Suchergebnisse

China's diplomacy has undergone a sea of changes under Xi Jinping's rein. But there is no consensus on the nature, scope, essence and direction of these changes. This article aims to explore both the changes and continuities in Chinese foreign affairs under the Xi Jinping leadership through the lens of his recently much-advocated formulation of 'major country diplomacy with distinctive Chinese features'. Tracing the evolution, manifestation and causes of Xi's 'major country diplomacy', it is argued that Xi's diplomacy is a clear departure from Deng Xiaoping's TGYH ([Tao Guang Yang Hui] low profile) strategy and therefore transformative in nature. On the other hand, however, his strong adherence to the core realist assumptions about national security issues makes his idealistic and liberal global vision and his efforts to transcend 'the traditional Western theories of international relations' more difficult to accomplish. In this respect, the glass is still half full and half empty. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

This article investigates the evolution of Chinese discourse on the rise of China. The phrase "China's rise" began to appear in the discourse of Western media in the early 1990s. China's response to this phrase has witnessed some interesting changes over the years, from rejecting to reluctantly accepting, and to fully embracing it as a discourse reflecting the subtle changes in China's identity and its strategic thinking. This article attempts to identify the sources and implications of the changes in the discourse on China's rise in recent years. (China/GIGA)

Ever since the end of the Cold War, the United States—from the
government to the public, from the White House to Congress, from
policymakers to pundits, from China specialists to people who
know little about China—has engaged itself in the seemingly
endless debate on China. Immediately after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, people debated whether China was still important
to the United States and whether the Sino-U.S. special
relationship was worth preserving. Since the early 1990s, with
China's remarkable economic "soft landing" and the consequent
robust and sustained economic growth, Americans seemed to have
reached a consensus that China still matters to the United
States for better or worse. U.S.-China relations were often
referred to as one of the most important bilateral relations to
the United States. But important in what way? Much debate ensued
with a series of frictions between the two countries that
climaxed in the dispatch of two U.S. aircraft carriers to the
South China Sea during the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, the
U.S.-led NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in
1999, and the midair collision between the two air forces in
2001. The U.S. media tirelessly asked the question: "China:
friend or foe?" The pattern for U.S. China policy since the end
of the Cold War is that whenever the relationship appeared to be
stabilizing and a consensus was shaping, new crises emerged and
destroyed the hard-won progress, triggering another round of
debate on China as if people never learned anything from the
previous debate; the old and familiar discourse started all over
again.