The China challenge: Theoretical perspectives and policy implications

Over the past few years there has been a heated debate in the West over the potential challenge of an increasingly strong and assertive China to the Asia‐Pacific region and to the world in general. This article offers a systematic analysis of the debate on China's emerging role in the international system and its security implications from the theoretical perspectives of realism and liberalism. While both international relations theories have provided valuable insights, neither of them alone is able to unravel the puzzle of whether a prosperous and powerful China will be a major force of stability or a threat to international peace. Drawing on the theory of trade expectations, this article shows the conditions under which high interdependence between China and its trading partners will lead to pacific or belligerent Chinese behavior. If Chinese decision‐makers’ expectations for future trade are high, they will be less likely to use force to deal with unresolved disputes with neighboring countries. If, however, they have a negative view of their future trading environment, they will be likely to take measures, including military actions, to remove any obstacles that might forestall the pursuit of great‐power status. For the moment, China's expectations of future trade are by and large optimistic, but there is evidence of growing Chinese suspicion of a Western ‘conspiracy’ to contain China which may alter Beijing's future perceptions. To ensure that the rise of China will not cause regional and global instability, the outside world should seek to integrate China into the international community by pursuing policies that will have a positive influence on China's expected value of trade. In the meantime, some elements of the balance of power strategy need to be introduced in order to curtail China's expected value of war.     

Organic Agriculture in China: do property rights matter?

Since the early 1990s, the Chinese government has been promoting organic agriculture as an alternative to the ‘conventional’ agriculture practised in the Chinese countryside. The latter uses increasingly large amounts of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and, as a result, threatens the environmental sustainability of the rural economy. Though absolute numbers of organic farmers remain small, there has been a dramatic increase in their rate of growth since 1995, aided and abetted by the work of the Chinese Organic Food Development Centre (OFDC) in Nanjing established in that year. In 2002, the OFDC gained full international accreditation and recognition, allowing Chinese organic products certified by it to be sold in lucrative markets throughout the world.

At the same time, there is a vigorous debate going on inside China regarding changes in property rights over land, with many scholars advocating full privatisation. This paper, through case study research, contributes to this debate in the context of the extension of organic farming in China. It examines current land rights arrangements in nine organic villages in different parts of the Chinese countryside to investigate whether they are conducive to organic agriculture expansion or hostile to it. On the basis of this research, it argues that the extant ‘partially privatised common property regime’ associated with the Household Responsibility System, when combined with appropriate collective arrangements amongst farmers, can be a satisfactory basis for the adoption of organic agriculture, particularly amongst China's poorest farmers. As a result, it concludes that the Chinese government should encourage those collective arrangements rather than risk new forms of instability as well as environmental unsustainability through wholesale land privatisation.     

The Debate over ‘Universal Values’ in China

This article analyzes the background and significance of ‘universal values’, which have emerged and been debated in China over the last two years. Interest in this topic originates from the increased international mindset and the intensified call for political reform at the start of the twenty-first century. The cooperative approach of the leaders of the Communist Party of China regarding international affairs, as well as the spread of the Internet, has also provided conditions for the formation of ‘universal values’. Such an ideology has been criticized by conservatives. The debate has focused on whether democracy, liberty, human rights and humanities are universal values shared by all human beings. It marks a step forward in the awareness of democracy for the Chinese people.     

Information Exchange,Headquarters Economy and Financial Centers Development: Shanghai,Beijing and Hong Kong

Over the past several years, China has consistently maintained economic growth and at the same time emerged as a new global giant in the international arena, despite the distractions caused by the global financial crisis, which was triggered by the US Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis of 2007 and the recent bond crisis that emerged in the European Union in 2011. Concurrent with China's growing interaction with the global economy and robust growth of its domestic economy, competition for the status of national and even international financial centers in the region has become fierce. This study focuses on a ‘local’ examination of internal conditions for the emergence and growth of Chinese financial centers over the next 10–20 years. Cities contending for the top slot in the roster of Chinese cities, like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, are striving to become international financial centers and are trying to compete with Hong Kong. This study investigates the development potentials, future prospects and division of functions between different financial centers within China regarding Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, with special reference to the role of information and locations of MNCs' regional headquarters.     

Outshining the Competition

China has vied for a remarkable share of international trade over the past three decades, drawing on its low labor and manufacturing costs and resources. With the outbreak of the global financial crisis, its export-oriented economy has delivered a heavy blow to its economic performance. Will China be able to use the crisis as a golden opportunity to outshine its opponents in international trade? Mei Xinyu, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under t...     

