Transformation of China’s Diplomacy: New Disciplines, New Paradigm, and New Strategy

IMGXYZ9223IMGZYXThe changing international environment shapes and influences Chinese diplomatic practices.  Zhao Kejin, Director of Tsinghua University’s Center for China’s Statecraft and Public Diplomacy and Deputy Director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, hosted the opening ceremony of the 10th annual National Foreign Affairs Study Conference. The opening ceremony featured Xie Weihe,Vice President of Tsinghua University; Yan Xuetong, Dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Modern International Relations; Zhu Liqun, Vice President of China Foreign Affairs University; Paul Haenle, Director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy; and Shi Zhiqin, Dean of Tsinghua University’s Department of International Relations and Carnegie-Tsinghua’s Resident Scholar.  Each emphasized the importance of providing a platform to discuss the ideas surrounding China’s diplomatic transition.

Shi then hosted a series of keynote speeches following the opening ceremony that dove into the underlying issues of the future of the study of Foreign Affairs in China. These speeches featured Le Yucheng, Assistant Minister and Director of Policy Planning in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Shen Guofang, Former Assistant Minister for the MFA and Chief Editor of World Affairs Press; Robert D. Kaplan, Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security; and Wang Yizhou, Vice Dean for Peking University’s School of International Studies

The Changing Global Landscape

• Prevalence of Crisis: The past few years have seen massive change, argued Le . Major global disasters, both economic and social, have become more prominent. Despite these major setbacks, Le added that China’s development allowed it to remain strong even during the financial crises in 2008 and 2009, when China saw 9.2 percent growth  while other nations experienced negative growth.
   
• China’s Test: Wang explained that China is currently being tested by three major global issues—unrest in the Islamic world, the global financial crises, and the effects of China’s own economic growth. These issues present not only challenges, but opportunities for China to further engage in global affairs, Wang said. China’s diplomacy must be able to creatively adapt to the new international environment in order to face these challenges.
   
• New Era of Chinese Diplomacy: China’s diplomacy has gone through three phases: the Mao Zedong era, the Deng Xiaoping era, and now the current transforming diplomacy, Wang added. In the first phase, the main foreign policy goal was to spread communist ideals throughout the world. The second phase focused on developing overseas commercial enterprises within China in order to foster growth and development. In the current phase, China’s diplomacy is undergoing transformation that may last for several decades, Wang concluded.

Looking Forward

• China’s Growing Role in Global Affairs: China has been increasing its role in international affairs, and expanding its diplomatic strategies to include public and cultural influence as well as high-level government exchanges, Le said. China’s strategies demonstrate the country’s goal for peaceful development that preserves regional and global stability and maintains Beijing’s position and role in international affairs, he added.
   
• Future Global Role for China:  Shen suggested that China has two pressing concerns as it looks toward its future as a global power. First, Beijing must find the best way to participate and play an active role in regional affairs. Second, China must calculate how to protect its overseas enterprises that have been affected by the global and regional financial crises.
   
• A Challenge to Core Interests: Shen suggested that Beijing must engage in bilateral and multilateral cooperation, so that other nations may have a better understanding of China and its core interests. By increasing global understanding of Beijing’s position, China can relieve any fear and pressure.
   
• Importance of Forecasting: Diplomacy must also include forecasting in order to predict potential issues and conflicts, Shen added, giving China the chance to act preemptively to avoid conflict. In order to have predictive diplomatic strategies, policies must become more detailed and transparent to avoid misperception.
   
• Being Proactive: China must take a proactive role in global affairs, and cannot be a free-rider, Wang argued. However, China cannot follow the same path as the West; it must have its own unique characteristics and ideas which are reflect the country’s unique interests and history.

Security

• Eurasia’s Strategic Importance: Eurasia’s geography will be extremely influential to Sino-U.S. relations in the future, explained Kaplan . In the past, Eurasia was separated into different regions, like the Middle East, East Asia, and South Asia, but recent developments have brought these regions together into what Kaplan called a “fluid maritime organic continuum.” Maritime affairs are increasingly critical to the region, given that 90 percent of commercial goods travel by sea, and China and other Asian countries have been strengthening their naval power.
   
• China’s Military Development: China’s military development has been increasing, as China acquires fighter jets, missiles and submarines, Kaplan added. However, he emphasized that military development should be understood as an act of economic growth and development, rather than preparations for war. China’s interests in the Middle East and Indian Ocean are for commercial gains, not military, he stated.
   
