Decoding China Dictionary
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THE DECODING CHINA DICTIONARY EDITED BY MALIN OUD AND KATJA DRINHAUSEN The Decoding China Dictionary Edited by Malin Oud and Katja Drinhausen With contributions by David Bandurski, Katja Drinhausen, Jerker Hellström, Malin Oud and Marina Rudyak Design concept and typesetting by Tommaso Facchin Illustrations by Anna Formilan Layout by Eve Rogers Contact Malin Oud [email protected] Copyright © 2021 belong to the individual authors as indicated under the respective chapters. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not reflect any institutional positions. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERPRETING CHINA IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DIPLOMACY 1 CIVIL SOCIETY (公民社会) 7 COOPERATION (合作) 11 CULTURE (文化) 14 DEMOCRACY (民主) 18 DEVELOPMENT (发展) 22 FREEDOM OF SPEECH / FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (言论自由) 26 GOOD GOVERNANCE (良政善治) 30 HUMAN RIGHTS (人权) 34 MULTILATERALISM (多边主义) 38 PEACE (和平) 42 PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (公共外交) 46 RULE OF LAW (法治) 50 SECURITY (安全) 53 SOVEREIGNTY (主权,国权) 57 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES 60 RESOURCES AND RECOMMENDED FURTHER READINGS 62 INTERPRETING CHINA IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DIPLOMACY China’s new position as a major world’s second largest economy, the global power is having a profound country has shown no inclinations to impact on international relations and embark on political reform but remains global governance. China has long an authoritarian one-party state. abandoned its previous foreign policy of Unfortunately, Europe’s recognition “keeping a low profile and biding one’s of China’s rise to global-power status time”, instead becoming an active has not been matched by much international actor and norm investment in knowledge about the entrepreneur. European public and civil- country. An article by The Economist society actors encounter China at every from November 2020 queried whether turn. The country has become a major democracies can compete with China player in the global development sphere without understanding it and warned of through both aid and development- 1 a “gradual hollowing out” of expertise on focused investment. All major the country.3 The numbers of students international NGOs are active in taking Chinese languages or area countries that are part of China’s Belt studies at universities are falling, and and Road Initiative. The People’s European diplomats and policy-makers Republic of China (PRC) is also an who are proficient in Chinese are as increasingly important security actor. rare today as they were thirty years ago. China's growing economic and That expertise is needed more than political power has spurred a debate in ever. Chinese ideas are increasingly the West about how best to engage with making their way into UN documents, the country on a range of issues, from where international norms and human rights to climate cooperation, principles such as the rule of law, science innovation and nuclear non- human rights and democracy are proliferation. The European Union sees imbued with new meaning and “Chinese China as a necessary partner in characteristics”. Chinese diplomats addressing global challenges such as often lament that the West climate change, global health and misunderstands China. President and reducing global inequalities, but also General Secretary of the Chinese views it as a “strategic competitor” and a 2 Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping has “systemic rival”. A central conundrum repeatedly stressed the importance of for policy-makers in liberal democracies “telling China’s story well” and boosting is that, while four decades of “reform its voice in order to “create a favourable and opening up” has transformed China climate of international public opinion”.4 from an impoverished nation into the 1 A., Dreher, A., Fuchs, B., Parks, A., M. Strange, M., 3 The Economist, ‘As China’s power waxes, the J. Tierney, ‘Aid, China, and Growth: Evidence from a West’s study of it is waning’, The Economist, 26 New Global Development Finance Dataset’, Aiddata, November 2020, 2017, https://www.aiddata.org/publications/aid-china- https://www.economist.com/china/2020/11/26/as- and-growth-evidence-from-a-new-global- chinas-power-waxes-the-wests-study-of-it-is-waning development-finance-dataset 4 People’s Daily, ‘不断提升中华文化影响力——论学习 2 European Commission, High Representative of The Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, ‘EU- 贯彻习近平总书记在全国宣传思想工作会议重要讲话 China – A strategic outlook’, Publications Office of the 精神’ [‘Continuously improving the influence of European Union, 2019, Chinese culture: Studying and implementing the spirit https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/external-investment- of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at