Discussion of 'International Political Economy from a Chinese Angle'

According to Zhu Wenli, Chinese scholars of political economy have been examining many of the same issues as their American counterparts, but have reached quite different conclusions. Chinese scholars accept the importance of globalization, but do not believe that globalization is making the nation-state less relevant or international regimes more powerful. They concede that economic and other transnational issues are becoming increasingly salient in international affairs, but conclude that they are simply altering the ways in which nations compete for power rather than making the international system more cooperative. They agree that much of today's world order is rooted in American hegemony, but do not consider that US foreign policy can be characterized as 'benign'. These conclusions have troubling implications for US‐China relations. They suggest that China will not agree to be integrated into an international community led by the United States, and that the relationship between Beijing and Washington is more likely to be competitive than cooperative.     

关于台湾问题的几点思考

解决台湾问题、实现祖国的完全统一 ,关系到中华民族的前途命运。在追求祖国完全统一的过程中 ,中国政府和人民无论何时何地都必须坚定不移地坚持一个中国原则 ;努力追求祖国的和平统一 ;对阻碍中国统一的国际势力要有清醒认识 ;同时要努力发展经济 ,不断增强军事实力 ,这是和平统一祖国的根本保证     

China and Asian regionalism: Challenge and policy choice

Regionalism has become an interesting phenomenon in Asian international relations. Driven by fast growing trade and investment, Asian countries have developed variegated patterns of economic co‐operation and a complex level of interdependence among themselves. Although the growing Asian regionalism is very much an economics‐driven process, it has profound impacts on regional political organization. This analysis examines Beijing's changing attitudes toward Asian regionalism and its policy choice in the regional economic integration. It is argued that the integration of the Chinese economy into the regional structure is promoted by the government as well as driven by market dynamics. Although Beijing has let the Chinese economy develop into the regional ‘flying geese’ structure, the best policy choice for China, as many Chinese scholars have argued, would be a three‐circle strategy of integrating into the world economy and a strategy of ‘market for technology’ in regional economic co‐operation. This analysis also discusses the regional political obstacles impeding co‐operation across national borders. It is argued that healthy bilateral relations and more political will toward regional multilateralism on political issues would be instrumental for future regional prosperity and stablity in Asia.     

Moving Beyond Sovereignty? A brief consideration of recent changes in China's approach to international order and the emergence of the tianxia concept

This article examines recent trends in the evolution of elite Chinese foreign policy discussions about the normative organizing principles that should ground contemporary international politics. It finds that a pragmatic emphasis on sovereignty, albeit as a right which is flexible and far from sacrosanct, still maintains a core position within Chinese thinking in this regard. However, at the same time, a surprising reconstitution of an old world view has begun to take shape in China. More specifically, the tianxia (all-under-heaven) concept has emerged as a new reference point for some Chinese deliberations on the normative structure of international relations. While such a perspective is still of secondary importance within Chinese international relations circles, its emergence suggests that a potentially far-reaching, if still inchoate, reconsideration of international order is underway in China. Moreover, such a development may have broad ranging implications for the security dynamic that takes shape in Asia in the coming years.     

Is It Time to Cancel GDP Growth Targets?

At a recent high-level economic symposium,the question of whether or not countries should set GDP growth targets became a hot topic of debate.Some economists pointed out that all of the world's developed countries and the majority of middleincome countries have abandoned GDP growth rates as a target of macroeconomic control.Should China follow suit?The practice of using GDP as a key measure of economic development is not flawless,and some experts therefore suggest it be abandoned.However,others believe the GDP index still has a role to play in China's economy,that doing away with it would impact wide-ranging aspects of Chinese society,and that identifying a substitute index is problematic.     

中国民族史研究散论

中国各民族的发展史与中国作为统一的多民族国家的发展史紧密相关 ,作为中华民族主体的汉族一经形成 ,在其漫长的历史中一直发挥着主体民族的凝聚作用 ,具有三个特点 :融合性、扩展性和南北差异性。中国民族文化的研究不应忽略对汉族历史文化的研究。中华民族居住的地理环境的差异所导致的中国北方游牧经济类型和南方农耕类型的差异和相互影响 ,决定了中国民族发展中的融合特点、关系特点等。     

Can Trade Green China? Participation in the global economy and the environmental performance of Chinese firms

How does participation in the global economy influence the pollution management practices of firms in a developing country? Research on trade and the environment leads one to anticipate that integration into the international economy should enhance domestic firm environmental behavior. Integration facilitates access to cleaner technology, exposes domestic firms to global norms of corporate environmentalism, and compels developing country firms to meet trading partners' environmental standards or risk losing market access. This article tests these propositions by exploring the environmental compliance of internationally oriented firms in China—a country whose rapid economic expansion and increasingly prominent role as a foreign investor have considerable implications for protection of the global environment. It finds that there is only modest market-induced enhancement of environmental performance among Chinese companies. In terms of their compliance with environmental law, Chinese firms with connections to the global economy are either no better than domestically oriented companies or, in the case of firms that export heavily, are worse.     