• Pivot to the Pacific: The U.S. attempt to pivot its attention toward the Asia-Pacific and to maintain its presence in the region is a natural reaction to China’s growth, but at this point it is unclear whether this policy is feasible due to unrest in the Middle East, Kaplan added.

IMGXYZ9226IMGZYXThe transformation of Chinese diplomacy over recent years has become the focus of world attention. Chinese academia has followed accordingly as China’s top universities initiate a significant series of reforms in the study of Foreign Affairs. Xing Yue, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, moderated a panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing the academic discipline of Foreign Affairs in China. Panelists included deans, professors, and academics from top universities all around China.

A New Era for the Study of Foreign Affairs

• A New Kind of Academic Discipline: Panelists agreed that the importance of foreign affairs as a discipline will grow even stronger as China’s economic and political influence continues to increase. Wang Chunying, Professor at China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), explained that his university pioneered a Second Bachelor’s Degree policy in 1994. Through offering this second Bachelor’s Degree in Diplomacy, CFAU paved the way for reforming the academic discipline of foreign affairs in China. This second degree allows CFAU to select China’s top college graduates from a variety of academic backgrounds to study for a second, diplomacy-specific degree. He added that CFAU is responsible for training more than 300 ambassadors and publishing a textbook that is widely used in classes on foreign affairs.
   
• Specific Changes: Chinese diplomatic education has expanded its focus in recent years. Wang explained that CFAU led these reforms by adding a focus on foreign affairs theory, global governance, public diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation, and international law. Other top universities have only begun to adopt the reforms initiated by CFAU, the panelists added.
   
• Shifting Diplomacy to Become Top Research Priority: Other top universities have begun following CFAU’s lead, the panelists said. For example, Fudan University established an expansive Foreign Studies Department in 2008 and Chinese diplomacy was named one of the main focus areas for Fudan’s research. Zhang Ji, a professor at Fudan University, explained that while research on foreign studies has been emphasized since 2008, foreign studies have only recently been integrated into the university’s curriculum.

Remaining Challenges

• Foreign Affairs Study and Related Careers: Tian Xiaohui, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, pointed out that foreign affairs graduates do not always continue on to related careers. In order to encourage these graduates to choose a career in their field, Beijing Foreign Studies University established a Center on Public Diplomacy and another Center on International Organization.
   
• Time to Think Locally: Hu Ruihua, Dean and Professor at Xi’an Foreign Studies University, stressed that the practical applications of foreign affairs study in China remains ill-defined. For example, he observed that in Xi’an students remain disconnected with the local government. As a result, these graduates have little impact on local civil society.
   
• Lack of Priority: Li Baojun, Deputy Dean and Professor at Renmin University, explained that some universities are taking a very different approach to the study of foreign affairs. Renmin University is suspending its Master’s Degree of Foreign Affairs Study and combining international relations and international politics into one department. Li attributed this shift to a believe that foreign affairs is a “non-academic study.” While many top Chinese universities are shifting greater resources towards studying foreign affairs, Li concluded, in other universities the discipline still remains marginalized.
   

IMGXYZ9221IMGZYXWith its growing global influence, China has reached a strategic turning point. Beijing must decide if it wants to continue a low-profile path of non-interference or if it should be more assertive and take a greater stake in world affairs. Brett Blackshaw, Regional Unit Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, moderated a panel discussion on China’s grand diplomatic strategy. Panelists included Xia Liping of Tongji University, Holli A. Semetko of Emory University, Cai Tuo of China University, and Horace G. Campbell of Syracuse University.

China’s Diplomatic Adjustment

• Emergence of a Strategic Pattern: The focus of the global political economy has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, reflecting the emerging role of developing countries, Xia stated. The West has accepted that developing world is playing an increasingly important part in the global financial system, while developing countries, including China, are increasingly willing to participate in the international political system.
   
• Trends in the International System: China will achieve true modernization by the middle of this century, Xia contended. However, as the global order changes, he predicted that there will be a natural de-emphasis on the great powers of the United States and China.
   
• Security: The United States and China share many common challenges and goals in both traditional and nontraditional security, including combating terrorist threats, confronting the prospect of global climate change, and halting nuclear proliferation (particularly in North Korea), Xia added.
   
• Human Development:  The world is witnessing a conflict between human development and natural resources, which has lead to clashes over resource procurement, Xia said. This is evidenced in the China’s maritime industrialization and the conflicts in the South China Sea over potential resource rights.
   
• Traditional Paradigm Shift: A majority of scholars in China still cling to traditional views of Chinese low-profile diplomacy. Xia argued that there should be a diplomatic adjustment toward peaceful development. China can no longer be a “free rider” and must play the role of a “reasonable” big country, he contended.
   
