Suchergebnisse

Did China provide what can be termed foreign aid to neighboring countries in ancient times? This is a fascinating but largely neglected question. Previous studies on China's foreign aid generally didn't pay significant attention to the many centuries when diplomatic relations in East Asia were regulated by the tribute system. In this article, we argue that this omission lies in the substantialist metaphysics on which the concepts of foreign aid and the tribute system are grounded. Modern research has paid too much attention to their substantial components, like norms and managing institutions, with the result that the psychological experience agents invested in the process have been neglected. By taking a relational perspective, we test the view that the Chinese tribute system and foreign aid are of one and the same fundamental nature, characterized by voluntary participation, reciprocity and relation-orientation.

Russia and China are two big players in the international system, both of which share interests and concerns and compete for preponderance and affirmation at the regional level. As a framework for political-military cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) frames this relationship in an institutional setting that might be understood as a tool for rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing or as a strategic maneuver for balancing an unbalanced international order. Thus the following question arises: is Russian-Chinese cooperation discourse mere political rhetoric or does it imply the intentional forging of a goal-orientated partnership? The relationship between Russia and China in political and security terms reveals identifiable common concerns, such as counter-terrorism or the fight against organised crime, while simultaneously masking the underpinning drivers, based on realpolitik dynamics and image construction on both sides (power projection, regional affirmation). This means that the strategic partnership dialogue between Moscow and Beijing is still far from being real. Realpolitik considerations rise above institutional goals, showing the lines of (discontinuity in discourse and practice in this bilateral relationship. Adapted from the source document.