Protecting China's Interests Overseas: Securitization and Foreign Policy PDF
Preview Protecting China's Interests Overseas: Securitization and Foreign Policy
Protecting China’s Interests Overseas Protecting China’s Interests Overseas Securitization and Foreign Policy ANDREA GHISELLI 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Andrea Ghiselli 2021 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2021 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945985 ISBN 978–0–19–886739–5 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 24/10/20, SPi Contents List of Illustrations xi List of Tables xiii List of Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 1. The Chinese Government, the Idea of Security, and Foreign Policy 19 2. The Chinese Armed Forces and the Challenges of Globalization 49 3. From Deng’s Reforms to Libya 71 4. The Problems of Knowledge in Policymaking 114 5. Chinese Public Opinion and the Interest Frontiers 144 6. Diverse Threats, Diverse Responses 170 7. Guarding the Interest Frontiers 203 Conclusion 241 Appendices 253 Index 277 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 24/10/20, SPi Preface Among the many Chinese sayings, there is one that, translated literally, describes this book best: “It is coincidence that makes a book” (无巧不成书). This study is the product of the many events that first brought me to study Chinese and then made me interested in Chinese affairs. Coming from a small, quiet city in Italy’s Emilia Romagna, between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic Sea, I did not have any special link with or interest in China or, in general, Asia. When I started studying the Chinese language in Venice in 2008, I had almost no clue about China. From then on, many things happened that made me spend a significant number of years in that country and write a book on its foreign policy. Back then, relations between the West and China were far more relaxed than today. China, too, was different. Over the years, the situation has signifi- cantly changed and, today, we are told that we live in an era of great power competition. One of the most significant products of this turn of events is that Chinese foreign policy is increasingly seen as an issue that can be only black or white. In my opinion, this is something that the world cannot afford, as confronta- tional narratives go hand in hand with similarly confrontational, but more dangerous policies. Against this background, I believe that the mission of a so-called “China watcher,” even one who became so by accident, is to provide a balanced and accurate analysis of the situation, especially when it comes to a subject like the expansion of China’s interests overseas and its attempts to protect them. There is no doubt that the analysis in the following pages has flaws. Yet I did my best and I hope the reader will appreciate my work. Acknowledgments This book could have not been written without the help and support of the many people whom I had the luck and privilege to meet over the years. The first person who ought to be thanked is my wife. My nocturnal writing habits and her much healthier need to sleep like normal people working outside academia were hard to reconcile with each other. This was especially true during the final and, to borrow from the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, “crazy and most desperate” days of writing. Despite this, she was always supportive and patient. My family has also provided me with great support and love which has kept me afloat in the most difficult moments. This book would not be here without them. I think that research is not just about collecting data and writing during the many solitary hours that scholars spend in front of a laptop. Indeed, I would not have been able to write this book without the encouragement and the help of many other fellow scholars who helped me in different moments along the way. This book originates from the doctoral dissertation that I wrote at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. My then advisor, Professor Chen Zhimin, constantly exhorted me to be rigorous in the interpretation of the sources and cautious in my analysis, so as to truly shed light on a complex issue like that at the center of this study. Like a true mentor, he was supportive, patient, as well as very straightforward during the many hours that we spent talking about my work. Yet it goes without saying that any mistakes in this book can be attributed to me alone. Heartfelt thanks also go to five other people whom I consider friends, first, and colleagues, second. The first two are Professor Enrico Fardella and Professor Giovanni B. Andornino. Their vision and inspirational leadership at the TOChina Hub and the ChinaMed Project had a tremendous influence on me and my research, pushing me to look at China’s presence in North Africa and the Middle East. The third is Doctor Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, who has never pulled punches in his feedback on my work and has always pushed me to do better. His German sense of humor, critical mind, and straightfor- wardness never allowed me to settle for work that was only “good enough.” The fourth is Professor Ivan W. Rasmussen. Ivan offered me guidance and
The list of books you might like
