support team, who helped with carrying out
surveys, collecting data, and organizing events. We are grateful to the
Tsinghua team for their professional implementation of the surveys. We
would also like to thank Stephen Walker, a mentor, friend, and advisor to
this project, for his suggestions and advice. We thank our research assis-
tants at Nankai University in China for diligently collecting the Chinese
literature. We are grateful to Daniela Di Piramo and Dania Sheldon, who
provided efficient and professional editorial assistance with this project.
We would also like to thank Dr. John Fei and Dr. Angela Schlater, our
grant officers at the MacArthur Foundation, for their support. Last but
not least, we thank Vishal Daryanomel, our Palgrave Macmillan editor, for
his encouragement and support.
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia Huiyun Feng
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia Kai He
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Xiaojun Li
c
ontents
1 Taking Chinese IR Scholars Seriously 1
2 On China’s Power and the International Order: Is China a
Challenger? 21
3 On US–China Relations: Problems and Prospects 45
4 On Chinese Foreign Policy and International Relations 71
5 Understanding China’s Rise Through the Eyes of Scholars
and Beyond 101
Appendix: Survey Questionnaire 115
Index 123
vii
A A
bout the uthors
Huiyun Feng is a senior lecturer in the School of Government and
International Relations at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She is
a former Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute
of Peace. Her work has appeared in the European Journal of International
Relations, Security Studies, The Pacific Review, International Politics,
Chinese Journal of International Politics, and Asian Perspective. She is the
author of Chinese Strategic Culture and Foreign Policy Decision-Making:
Confucianism, Leadership and War (2007), the co-author of Prospect
Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis in the Asia Pacific: Rational Leaders
and Risky Behavior (2013), and the co-editor of US–China Competition
and the South China Sea Disputes (2018), Chinese Scholars and Foreign
Policy: Debating International Relations (2019), and China’s Challenges
and International Order Transition: Beyond the “Thucydides Trap” (2020).
Kai He is Professor of International Relations in the Griffith Asia Institute
and Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University
in Brisbane, Australia. He is an Australian Research Council Future
Fellow (2017–2020) and a Visiting Chair Professor of International
Relations at Nankai University, China (2018–2021). He was a post-
doctoral fellow in the Princeton–Harvard China and the World
Program (2009–2010). He is the author of Institutional Balancing in
the Asia Pacific: Economic Interdependence and China’s Rise (2009), the
co-author of Prospect Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis in the Asia
Pacific: Rational Leaders and Risky Behavior (2013), and the author of
China’s Crisis Behavior: Political Survival and Foreign Policy (2016).
ix
x ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Xiaojun Li is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of
British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He has also held visiting posi-
tions at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (2014–
2015), the Fudan Development Institute (2016), and the East–West
Center (2018). His work has appeared in Journal of Politics,
International Studies Quarterly, Business and Politics, Canadian Journal
of Political Science, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Foreign Policy
Analysis, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Journal of
Contemporary China, Journal of Experimental Political Science, and
Pacific Affairs, among others.
A
cronyms
AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BRI Belt and Road Initiative
CCGA Chicago Council on Global Affairs
CCPSIS Chinese Community of Political Science and International Studies
CSIS Center for Strategic and International Studies
EU European Union
FONOPs Freedom of Navigation Operations
IPE international political economy
IR international relations
MFN most favored nation
NPT Non-Proliferation Treaty
RCCC Research Center for Contemporary China
SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organization
UNSC United Nations Security Council
xi