• The Taiwan Issue: According to Xia, China must focus its national defense efforts on unifying the Mainland and Taiwan, but it is critical that this is not done in a threatening manner.
   
• The Lonely Emerging Giant: China is different from other emerging countries. It still has unsettled border issues, though it has chosen to focus on the welfare of its citizens. Xia argued that China must make use of its newfound economic power in diplomacy. It must work peacefully with other powers in the South China Sea, but if other countries act aggressively, China can impose economic sanctions to exert its power.
   
• Why Does China’s Diplomacy Need to Transform?: According to Cai, some Chinese domestic issues have become internationalized and vice versa. Examples of such issues include energy, climate change, and resource procurements. Accordingly, 2012 presents several over these intertwined domestic-international geopolitical changes. These include: the U.S. presidential elections, the change in Chinese leadership, South Korean presidential elections, and political elections in Hong Kong and Macau.
   
• Integration of Domestic and International Politics: As more global attention is shifted to China, other nations will begin to sharpen their assessment of the direction China is moving in. This will naturally create a more complex international political system. Cai believes that China, perhaps begrudgingly so, cannot afford to develop further without increasing participation in the international community.

Specific Trends

• The United States: China, as a developing country, must maintain a stable interstate relationship with the United States and should not worry about becoming an emerging superpower, Cai said. The United States has a safe and stable geopolitical environment, while China still has to deal with North Korea, cross-strait issues, and disputes in the South China Sea.
   
• Africa: Campbell stressed that Africa should be central to China’s diplomatic curriculum to match China’s diplomatic rhetoric of holding Africa as “a friend.”
   
• The European Debt Crisis: There has been a shift in the fundamental nature of the international political economy, as a result of what George Soros called a “crisis of capitalism,” Campbell said. He warned that leaders must be leery of turning to militarism, competitive devaluation, and trade wars to avoid domestic economic crisis.
   
• Avoiding Military Conflict: China can be influential in preventing conflict around the world. Campbell argued that China should take a stronger leadership role on UN Security Council to prevent Israel from attacking Iran. China should practice proactive diplomacy to prevent intervention in the name of peace and humanitarianism. This would give meaning to its white paper on peaceful development.
   
• Bio-economy: The rising emphasis in the global economy on energy and resources, termed the “bio-economy,” is making obsolete old forms of diplomacy, Campbell said. There is a new form of “energy diplomacy” that will require investment in new energy.
   
• Domestic Development: In order to engage in this diplomatic transformation, Cai argued that China must create sustainable domestic development and promote energy independence, social stability, and political security. This will help to establish the “harmonious society” that government officials are perpetually touting, Cai added.
   
• Finding a Balance: While China is determined to become strong, Cai suggested that Beijing needed to find a balance between “power and soul.” He compared China to the Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, who has the intellect of a child. China can be big and powerful, but it needs to develop its “mental” capacity, he said. This is particularly pertinent to the development of the country’s economy and strategy.

U.S. Media and Chinese Public Diplomacy

• Building Stronger Relationships: Since the media often portrays foreign relations in the framework of threats, the United States and China launched initiatives in 2009 to build stronger relationships in order to diminish these negative stereotypes. Television news allows the two countries to convey messages to their respective populations, explained Semetko.
   
• Declining TV Influence: Even with its decline in viewership, television news programs are still the most common way of disseminating information in the United States. In fact, ratings have gone up in the 25-54 year old demographics, the most coveted age group. According to Semetko, people have become more dependent on news media to orient themselves politically. She believes that TV news in the United States has become more important than the news press at influencing public opinion.
   
• Variance in the Main Networks’ Coverage: The three largest networks in the United States, ABC, CBS, and NBC, covered China in different ways over the past couple of years, Semetko explained. NBC covered primarily natural disasters and crime related stories in China, as well as President Hu Jintao’s 2011 state visit to the United States. ABC’s Diane Sawyer did a week long special in 2011 on China that took in-depth looks at a range of topics, such as the use of English in China, energy, business, and the views of U.S. citizens on China. CBS focused primarily on Chinese issues that directly affected U.S. domestic policy in 2010. In 2011, it covered President Hu’s visit to the United States and did an expose on white-collar Americans living in China.
   
• Positive and Negative Spin: Some of the more polarizing cable news networks have different slants on China, added Semetko. For example, Fox News has had the most consistently negative reporting on China in the 2010 and 2011, while CNN has been more positive.