Department of World Cultures University of Helsinki CONSTRUCTING THE ROLE OF A GREAT POWER CHINA’S PERIPHERAL RELATIONS, TERRITORIAL DISPUTES, AND ROLE CHANGE, 2002–2012 TEEMU NAARAJÄRVI ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki, for public examination in lecture room 1, Metsätalo, on 26 May 2017, at 12 noon. Helsinki 2017 © Teemu Naarajärvi 2017 ISBN 978-951-51-3162-1 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-3163-8 (PDF) UNIGRAFIA Helsinki 2017 ABSTRACT This dissertation analyses the role development of the People’s Republic of China during the time between the 16th and 18th party congresses of the Chinese Communist Party (2002 and 2012). Employing the theoretical framework of constructivist role theory, this study argues that during this time China’s international roles – social positions based on national role conceptions as well as domestic and external expectations towards those roles – went through significant changes that were originally resisted by the Chinese state. By tracing the processes of China’s role change I create a historical narrative in which I compare three different cases of China’s peripheral foreign policy: Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Japan. All these cases involve China’s territorial disputes, highlighting the interactional nature of a nation’s international roles, and giving this work additional focus. As my primary material I use speeches of the Chinese top leadership during the time frame of my study. By analysing the speech acts of the national leaders and by comparing them to developments in Chinese foreign policy, I reconstruct the process of China’s role change in each of the three cases. To provide additional evidence, I also use Chinese articles in two major international relations journals in China, ȇ=Ë̇kɈ (Xiandai Guoji Guanxi) and Ë̠̇̃Ȧȷ (Guoji Wenti Yanjiu), as well as selected interviews among scholars of international relations in the Sinophone World. The first of my case studies discusses China’s role change in Central Asia, where China, according to my study, first learned how to enact the role of a great power. The second case study looks into the development of China’s international role towards Southeast Asia, where the ongoing disputes on the South China Sea and China’s need to engage more with ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, led China to adapt its great power role. The third and final case study analyses the resistance that China’s great power role has met with Japan, making both role learning and adapting ineffective. Thus, China has resorted to altercasting, by continuing to emphasise Japan’s inadequate handling of its wartime history, thus trying to undermine the position of Japan. With this dissertation I also test the applicability of role theory in the study of Chinese foreign policy. Until recently, role theory has been employed mainly in the study of democratic countries and it needs to be adjusted to the study of authoritarian states. Keywords: China, foreign policy analysis, role theory, peripheral diplomacy, territorial disputes ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has received financial support from several sources. I would like to particularly thank the support of Emil Aaltonen Foundation and Joel Toivola Foundation for the numerous research grants they provided for my work. In addition, the field work grant of Kone Foundation and the support of Nordic Centre at Fudan University, Shanghai, made an extensive stay in China possible during my research in 2013–2014. Moreover, the former Graduate School of Contemporary Asian Studies provided both financial and academic support for my work in its earlier stages. At the University of Helsinki, my colleagues at the former Institute of Asian and African Studies, nowadays Department of World Cultures, have provided me with not only a stimulating academic work environment but also an exceptional epistemic community of specialists of different times and places. My long journey at that department has taken place alongside Saana Svärd and Riikka Tuori, although at a noticeable slower pace than them. And when, after my frequent stays abroad, I found myself comfortably back in room B205 with Patricia Berg, Ilkka Lindstedt, and Inka Nokso-Koivisto, it truly felt like returning home. Being the slow writer I am, towards the end of my work my roommates changed to Antti Laine, Kaisa Kantola, Joonas Maristo, and Simona Olivieri (who also helped me with the layout of the dissertation) without any noticeable change in the atmosphere of that remarkable room. Upon exiting (reluctantly) that room I meet people such as Sylvia Akar, Lotta Aunio, Thera Crane, Alex Fleisch, Jouni Harjumäki, Sanae Ito, Hannu Juusola, Jonna Katto, Mikko Viitamäki and Xenia Zeiler. They, too, have played an important