plan/34728/eu-china-relations-factsheet_en the National Propaganda and Ideological Work THE DECODING CHINA DICTIONARY 1 The Chinese government spends and freedom shared by all of us and significant efforts both internationally build a new type of international and domestically on promoting a relations and a community with a shared “correct understanding” of China, i.e. future for mankind.”6 By contrast, in an one aligned with the Chinese Party- article in the Party’s leading theoretical State's priorities. journal Qiushi in 2019, Xi Jinping stated The Chinese leadership strives to that China “must never follow the path present the PRC as a benevolent and of Western ‘constitutionalism,’ responsible international power, a ‘separation of powers,’ or ‘judicial champion of fair multilateralism and a independence”. Instead, Xi said, China leader of the developing world.5 China’s should follow its own path and “be adept discourse of peace, development and at using law when participating in democracy is framed around the notion international affairs. In the struggle of a global anti-imperialist and anti- against foreign powers, we must take colonialist struggle, which positions legal weapons, occupy the high ground China as a developing country in the of the rule of law […]. We must actively Global South that is challenging the participate in the formulation of hegemony of the Global North. This international rules and act as debate is not new at the UN, where participant, promoter, and leader during the changing process of global member states have been divided along 7 different ideological north, south, east governance.” and west lines since its founding in A similar ambiguity of treatment 1945. When human rights concerns are becomes apparent in a deeper reading raised, China accuses its critics of of Chinese official sources. While “politicization” and of having an ostensibly invoking the same concepts “imperialist” or “Cold War mentality”. of freedom, democracy, rule of law and Instead it calls for democracy at the UN, human rights, there are fundamental respect for China’s right to differences in the definitions and development, and mutually beneficial underlying political priorities and social cooperation over “shared interests”. values of these concepts in liberal A notable difference can be democracies compared to China. While discerned in the messaging for domestic there is common ground with regard to audiences compared to what occurs on strengthening legal predictability, the international stage. For example, in effective governance and sustainability, his recent statements at the UN General the Chinese leadership prioritizes Party- Assembly in 2020 and at the World State stability as a collective interest, Economic Forum in 2021, Xi Jinping legitimizing even repressive measures. called for the world to “join hands to For example, the crackdowns in uphold the values of peace, Xinjiang and Hong Kong are routinely development, equity, justice, democracy Conference’] 75th Session of the United Nations (UN) General http://theory.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0902/c40531- Assembly’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's 30266428.html Republic of China, 22 September, 2020, 5 Xinhua News Agency, ‘China remains a responsible https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t181 power around the world, says Chinese FM’, Xinhua 7766.shtml News Agency, 23 October 2019, 7 Xi Jinping, ‘加强党对全面依法治国的领导’ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019- [‘Strengthen the Party’s leadership over 10/23/c_138497103.htm comprehensive rule by law’], Qiushi, April 2019, 6 See for example the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2019- the People's Republic of China, ‘Xi Jinping Delivers 02/15/c_1124114454.htm an Important Speech at the General Debate of the THE DECODING CHINA DICTIONARY 2 framed in terms of human rights ground for China’s accession to the protection and good governance.8 WTO in 2001. When Hong Kong was This conceptual framing is no returned to China in 1997, it was hoped coincidence, but the outcome of that a further convergence of values and coordinated initiatives by the Chinese systems would occur. And indeed, the leadership to develop China’s own term human rights was introduced in the discursive system and to build its Chinese Constitution in 2004, hailed as 9 a new era of constitutional rights discursive power. Domestically, the 12 Chinese government has always paid protection. Democracy, freedom and close attention to propaganda and how the rule of law are now part of the canon to “do things with words”.10 The influx of of core socialist values being promoted Western liberal values in the 1980s, under Xi Jinping. such as democracy and human rights, At the same time, these concepts were seen as a root cause of the have undergone a major revamp to protests of 1989 and a threat to the make them compatible with the