China in its Neighbourhood: A ‘Middle Kingdom’ not Necessarily at the Centre of Power

Abstract

China’s regional policy is mainly centred on its efforts to forge a friendly, stable and prosperous neighbourhood. To achieve this end, China has developed an approach combining both partnership bilateralism and tailored regional multilateralism. By and large, China does not consider its neighbourhood as a whole and has been very cautious and hesitant to engage in overarching ‘region-building’. China has relied mostly on soft (attractive) use of power, particularly economic power, supported by cultural and assurance diplomacy, even though diplomatic and economic coercion have been exercised occasionally. China has once again become the biggest economy in Asia. Yet, neither the new power configuration in Asia nor China’s own ambitions point to a return to the old ‘Middle Kingdom’ with China holding a dominant position in its neighbourhood. China will most probably continue to see itself as a self-restrained regional power in the foreseeable future.

Notes

¹ See Mansfield and Milner, “The New Wave of Regionalism”, 589–627; Söderbaum and Shaw, Theories of New Regionalism; Breslin et al., New Regionalisms in Global Political Economy.

² See, for example, Buzan and Waever, Regions and Power; Katzenstein, A World of Regions.

³ Kang, “Hierarchy, Balancing, and Empirical Puzzles”, 165–80; and China Rising.

⁴ Tian, Chinese Diplomacy since the Reform, 20.

⁵ For a detailed study on China's settlement of territorial disputes, see Fravel, “Regime Insecurity and International Cooperation”, 46–83.

⁶ Pan, “Sino-Japanese Dispute”, 71–92.

⁷ Holslag, “The Next Security Frontier”.

⁸ X. Wu, “Four Contradictions Constraining China's Foreign Policy”, 294.

⁹ Levine, “China in Asia”, 107.

¹⁰ Rozman, Chinese Strategic Thought, 5.

¹¹ Liu, “China will Always Pursue Peaceful Foreign Policy”, 2–3

¹² Zhang and Tang, “China's Regional Strategy”, 51.

¹³ Hu Jintao, “Towards Common Development and a Harmonious Asia”, speech at the opening plenary of Boao Forum for Asia annual conference, Boao, 15 April 2011.

¹⁴ For example, see the presentation by Marvin C. Ott from the National War College to the US–China Commission on 22 July 2005, on “China's Strategic Reach into Southeast Asia”, http://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2005hearings/written_testimonies/05_07_21_22wrts/ott_marvin_wrts.pdf.

¹⁵ Zhao, Tianxia Tixi [The Tianxia System], See also, Callahan, “Tianxia, Empire and the World”, 152–75.

¹⁶ As Barry Buzan has argued, a “reformist revisionist” accepts some of the institutions of international society, but resists and wants to reform others, and possibly also wants to change its status. See Buzan, “China in International Society”, 18.

¹⁷ “North Korea Presses Ahead on Island Economic Zone with Key Ally”, Global Time, 9 June 2011.

¹⁸ See Saywell, “Powering Asia's Growth”; “Why Europe was the Past, the U.S. is the Present, and a China-Dominated Asia is the Future of the Global Economy”, Financial Times, 22 September 2003.

¹⁹ Shambaugh, “Return to the Middle Kingdom?”, 23–47.

²⁰ Wu, J., “Multilateral Diplomacy to Build a Harmonious World”, 10.

²¹ “China, U.S. to Build Cooperative Partnership of Mutual Respect and Mutual Benefit”, Xinhua News Agency, 20 January 2011, http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7266237.html.

²² See, among others, Li, A Rising China.

²³ “Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation Pact Comes into Effect on Wednesday,” Malaysian National News Agency, 24 March 2010, http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=484874.

²⁴ China's Information Office of the State Council, China's National Defense in 2008, 5.

²⁵ Ong, China's Security Interests, 112.

²⁶ Khodzhaev, “The Central Asian Policy of China”, 9–28.

²⁷ Ma, “Development of China-Russia-India Triangle”, 39–49.

²⁸ Wang, “China and SCO”, 120.

²⁹ Yahuda, “China's Multilateralism and Regional Order”, 79.

³⁰ Nye, The Future of Power, 21–2.

³¹ China Customs Statistics Information, “China's Import-Export Trade Value with Countries (Regions), December 2010”. http://www.chinacustomsstat.com/aspx/1/newdata/record_class.aspx?page=2&guid=1566.

³² Ravenhill and Yang, “China's Move to Preferential Trading”, 31.

³³ Quoted in the US Congressional Research Service, “China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia,” 25 February 2009, 17, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R40361.pdf.

³⁴ B. McCartan, “A Helping Chinese Hand: Trade and Aid with Southeast Asia”, Asia Times, 30 April 2009.

³⁵ Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive 133.

³⁶ Wen Jiabao, “Strengthen Good-neighborly Relations and Deepen Mutually Beneficial Cooperation”, speech at Balai Kartini, Jakarta, 30 April 2011.

³⁷ Nye, Soft Power, 5–11.

³⁸ Fravel, “Regime Insecurity and International Cooperation.”

³⁹ Drifle, “China and Japan”, 145.

⁴⁰ “Guidelines for the Implementation of the DOC between China and ASEAN Countries”, 20 July 2011, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/pds/ziliao/zt/dnzt/yjcdm2/t844329.htm.

⁴¹ Chanborey, “China's Soft Power in Southeast Asia,” 1–38.

⁴² Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive, 75.

⁴³ China Scholarship Council, Annual Report 1999, 2009, http://www.csc.edu.cn/Nianbao/Default.aspx.

⁴⁴ South Korea alone has 17 Confucius Institutes, ranking number one, followed by 12 in Japan, 7 in Indonesia, 3 in the Philippines. Notably, however, there is still no Confucius Institute in North Korea, Vietnam or Myanmar. http://www.hanban.edu.cn/confuciousinstitutes/node_10961.htm.

⁴⁵ See Lampton, The Three Faces of Chinese Power, 45–66.

⁴⁶ Shambaugh, “China Engages Asia”, 64–99.

⁴⁷ Buzan, “China in International Society”, 14, 16.

⁴⁸ 2011 BBC Country Rating Poll, March 2011, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/05_03_11_bbcws_country_poll.pdf.