part in this academic endeavour. Perhaps nobody has, however, shown the true spirit of area studies as clearly as my supervisor, Professor of East Asian Studies Juha Janhunen, who long time ago accepted without flinching a PhD student with a very vague idea of something related to Chinese foreign policy. For a renowned linguist this might be seen as a step away from his comfort zone, but Juha’s trust in my ability to finish what I promised has always kept me going. iii Towards the very end of my PhD, the Department of World Cultures at the University of Helsinki was lucky to gain Julie Yu-Wen Chen as its Professor of Chinese Studies. This meant that I was no longer alone in my focus on China’s external relations, and I have tried to take advantage of this development to the full. China scholars of Finland are no longer the small club it used to be, and it is not possible to acknowledge the input of all those people I have worked with while trying to understand China better. However, people like Raisa Asikainen, Obert Hodzi, Jyrki Kallio, Outi Luova, Mikael Mattlin, Matti Nojonen, Lauri Paltemaa, Taru Salmenkari, Elina Sinkkonen and Juha A. Vuori all deserve my warmest gratitude. Outside of Finland the task of thanking people becomes an even lengthier one, and I could never do it properly. However, writing this dissertation would not have been possible without the inputs of Chen Zhimin, Ren Xiao, Jing Yijia, Zhao Huasheng, and Liu Chunrong at Fudan University; Jin Canrong and Shi Yinhong at Renmin University of China; Shih Chih-yu at National Taiwan University; Huang Chiung-chiu at National Chengchi University, and of course the now-retired Joseph Cheng at the City University of Hong Kong. My external examiners, Shaun Breslin and Jörn-Carsten Gottwald, gave extremely valuable feedback on my work. The same goes with Marc Lanteigne and Niall Duggan, who have gone way beyond the responsibility of a colleague and friend in commenting various drafts of this work, while Marc also frequently helped me in acquiring research funding. As the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki limits the lengths of its PhD dissertations, I am not able to thank my beloved wife, best friend, unparalleled academic mentor, and partner in crime Merja Polvinen at the length and with the sincerity that would be even remotely appropriate. Thus I will merely acknowledge the fact that every single idea in this study was firstly inspired by her, later read by her and lastly, corrected by her into a better formulation. The remaining mistakes found in the dissertation were inserted there by the writer in the middle of the night without consulting her. iv ABBREVIATIONS AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ARF ASEAN Regional Forum ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CBDR Common but differentiated responsibilities CC Central Committee (of the CCP) CCP Chinese Communist Party CICIR China Institutes of Contemporary Relations CIIS China Institute of International Studies EAS East Asia Summit EEZ Economic Exclusive Zone ETIM East Turkestan Islamic Movement EU European Union FALSG Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group (of CCP) FMPRC Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of China FOCAC Forum of China-Africa Cooperation FP Foreign Policy FPA Foreign Policy Analysis IMF International Monetary Fund IR (The study of) International Relations LDP Liberal Democratic Party (of Japan) LSG Leading Small Group (of the CCP) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NRC National Role Conception OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe PB Political Bureau, Politburo (of the CCP) PRC People’s Republic of China SASS Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences SIIS Shanghai Institute of International Studies SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organisation UN United Nations UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea US United States WTO World Trade Organisation XUAR Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (of China) v NOTE ON TRANSLITERATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS In accordance with the contemporary style and international standards, I have used hanyu pinyin [ǝʧŷ̙] system throughout for transliterating Chinese into Latin alphabet. The only exception to this rule is made with the Chinese names of those individuals, who themselves use some other method of romanization. In those cases, their preferred system is used. Also, as it is customary in Chinese to write the surname before the given name, I have followed this practise unless the individuals in question have themselves used the form more familiar to the western reader. Translations from Chinese to English, unless otherwise mentioned, are mine. In some cases, official translations