University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2012 Harmonious Intervention: Pragmatism and Political Culture of China's East Asian Order Chiung-Chiu Huang University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Asian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Huang, Chiung-Chiu, "Harmonious Intervention: Pragmatism and Political Culture of China's East Asian Order" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 828. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/828 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. HARMONIOUS INTERVENTION: PRAGMATISM AND POLITICAL CULTURE OF CHINA’S EAST ASIAN ORDER __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Chiung-Chiu Huang June 2012 Advisor: Suisheng Zhao © Copyright by Chiung-Chiu Huang 2012 All Rights Reserved Author: Chiung-Chiu Huang Title: HARMONIOUS INTERVENTION: PRAGMATISM AND POLITICAL CULTURE OF CHINA’S EAST ASIAN ORDER Advisor: Suisheng Zhao Degree Date: June 2012 Abstract The 21st century began with two major features—global governance and China rising. An important aspect for investigating if China will turn into a responsible great power or the contrary is to see how China deals with pariah states which have been targets of international intervention. Yet China seems to fail the expectation by blocking proposals of interventions in the Security Council. The main task of this dissertation is to investigate why China holds negative attitude toward intervention via coercive means on so-called pariah states. This research project firstly investigates the realist assumption that China rejects to support intervention for immediate and apparent material interests. The second level of investigation is pillared by constructivism and focuses on the power of social pressure and China’s relations with the target states. The third level is looking for the answers from inner perspectives, i.e. China’s evaluation of the cases of intervention and how such evaluation is shaped by Chinese worldview and political culture. The two cases selected are North Korea and Myanmar. This dissertation provides evidences via detailed case studies and nullifies the conventional explanations. It further depicts the Chinese pattern of intervention and the specific style constructed on China’s pursuit of relational security. The finding of this research should contribute to the theoretical and empirical studies of the evolution and diversity of global governance. ii Acknowledgements I wish to express my indebtedness to the following persons, all of whom have guided and helped me so much along the way of pursuing the doctoral degree: my advisor Suisheng Zhao, the readers including Chih-yu Shih, Paul Viotti, and Kathy Green. I would like to thank in particular the following institutes which have provided me great financial supports and opportunities to expand my scope of scholarship and living experiences: the National Science Council in Taiwan, Studies and Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Chinese Academia of Social Science (CASS), the Department of Sinology at Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg. My gratitude is also due to Peizhong He, Tingyang Zhao, Marc Matten, Klaus Brummer, and Mingde Wang. I am grateful to all my friends in Taiwan, United States, China, Germany, and South Korea. Among all, QJ’s provocative but warm challenges and the frequent exchanges of thoughts have contributed most to my intellectual development. Most of all, thank my parents and my family, without whom this dissertation would never have been written. iii Table of Contents Chapter One: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 History of Nonintervention? ................................................................................... 9 Defining Intervention: Aims and Means............................................................... 14 Mapping Theories: What the Existing Literature Has Provided for Knowing China and International Intervention ............................................................................... 19 Calculation of National Interests in China’s Foreign Policy .................... 22 Identity, Social Learning, and the Power of Norms and International Institutions................................................................................................. 27 Humanitarian Intervention and China’s Response ................................... 30 History, Culture, and Confucianism: The Chinese Style of Global Governance ............................................................................................... 34 Research Design and the Main Themes ................................................................ 39 Methodology and the Organization of Chapters ................................................... 47 Chapter Two: THE CHINESE NONINTERVENTION POLICY TOWARD NORTH KORA ............................................................................................................................... 54 Borders and China’s Attitude toward Intervention in the DPRK ......................... 58 Border and China’s Nonintervention: The Unsolved but Pacified Border Disputes..................................................................................................... 60 Stability and the Desire to Gain a “Win-Win” Solution along the Border 63 Raw Materials and China’s Nonintervention Decision ........................................ 67 North Korea’s Capability of Providing Raw Materials to China .............. 68 Unstable Supply of Raw Materials in North Korea .................................. 71 Social Pressure and China’s Policies toward North Korea ................................... 73 Social Pressure on Beijing’s Attitude toward the North Korean Nuclear Crisis ......................................................................................................... 75 China’s Seemingly Unresponsive Responses to Social Pressure ............. 78 Role of Guanxi in China’s Nonintervention Policy toward North Korea ............. 81 Amity Based on Personal Relationship: The Kim Family’s Guanxi with China and the CCP .................................................................................... 83 Amity Based on Communist Comradeship: Historical Events in the 1950s and 1960s .................................................................................................. 86 Complication in the CCP-Kim Regime Relationship: Discrepancy in the Sphere of Ideology .................................................................................... 87 Complication in the CCP-Kim Regime Relationship: Impact of the Cultural Revolution and the Sino-South Korean Formal Relationship .... 89 Ability of the Regimes in Targeted States and China’s Attitude toward Intervention ........................................................................................................... 91 Perception of China toward the Issue of Nuclear Crisis and Appeal of Intervention ............................................................................................................................. 100 Review of China’s Responses to the North Korean Nuclear Crisis........ 103 Factors Determining China’s Insistence on Non-Coercive Means for Solving North Korean Nuclear Crisis ..................................................... 106 Importance of Being the “Mediator” ...................................................... 110 iv Chapter Three: CHINESE NONINTERVENTION POLICY TOWARD MYANMAR 113 Border, Ethnic Conflicts, and China’s Policy toward Myanmar ........................ 119 China’s Concern about Its Image and Its Dealing with the Border Dispute with Myanmar ......................................................................................... 123 Concern for Stability: Problems of the Armed Ethnic Minority Forces in Myanmar ................................................................................................. 127 China’s Pursuit of Energy Resources and the Nonintervention Policy .............. 133 Production and Supply of Energy Resources in Myanmar ..................... 135 Another strategic concern: Building pipeline through Myanmar ........... 138 Social Pressure and Unwillingness of China to Support Intervention ................ 140 China’s Response to Western Criticism ................................................. 142 Another Source of Social Pressure: ASEAN and the Principle of Nonintervention ...................................................................................... 147 Dilemma of the Chinese “Guanxi” with Myanmar and the Chinese Nonintervention Policy ....................................................................................... 148 Rise and Fall of the Sino-Burmese Relations: From the 1950s to the Early 1980s ....................................................................................................... 150 Elaborate Guanxi Process: Sino-Burmese Relations