ECFR and the Asia Centre have a new edition of China Analysis just out which is on the question of whether China has become too bold in its dealings with the rest of the world – and focuses, rather intriguingly, on some of the apparently quite charged debates that Chinese policymakers are having among themselves on this theme.
Some of the key themes to emerge, they say, are:
- Alarm about a trend towards triumphalism and confrontational behaviour in dealing with both the USA and Asian states over the past year, and the belief in some quarters that “2010 was unequivocally a year of losses for China,” during which its relationships with everyone – except the Europeans and North Korea – deteriorated
- Concern that Chinese insensitivity might encourage other countries to form balancing coalitions against China – noting, for example, astute US exploitation of Beijing’s recent disputes with neighbours, for example over the South China Sea
- A sense that Chinese foreign policy has become internally divisive because nobody is driving it – not even the foreign ministry
- An unprecedented degree of confidence in the inevitability of China’s rise, despite its foreign policy problems; a feeling that China’s future on the world stage will be determined by its own choices, rather than by anyone else
Download the pdf here.
