China’s Two Identities

Table of Contents

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This chapter starts by presenting several Chinese international actions associated with two very different foreign policy patterns. The often brutal hard power approach related to territorial disputes such as those in the South China Sea and at the Indian border, the dramatic increase of military and especially naval capabilities, the recent launching of a Chinese-led security community, and the ‘wolf warrior’ intimidation of foreign journalists, politicians, and governments stands in stark contrast with China’s relationality-based normative power actorness well-illustrated by the working of the Belt and Road Initiative. An understanding of China’s bifurcated foreign policy is then proposed that is based on the existence of two different Chinese identities respectively associated with the concepts of the 19^th-century-style territorial empire and 21^st-century-style postmodern global power. The chapter proceeds by briefly discussing the factors that have led to the unusual coexistence of these identities, their origin and evolution, and the virtuous circle–characterized by a specific division of labor–they form in the context of the construction by the leadership in Beijing of a new, Chinese-led international order. The book’s organization is then scrutinized, which includes a brief presentation of each chapter’s content. Finally, relevant methodological aspects are discussed.

3. Chapter 2. A Constructivist Theoretical Framework

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   In this chapter sets up the book’s theoretical apparatus. It starts by discussing the concept of identity, as well as its understanding and use by thin cognitivist Constructivists, while insisting on the multiplicity of each actor’s identities. The process of international socialization is then analyzed based on Jeffrey Checkel’s views of Type I and II socialization. International socialization is seen as an exercise of power but also as producing power. The chapter proceeds by defining normative power and discussing its key features. Because China’s specific type of normative power is based on relationality, this concept is analyzed in a separate section. The concept of empire is then discussed as relying on one state’s formal or informal control of other political societies. The final section brings together theoretical elements proposed by Richard Rosecrance in his analysis of the virtual state, Susan Strange in her study of structural power, and Barry Buzan and Gerald Segal in their discussion of the postmodern state. They are used to define and analyze the concepts of 19^th-century-style territorial empire and 21^st-century-style postmodern global power. Finally, the chapter shows that these concepts allow for a comprehensive understanding of the corresponding dimensions of China’s global actorness.

4. Chapter 3. China as Territorial Empire

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the 19^th-century-type territorial empire identity that present China inherited from the Maoist period. Due to regime continuity, Deng’s reforms did not put an end to China’s perceived vulnerability to external threats. Events ranging from the fall of communism in Eastern Europe to the American intervention in Iraq convinced the leadership in Beijing of the need to preserve and strengthen China’s military instruments, which could be done only through the maintenance of the territorial empire. To avoid a Sino-American clash in the Pacific, President Xi’s construction of a new, Chinese-led international order took the form of a projection of normative power targeting the Global South. But the US ‘pivot to Asia’ convinced him of the critical importance of the protective role played by the hard power-based territorial empire, whose expansion and actorness he intensified. Its concentration of sovereignty and territoriality is well illustrated by the over-securitization process associated with President Xi’s concept of comprehensive national security and China’s involvement in various territorial disputes. Subchapter 3.4 concludes the chapter by scrutinizing the geostrategic dimension of the confrontation between China the territorial empire and the increasingly coherent and effective ‘networked security architecture’ created by the US Indo-Pacific Strategy.

5. Chapter 4. China as Socializee

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This Chapter analyzes China’s socialization in multilateral institutions that resulted in the emergence and development of its 21^st-century-style postmodern global power identity. To ensure the success of economic reforms, the post-1979 leadership in Beijing embraced multilateralism and international institutions. Details are provided of China’s participation in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the international environmental regime, the UN Conference on Disarmament, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and the international human rights regime. A common pattern of socialization is identified based on micro-processes of role playing/mimicking and social influence involving Chinese experts, high-ranking officials, and the political elite. However, this only led to Checkel’s first, less advanced type of socialization. Not all the norms of multilateral institutions were adopted and a reciprocal socialization phase typically followed the apprenticeship one. This is a Chinese effort to change the norms of multilateral institutions in ways beneficial to Beijing’s interests. This process often brought significant results but was unable to take China beyond the situation of a ‘body’ nation caught in a center-periphery economic relationship and subordinated to Western-controlled socializers. Before President Xi launched the construction of a new international order, China’s 21^st-century-style postmodern global power identity was only half-developed.

6. Chapter 5. China as Socializer

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This chapter analyzes the consolidation of China’s 21^st-century-style postmodern global power identity associated with the construction of a new, Chinese-led international order. The latter relies on a set of Chinese multilateral institutions that prominently include the Belt and Road Initiative. The process of Chinese socialization it enacts is examined in detail in a separate subchapter, which points to the creation of an international center-periphery structure based on patron-client relationships. The same Initiative has been instrumental in the development of two Chinese-centered globalizations ‘from above’ and ‘from below.’ The former upgraded China the postmodern global power to a ‘head’ nation in control of new transnational economic flows and institutional mechanisms of global governance. The ‘from below’ globalization led to the ‘transnationalisation of the Chinese nation-state’ based on the use of a deterritorial Chinese identity. Both reinforce Beijing’s international order as a thick order that relies on massive and diverse globalizing flows of goods and people. As a result, China’s 21^st-century-style postmodern global power identity has finally reached maturity. At present, this identity plays an important role in shaping world politics. In the future, however, challenges that notably include the American counteroffensive might significantly alter both its features and its international impact.

7. Chapter 6. China and the Solomon Islands

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This chapter uses the Chinese presence in the Solomon Islands to study the interplay of China’s two identities. The Belt and Road Initiative was used by China the postmodern global power to socialize the Pacific Islands political elites in power. Less predictably, the riots that periodically target the increasingly large Chinese diaspora were instrumentalized to justify the regional involvement of China the territorial empire. By 2022, the secretive China-Pacific Islands Countries Common Development Vision ‘aimed to create a bloc of China-Pacific Island countries’ that would challenge America’s ‘island chains’ strategy. The case of the Solomon Islands shows how successive anti-Chinese riots had very limited consequences in 2006 but were used as a reason to shift diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019 and were instrumentalized to conclude a secret bilateral security agreement in 2022 that brought China the territorial empire deep into the Pacific. This is illustrative of the virtuous circle formed by China’s two identities. The postmodern global power identity serves to bring in the territorial empire, which will eventually protect it militarily. For the time being, however, we are witnessing only the first stage of this process where the postmodern global power remains China’s most important identity.

8. Chapter 7. Conclusion

   Theodor Tudoroiu

   Abstract

   This chapter presents the book’s findings and conclusions. It first shows how, due to regime continuity, the 21^st-century-style postmodern global power identity had to develop as a new identity layer instead of simply replacing the 19^th-century-type territorial empire identity. It then briefly examines the drive to maturity of the former identity as a result of the construction of a new, Chinese-led international order and two Chinese-centered globalizations. The two Chinese identities form a virtuous circle, but its survival is threatened by a growth crisis triggered by two factors: the absence of security-related norms in the normative core of the postmodern global power identity, which prevents the Chinese-socialized political elites in partner states from willingly accepting the arrival of the territorial empire; and the coherent and well-organized counteroffensive of the United States and its allies. The leadership in Beijing responded by launching the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, whose specific roles are analyzed. The last part of the chapter discusses the influence of Beijing’s old and new Initiatives on the future evolution and interplay of the two Chinese identities, as well as these identities’ impact on China, its international order, and the international system.