Strategic State Engagement in Transnational Activism: AIDS prevention in China

Existing literature on transnational activism highlights the contention between the targeted state and the advocacy actors, and the leveraged politics enabled through a third party. Based on an empirical study of transnational activism related to AIDS prevention in China, this paper argues that when the targeted government is not susceptible to inter-governmental pressure or international media exposure, external advocacy actors do not cease to be relevant to domestic politics. On the contrary, their role becomes more crucial under such conditions in terms of both immediate adjustments of practices at the community level and accumulative effects on long-term policy changes. This study has found that international non-governmental organizations and private foundations have employed various types of methods to strategically engage Chinese governmental agencies and officials for urgent relief delivery and opportunity of policy advocacy.