Dr. Alessandro Uras; Aletheia Kerygma. B. Valenciano; Mark Hoskin
Dr. Alessandro Uras
Research and Teaching Fellow, Department of Social Sciences and Institutions, University of Cagliari (Italy)
The rebranding of maritime patriotism in the South China Sea
As ruling elites manipulate identity and culture, they generate expectations about how the nation- state will conduct itself in domestic and international settings. 2005 marked the 600th anniversary of Zhang He’s journey of diplomacy, trade and discovery. The myth of the ancient mariner helps Beijing to reorient its citizens towards the sea, instilling in them a sense of mission. This process generated an increased awareness among the citizenship, but also a strong criticism towards the political strategy in the South China Sea, which became a question of primary national interest. Beijing is attempting to use the past in order to build a certain identity and a maritime culture with a specific fitting with today’s exigencies, but it also has to direct in the right way the growing popular cognizance. The Chinese leadership needed to engage the population in this process, consequently they started to craft a shared maritime identity in which the sea was always been an important asset. This work aims to investigate the nationalistic rhetoric established by the Chinese political élite regarding the South China Sea issue, and how such political discourse contributed to build a standard collective consciousness of the sea among the Chinese population. Building on that, the paper will outline the process of politicization and securitization of specific cultural products emerged in the post-Tiananmen years, and how they contributed to rebrand the South China Sea as an effective part of the Chinese territory. In such regard, the 1992 Patriotic Education Campaign and the inception of the Maritime Day in 2005 will be central in our study.
Aletheia Kerygma. B. Valenciano
Graduate Student, International Politics (Chinese Politics and Diplomacy), School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC.
Think tanks and their contributions to Chinese foreign policy:
China’s Track II diplomacy in Southeast Asia
The conduct of international relations has transformed and opened up the foreign policy-making process to include new actors and agendas in a realm that was once the exclusive domain of diplomats, ministers, and official state representatives. China is not immune to these changes and its emergence on the world stage as a major power means that it is beneficial to open its formal policy processes to these new actors. The past few years saw the rise in significance of Chinese think tanks in various policy areas and issues critical to Chinese foreign relations. The involvement of Chinese think tanks in Chinese foreign relations and policy-making is especially crucial in issues that are often deemed controversial such as territorial disputes given their high level of expertise and emphasis on sustained dialogue and mechanisms that go beyond official diplomatic track. Chinese international relations think tanks are invaluable in the way the Chinese government managed the South China Sea issue. Their expert knowledge has an imprint on foreign policy outputs and they served as the Chinese government’s representative in foreign relations platforms in the region. Against this background, this paper will discuss the historical junctures that served as a turning point for this policy of engagement between government and think tanks; the dynamics between the Chinese government and think tanks and the specific modes or means through which this relationship is played out in foreign policy-making; and, their contributions to the Chinese government’s management of the South China Sea issue.
Mark Hoskin
MA Taiwan Studies, SOAS, University of London.
The Lost Heritage of the South China Sea
China has a long history of fishing, trading, and settlement across the South China Sea. Recently, this history has been widely debated in Western countries as China reminds the world of her maritime heritage. Due to this disconnect, use of foreign primary sources may be the key to unlocking the path to a common understanding of this history.