This book discusses the role of selective identities in shaping China's position in regional and global affairs. It does so by using the concept of the political transition of power, and argues that by taking on different types of identitiesof state, ideology and culturethe Chinese government has adjusted China's identity to different kinds of audiences. By adopting different kinds of self, China has secured its relatively peaceful transition within the existing system and, in the meantime, strengthened its capacity to place its principles within that system. To its immediate neighbors, China presents itself as a state that needs clearcut borders. In relation to the developing world (Global South), the PRC narrates self as an ideology with the banner of materialism, equality and justice. To its third audience, the developed world (mainly Europe), China presents itself as a peaceful, innocent cultural construct based primarily onConfucius' passive approach. By bringing these three identities into one Chinese body (, sanwei yiti), China's policymakers skillfully maneuver and build the country's position in the arena of global affairs.

Analyses China's foreign policy behaviour pattern through the lenses of nation-state, ideology and culture Discusses the rationale behind China choosing different types of identities for different types of audiences Offers a fresh take from a Central European perspective

Autorentext

Dominik Mierzejewski has a Ph.D. in Humanities and Professorship in Social and Political Science. He is chair at the Center for Asian Affairs, professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, and studied at the Shanghai International Studies University (1999-2000, 2003-2004). He also spent time at the Heritage Foundation (2003), and is a recipient of the Jan Karski Scholarship by the American Center of Polish Culture (2003). He was also a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, granted by the Polish Foundation for Science (2010-2011). Bartosz Kowalski is Assistant Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies of the University of Lodz, and Research Fellow of the Centre for Asian Affairs. His main areas of research are in modern Sino-CEE relations and China's state-building policies in the north-western borderlands.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: A Theoretical Understanding of China's Selective Identities.- 2. Building China's State Identity: Borders, Institutions, and Conflicts.- 3. Debating China as an Ideology: Marxism, Revolution, and Materialism.- 4. Beyond the Borders: Utopia, Uniqueness, and Soft-Power.- 5. Conclusions.