Malaysia: perception of contemporary China and its economic,political and societal determinants

This article looks at the Malaysian perception of the contemporary rise of China by focusing more on the country’s societal response rather than from a broad overall perspective of international strategic relations and diplomacy. The Malaysian society is seen as a complex multi-entity construct, constituted by often sharply differentiated fragments and sub-fragments which could exhibit vastly different responses to the implications of the rise of China. Within such a construct, perception of the rise of China and the appropriate Malaysian response are intricately entwined with domestic power politics, generational transition and governmental control over public discourse. Hence, the Malaysian perception of the contemporary rise of China is as complex as the Malaysian society itself, and what is revealed in official government policies and public discourses in the dominant mass media would fail to reflect the real depth of the issue if the intrinsic complexity of the Malaysian society is not taken into due consideration.     

Chinese views of global economic governance

China’s rise and America’s global retreat have made China’s role in global governance more important than ever before. By analysing Chinese (mainly academic) literature, this article studies contemporary Chinese views of global economic governance. It finds that the 2008 financial crisis is a notable point of the Chinese discourse. In addition, dialogue platforms – the G20 in particular – rather than key institutions of global economic governance such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Word Trade Organization (WTO) win overwhelming attention in the Chinese discourse. Chinese views of global economic governance also highly value the role of the state, while paying less attention to Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and civil society. Overall, this article highlights a diverse, shifting and sometimes contradictory Chinese discourse on global economic governance, which helps to develop a more accurate understanding of China’s ambition in global economic governance.     

China’s Harmonious World: Beyond Cultural Interpretations

A culture “specter” is haunting the ongoing discourse regarding China’s declared policy of “peaceful rise” for a “harmonious world.” While some Western scholars “cherry-pick” “evidence” of China’s aggressiveness from Confucius legacies, the same cultural heritage is heavily tapped by many Chinese scholars to interpret the current policy of striving for internal and external harmony. Both seem to ignore, though to different degrees, the historically specific political environment, within which the cultural elements function and interact with other socio-political variables. China’s current pursuit of harmony is possible and desirable only at a time when China is able to achieve sustained sociopolitical stability (30 years) in the past 160 years and after its protracted encounter and experiment with Western liberalism, Marxism and capitalism. Although it has not explicitly rejected any of these Western ideologies, China has tested the limits of all of them—hence China’s search for its own identity and policy alternatives at the onset of the new millennium. It is toward a more historical and holistic explanation that this paper constructs the political space and historical trajectory of China’s search for modernity and for itself in the past two centuries and into the future. Yu Bin is Professor of Political Science and Director of East Asian Studies at Wittenberg University, Ohio, USA; Senior Fellow at Shanghai Institute of American Studies; analyst on Russian-China relations for Pacific Forum (CSIS) in Honolulu, Hawaii; and former president of Association of Chinese Political Studies (1992-94). Yu is the author and co-author of several books including the most recent ones: The Government of China (Stockton, NJ.: OTTN Publishing, 2006); Power of the moment: America and the world after 9-11 [Shunjian de Liliang: 9-11 Hou de Meiguo Yu Shijie] (Beijing: Xinhua Chubanshe, 2002); and Mao’s Generals Remember Korean (The University Press of Kansas, 2001). He has published more than 60 articles in journals including World Politics, Strategic Review, Asian Survey, International Politics Quarterly (Beijing), The China and Eurasian Forum Quarterly, International Journal of Korean Studies, Harvard International Review, Comparative Connections, etc.     

美国的不完全霸权与东亚地区秩序的转型

自冷战结束以来,东亚地区秩序一直处于转型之中。从域内大国权力分配格局、不同层次制度安排形式及地区认同意识等构成地区秩序的三个要素来考察,美国在东亚地区仍处于政治安全领域的主导地位,但在经济和地区认同方面正受到越来越多的挑战,美国在东亚地区的权力状况呈现出一种"不完全霸权"的态势。未来新型的东亚地区秩序将在美国的"不完全霸权"、中国的崛起及东亚地区主义的发展等因素相互博弈的进程中以和平方式确立起来。     

China's Recovery: Why the Writing Was Always on the Wall

China has been a major power for far longer than is typically acknowledged in the West. This paper seeks to redress established discourse of China as a 'rising' power which now enjoys common usage within Western policy-making, academic and popular circles, particularly within the United States; China can more accurately be conceived of as a 'recovering power'. A tendency by successive Washington administrations to view the world in realist terms has forced the label of 'rising' power onto China along with the negative connotations that inevitably follow. We should acknowledge the folly in utilising a theoretical approach largely devoid of any appreciation for the social and human dimensions of international relations as well as the importance of social discourse in the field. Finally, policy-makers in Washington must reconsider their realist stance and, with a fuller appreciation of world history, recognise that American hegemony was always destined to be short-lived.     

国家新区域发展战略导向下的中部崛起

在区域经济发展新阶段中，中部地区区域经济增长面临着与以往阶段不同的新背景——全球化、信息化、市场化和国土空间主体功能区划分。在新导向、新背景下，中部地区要抓住机遇，主动参与全球分工，直接接受世界先进生产力的辐射，有重点地着力推进“无梯度”共进式增长，先行在某些具备条件的、带动力较强的领域取得较大突破，再通过区域梯度传导和激发“蝴蝶效应”，实现跨越式大发展。     

China＇s Rise vs. International Order Evolution

A heated debate over the rise of China has been going on unabated in the international community for nearly two decades. However, with the elapse of time, the initial divergence of views in the mainstream opinion has gradually diminished and the gap in China policy among nations has likewise narrowed down. Instead, reason and a realistic approach have eventually taken center stare.     

Talking up China: An analysis of China’s rising cultural power and global promotion of the Chinese language

This essay focuses on the remarkable rise of China from a veritable hermit state in the 1960s to a cultural lodestone in the early 21st century. We explore the country's growing cultural power and the implications of the PRC's increasing promotion of the Chinese language as a global idiom. Our findings suggest that while China faces significant internal and external barriers to fully achieving its potential as a global cultural power, recent efforts by Beijing to promote the Chinese language and Mandarin's increasing utility as a lingua franca for trade have significantly increased the resonance of Chinese culture abroad, especially in the Pacific rim. With this increase in cultural influence beyond its borders, we argue that China's “soft power” is also in ascendancy.     

论中美之间的权力转移

经过60余年的物质性和社会性成长,中国的国家实力已经有了明显提高。中国实力的增长和美国实力的相对衰退使中美之间出现了权力转移现象。由于中国坚持和平发展道路和对现存国际秩序持基本满意的态度,中美之间的权力转移未必引起冲突与战争,权力能否和平转移取决于美国对中国崛起的战略判断。中美之间的权力转移并不意味着中崛美落,而是中美和其他主要国家或国家集团一道在国际事务中发挥重要作用。