试论新形势下我省对外汉语人才的需求

对外汉语是适应我国国际交流需要而发展起来的一门新兴学科 ,为我国开展文化、教育和经济交流作出了重要贡献。在经济、教育全球化进程加快的今天 ,对外汉语的作用愈显其重要。在新形势下 ,我省对外汉语教学、涉外事务管理以及双语教学迫切需要对外汉语专门人才。因此 ,建设和发展我省对外汉语学科 ,具有重要的现实意义。     

An Emerging China and Diasporic Chinese: historicity,state, and international relations

The past decade has seen a growing body of literature on the (re)emergence of China and its implications for the new international order, and this scholarship is accompanied by the attempts from both within and outside of China to establish Chinese schools of international relations (IR). These admirable efforts, however, have been largely state-centric and concerned mainly with the balance of power, with little attention being directed to the diaspora's role in the evolution of China's international relationship and their potential contribution to bridging China studies and international relations theorization. Drawing upon theoretical insights from both IR and diaspora studies and employing a wide range of primary data including archives and personal interviews, this essay examines the diaspora's role (or the lack of it) in China's diplomacy since 1949 and attempts to conceptualize the Chinese experience in an historical and comparative perspective. I argue that historicity and state have played a significant part in shaping the interactions between the diaspora and diplomacy. The Chinese state's resilient capacity in domesticating (potential) diplomatic problems with respect to the diaspora and transforming them into new policy initiatives through facilitating diasporic participation in China's socio-economic and political processes has opened up new venues for the Chinese overseas to be involved in China's diplomacy. This article concludes by considering three different routes in engaging the diaspora with diplomacy at a time of China rising and by calling for strategic integration of diaspora into the emerging discourses on ‘IR theories with Chinese characteristics’.     

Fiscal Federalism: a refined theory and its application in the Chinese context

China's central–local relations have been marked by perpetual changes amidst economic restructuring. Fiscal decentralization on the expenditure side has been paralleled by centralization on the revenue side, accompanied by political centralization. Hence, our understanding of China's fiscal relations is not without controversy. This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the ongoing debate on ‘fiscal federalism’ by addressing crucial questions regarding China's central–local fiscal relations: first, to what extent do Chinese central–local fiscal relations conform to fiscal federalism in the Western literature? Second, are there any problems with existing principles of fiscal federalism and, if so, how to refine them? Third, how are refined principles relevant to the Chinese case and what policies should the Chinese government pursue in the future? Based on an in-depth and critical review of the theories on fiscal federalism, we develop a refined prototype of fiscal federalism. The model shows that quasi-traditional fiscal federalism is a much closer reality in China, while we argue that the refined fiscal federalism should be the direction of future reform in China.     

China's Future Economic Regionalization

This paper investigates China's economic growth potentials and limitation up to 2020 and recommends a trend of economic regionalization. A sustainable growing economy is a necessity for China's future stability. The growth sustainability of the Chinese economy depends essentially on its continued commitments to institutional reform and economic deregulation. China's relaxation of government intervention in economic activities has led and will be leading China to decentralize its central governmental authority over economic planning and control. This will consequently stimulate the emergence of regional economies in Mainland China. In the next two decades, there will likely be 10 regional economies with relatively independent industrial structures emerging in Greater China (or the Chinese Economic Area of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the Mainland) as a result of economic liberalization and decentralization.     

谈我国内保安全机制的发展和保安业前景展望

我国于20世纪末历经了划时代的政治、经济的社会大交革,虽然犯罪率仍呈现上升趋势,但市场经济体制的实施却大大促进了保安业的迅速兴起。文章清晰记录了中国内保安全机制的发展脉络,50年代-90年代直至今天的发展概况和出现的新问题,以及保安业在高科技迅猛发展的今天所面临的巨大机遇和挑战,我国保安业已迎来国际竞争的时代,既充满希望又任重道远。     

About Face—the relational dimension in Chinese IR discourse

The preservation of face is an important concept in Chinese behavioral patterns, both at individual and national levels. Beyond national interest considerations, modern-day diplomacy between China and the world also involves substantially the exchange of face. This article will argue that face represents a relational understanding of how China views and interacts with the world. By linking face to three themes that international relations scholars frequently use in describing how China sees the world, namely, the tribute system, the Chinese memory of historical humiliation and China’s distrust of the American-led international system, the article hopes to show how the understanding of face—as a crucial element of Chinese identity—can inform scholars and practitioners in their attempts to engage China.     

Strength of Digitalization

The digital economy boom keeps momentum The term digital economy has become a buzzword on the roadmaps for development unveiled by multiple Chinese regions for 2021 and longer term.For example,both Beijing and Shanghai aim at becoming international digital economy hubs.