Critical Decade, A: China's Foreign Policy (2008-2018). Zhiqun Zhu
exchanges frequently reminds me of the solid bonds at the societal level between China and Western societies, especially when bilateral relations at the governmental level tend to fluctuate as political atmospheres change.
From 1991 to 1994 I worked at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai as the senior assistant to the Public Affairs Officer (Consul for Press and Cultural Affairs). It was during those years that I became immensely interested in Chinese foreign policy and U.S.–China relations. Highlights of my experience at the Consulate included welcoming various U.S. Congressional delegations that were in China to promote bilateral exchanges and hosting President Richard Nixon during his final, private visit to China in April 1993 before he passed away a year later. I vividly remember Nixon’s recount to the Consulate staff of his decision to visit China and sign the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972. The Consulate’s Public Affairs Section used to be part of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), which was responsible for “public diplomacy” to promote American culture, values, and policies abroad through the American Centers or libraries. The USIA ceased to exist in 1999 and many of its functions and staff were merged into the U.S. Department of State.
In the early 1990s when I was involved in public affairs at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai, the Chinese government knew and did little about “public diplomacy.” The pendulum has swung to the other side. Today the Chinese government spends billions of dollars a year in an effort to enhance its international image and shape global opinions of China. China established its first Confucius Institute in Seoul, Korea in 2004 to promote Chinese language, culture and soft power; the number of Confucius Institutes around the world had reached over 500 by the mid-2010s. In addition, major news outlets of China are broadcasting non-stop in major foreign languages or operating directly in different parts of the world to tell “the China story.”
I moved to the United States in summer 1994 as a special non-degree graduate student in English at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. I fell in love with this beautiful country and its kind people right away. I did not realize then that I would return to the great Commonwealth and make it my home 14 years later. Spending my first year in rural Pennsylvania gave me a fresh perspective of observing politics and international relations from the grassroots level. While politicians in Washington, DC like to talk about national security, local people care more about jobs. Between 1995 and 2003, I completed my Master’s and Doctoral degrees in political science at Indiana State University and the University of South Carolina in Columbia, respectively. I began teaching at the college level in the United States in 2001, from the University of South Carolina to Hamilton College and then to the University of Bridgeport.
With an endowed chair professorship, I joined Bucknell University as the MacArthur Chair in East Asian Politics in 2008, returning to Pennsylvania with my family. Bucknell University is an elite liberal arts college about 3 hours away from Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, DC. The University has become more diverse and globally oriented while maintaining its academic and athletic excellence. In the 10 years I’ve been at Bucknell University, the total number of enrolled Chinese students has exploded from a single digit to well over 150. In contrast, the number of Bucknell students studying in China has remained small, reflecting the national trend in the past decade with most American universities and colleges seeing an exponential increase of Chinese students (from 81,127 in 2007–2008 to 363,341 in 2017–2018), while the number of American students studying in China has stayed flat at around 12,000–13,000 a year.1 Clearly, much needs to be done to raise Americans’ awareness of China’s development and influence in the world today, and more importantly, to turn that awareness into action. Though my first book, US–China Relations in the 21st Century: Power Transition and Peace, which is based on my doctoral dissertation, was published in 2005, most of my scholarly research and writings were conducted after 2008. It has been an enriching, exciting, and rewarding experience teaching at a top liberal arts college.
The decade from 2008 to 2018 is undoubtedly a critical period in China’s contemporary history and its relations with the outside world. It began with China’s “coming out” as a great power through hosting the spectacular Beijing Olympics and culminated in Xi Jinping’s elevation to be the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. As China leapfrogged to become the second largest economy and a global power, its leadership and public have become more confident, hence a more active and even assertive foreign policy today. Meanwhile, China faced tremendous internal and external challenges, from declining economic growth to strained relations with major powers, particularly the United States. My writings during the decade — some of which were obviously not fully developed — largely reflect my thinking about the changes and continuities in Chinese foreign policy at the time. Whether one agrees with my views or not, one can learn about some of the major issues and challenges in China’s foreign policy during the decade.
The book is divided into three parts, preceded by the Preface and a chronology of major events related to China’s foreign relations from 2000 to 2018. Part I contains the introductory chapter about China’s foreign policy in a rapidly changing world and an extensive annotated bibliography of recent English and Chinese publications on Chinese foreign policy. Part II is a collection of selected policy commentaries and short scholarly writings of mine between 2008 and 2018 on key issues in Chinese foreign policy, including chapters on U.S.–China relations, the Korean Peninsula, India and Japan, Taiwan, and global and regional cooperation. Most pieces in Part II were originally published by international media outlets and scholarly online journals such as The Diplomat, e-International Relations, U.S. News & World Report, The Globe and Mail, The National Interest, Policy Forum, and The Christian Science Monitor. They were only slightly modified where necessary to be included in this book. Part III deals with some key challenges in Chinese foreign policy during the critical decade and beyond, including chapters on the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese investment in the West, and China’s soft power deficiency. In lieu of a conclusion, the final chapter addresses problems and challenges in China’s efforts to promote soft power abroad and suggests some ways for China to do a better job moving forward.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity provided by the World Scientific Publishing to publish this book. Senior editor Lixi Dong is instrumental in turning a book idea into the final product. She strongly encouraged me, a “veteran” author (her word) with the World Scientific Publishing, to publish with them once again. She offered a publishing contract to me even as I was still working on the book and only had the faintest idea of what it would look like. Who can turn down such a wonderful and sincere invitation? I thank Aanand Jayaraman for working tirelessly on the book at the production stage.
I also want to thank the Oxford University Press and Asian Perspective/Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University for granting the permissions to use my previously published works for Chapters Two and Nine in this book. The original articles have been revised and updated for the book.
Chinese foreign policy is a complex field of study, with different approaches, theories, analyses, and observations. Each decade or time period also has its unique features in the history of contemporary China. China’s foreign relations reach every corner of the globe, covering countries big and small. Since my main interests are East Asia and U.S.–China relations, I do not thoroughly study Chinese foreign policy toward every part of the world; I only briefly touch upon China’s relations with Africa, Russia, Western Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and other regions in this book. The book does not engage in theoretical debate about Chinese foreign policy although Chapters One and Two concisely examine such theoretical explorations by Chinese and non-Chinese scholars in recent years. It is my ambition and hope that this book will contribute to the study of Chinese foreign policy in general and the 2008–2018 decade in particular, with a focus on major issues and challenges facing China during the period and beyond. If readers will gain a better and deeper understanding of Chinese foreign policy and politics after reading the book, I will be extremely and eternally satisfied. Of course, all the errors in the book are mine only.
Zhiqun Zhu
Lewisburg, PennsylvaniaJanuary 2019
1This is based on the Open Doors data published by the Institute of International Education (https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data).