Table Of ContentDOMINIK MIERZEJEWSKI,
BARTOSZ KOWALSKI
CHINA’S SELECTIVE
IDENTITIES
State, Ideology and Culture
Global Political Transitions
Series Editors
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Independent University of Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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University of Southern Denmark
Odense, Denmark
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S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Nanyang Technological University
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Dominik Mierzejewski • Bartosz Kowalski
China’s Selective
Identities
State, Ideology and Culture
Dominik Mierzejewski Bartosz Kowalski
Faculty of Int’l & Political Studies Faculty of Int’l & Political Studies
University of Łódź Faculty of Int’l & University of Łódź Faculty of Int’l &
Political Studies Political Studies
Łódź, Poland Łódź, Poland
ISSN 2522-8730 ISSN 2522-8749 (electronic)
Global Political Transitions
ISBN 978-981-13-0163-6 ISBN 978-981-13-0164-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0164-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947631
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A
cknowledgments
Writing this title would not be possible without the support and help from
many people and institutions. The book is the result of the three-year
research project financed by the Polish National Science Center on deci-
sion no. UMO-2013/09/B/HS5/02650. During the period of prepar-
ing this book, both authors traveled and discussed various parts of the
research project with Chinese, American, and European scholars. We are
particularly grateful for all the comments and insights provided by profes-
sors Wang Yizhou (Beijing University), Yan Xuetong (Qinghua University),
David Shambaugh (George Washington University), and Vladimir
Portyakov (Russian Academy of Science). We are especially indebted to
two Polish China experts: professor Jan Rowinski, and former Ambassador
to China H. E. Ksawery Burski. Both studied and worked in China as
diplomats, and witnessed the changes in China since 1950 onwards.
v
c
ontents
1 I ntroduction: Theoretical Understanding of China’s
Selective Identities 1
2 Building China’s State Identity: Interests, Institutions,
and Conflicts 31
3 Debating China as Ideology: Marxism, Materialism,
and Own Way 97
4 Beyond the Borders: Utopia, Uniqueness, and Soft-Power 157
5 Conclusions 221
Index 233
vii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: Theoretical Understanding
of China’s Selective Identities
Since the nineteenth century, due to the growing interaction with external
others, China has been facing a problem of finding a place for itself in
international society. Building an individual identity for the “state” that
tends to be “all under the heaven” (tianxia) and a civilization has been
perceived as a fundamental challenge. The then Sinocentric view, a model
of auxiliary states (fuguo) and the Confucian vision of great unity (datong)
was challenged by the Western modern state apparatus (Shang Huipeng,
2009, p. 57–58). Through interaction with external others, China had the
Westphalia nation-state centric system imposed upon it by the Western
powers. At this point, the collision between two different perceptions of
the world in the nineteenth century played an important role in shaping
China’s international behavior today. After years of being economically
backward, China is rising and, like every rising power, is attempting to
substantiate its legacy by building its own identity, and through these
means, shape its power status. Along with China’s growing economy and
greatly improved material status, Chinese authorities have raised questions
of fairness, equality, and justice. On the one hand, China shows its aspira-
tions, but on the other, it tries to meet international expectations. By
building its own set of values and identity, China hopes to protect its
national interests, create a peaceful environment for further moderniza-
tion, as well as shape its identity at the same time. The Chinese identity is
perceived as socially constructed and shaped by China’s historical
© The Author(s) 2019 1
D. Mierzejewski, B. Kowalski, China’s Selective Identities, Global
Political Transitions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0164-3_1
2 D. MIERZEJEWSKI AND B. KOWALSKI
experiences. For this, Chinese leaders have shaped the principles of peace-
ful coexistence and assisting the developing world. During Mao’s time,
China developed a coherent, revolutionary identity, and tried to build a
united front with the Third World. Despite being more pragmatic and
non- revolutionary oriented, policymakers in the 1980s were reminded of
China’s principles and the need for contributing to developing countries.
During the next two decades, Beijing continuously built its economic
strength and in 2005 used the moral term “harmonious world” to describe
its actions in the world. Xi Jinping introduced new dynamics with his Belt
and Road initiative and leveraged China to become a global actor that
does business in every corner of the world.
To the surprise of Chinese policymakers, China’s macroeconomic suc-
cess has elevated China to become the world’s second-largest economy.
After China became involved in international affairs as a UNand WTO
member state, the question “who is China?” has become more evident.
The “new-old” questions raised by John K. Fairbank (1966) still remain:
“Communist China? – How far Communist? How far Chinese?” A second
important issue is how to build equal status among the family of nations.
A third issue is how to evaluate the impact of China’s vast cultural heritage
and historical experiences on China’s international behavior (Fairbank,
1966, p. 574). We also follow up on the question raised by Samuel Kim:
How constant or changeable is Chinese foreign policy over time, espe-
cially in the transition from the Cold War to the post-Cold War era, and
why? (Kim, 1984, p. 25). From the perspective of this work, the core
question of how far China, as a rising power, is different from the West
might be considered as one of the most critical issues. Other fundamental
questions are: How does China place the United States within the format
of selective identities, and what are China’s primary reasons for group-
ing political actors with different types of identity, what for, and how was
this done? And finally, how does China build its position within the power
transition theory?
Revealing the actor’s postures and variety of foreign policy approaches
might explain behaviors in international relations. For a realist, the most
important issue is power when understood as a material factor that shapes
a state’s position in international relations, whereas for an idealist, the
dominant idea of “lasting peace” plays a more significant role. Finally, for
constructivists, identity and subjective knowledge are the driving forces of
state behavior (Ruggie, 1998, p. 855–860).
INTRODUCTION: THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF CHINA’S… 3
The above research questions and puzzles are answered and discussed
from the social constructivist perspective. Constructivists of different
approaches agree on the fundamental point that “humans see the world
through perspectives, developed socially … [meaning] reality is social,
and what we see” out there “and within ourselves is developed in inter-
action with others” (Palan, 2000, p. 571–580). According to Alexander
Wendt, constructivism in an international relationship is characterized
more specifically by its “idealism.” The structures of human behaviors
are determined primarily by shared ideas rather than material forces,
and these shared ideas construct identities and interests of purposive
actors rather than being given by nature. Hans Morgenthau who was
named the father of political realism said: “we look over his [the states-
man’s] shoulder when he writes his dispatches; we listen in on conversa-
tions with other statesmen; we read and anticipate his very thoughts”
(Ibid.).
Social constructivism argues that the ideational structure shapes the
identity of the agent, and the structure in Wendt’s constructivism is not
material but cultural, defined by the distribution of ideas. Culture is
shared knowledge, which includes shared beliefs, understandings, and
expectations formed in the process of interaction among social beings.
The essence of international politics, in the view of Wendt, is ideas rather
than material capabilities. It adopts mainstream assumptions of construc-
tivism: cooperation among states is a social process and norms have
essential constitutive effects, with culture taking priority. The primary
model of interest and identity is transformed via interactions with exter-
nal others (Qin Yaqing, Wei Ling, 2008, p. 125). Under the constructiv-
ist approach, significant policy actions taken by the People’s Republic of
China are fundamentally based on spreading efforts to promote its status
via constructing and exercising different types of identities. As a conse-
quence, the Chinese hope to have a soft-influence and be different from
other global actors. Following the constructivist approach, it is not only
material issues that play an essential role in international relations.
Rhetoric, which is understood here as a diplomatic language and argu-
mentation, is also of crucial importance in shaping the understanding of
foreign policy motivations, especially in triangular relations conducted by
China with neighbors, significant powers, and developing countries. In
some respect, we follow the argument presented by Soren Clausen (1998)
