China’s Coherence in International Economic Governance

This article reassesses whether, and if so how and why, China contests the WTO's liberal trade order. Our framework on 'varieties of contestation' goes beyond the mainstream view of a monolithic Chinese trade policy that either challenges or supports the liberal trade order. We propose a two-step approach that allows for a more differentiated assessment. First, a constructivist analysis captures the extent to which China embraces liberal trade norms. China may contest the validity of the liberal compromise that underpins WTO rules (frame contestation) or merely express disapproval regarding their application (claim contestation). Second, a political-economic analysis of sector-specific preferences allows us to explain why China engages in contestation in some cases, but not in others. Empirically, we examine three sectors that have played a crucial role in recent WTO discussions: steel, agriculture, and information technology. We find that contestation is more prevalent in steel and agriculture compared to IT. It is only with respect to the steel sector, which is state-permeated and where behind-the-border regulation is at stake, that China contests the validity of the prevailing liberal compromise. This pattern of selective contestation suggests that China will neither entirely abandon the WTO nor proactively revive it.

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“…While China's bilateral trade relations have also received attention, the WTO remains the central focus. For exceptions see Harpaz (2016). 4.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Varieties of contestation: China’s rise and the liberal trade order

Weinhardt

Brink

2019

Review of International Political Economy

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“…It is upon this scholarship, then, that the Forum builds further, explicitly aiming to relate the distinctive domestic nature of the large and heterogeneous Chinese political economy to its variegated integration into the global political economy and global governance institutions, as well as the dominant power structures within that order. A rapidly emerging literature on this topic reveals evidence of paradoxical trends and ambiguity within a wide range of domains, such as the internationalization of the RMB (Germain & Schwartz, 2017;McNally & Gruin, 2017), of state-owned, private and hybrid firms going global (Chalmers & Mocker, 2017;Jones & Zhou, 2017;ten Brink, 2015;De Graaff, 2014; for earlier evidence on Chinese internationalization, see Zweig, 2002); the integration into global value chains (Schleifer & Sun, 2018), the intellectual property rights regime (Serrano, 2016); and China's role in infrastructure development and energy finance (Gonzalez-Vicente, 2017;G€ uven 2017;Harpaz, 2016;Kaplan, 2016, Kong & Gallagher, 2017La Forgia, 2017;Yu, 2017), regional institution building (Chen, 2016), as well as the governance of these key areas (Gao, 2017;Heilmann, Rudolf, Huotari, & Buckow, 2014;Zhongying and Wang 2013;Stephen, 2017;Yue, 2016).…”

Section: Beyond the Binary Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

China’s rise in a liberal world order in transition – introduction to the FORUM

Graaff

Brink

Parmar

2020

Review of International Political Economy

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In a time of great uncertainty about the future and resilience of the liberal world order this Forum focuses on China's rise and interplay with the foundations of that liberal order. The key question is the extent to and variegated ways in which China -with its (re)ascendance to power and potential global leadershipis adapting to and perhaps even strengthening liberal institutions and rules of the game, confronting them, or developing alternative paths. In this introduction to the Forum we advance three key points based on the contributions. First, contrasting the orthodox binary scenarios of either inevitable conflict or co-optation offered in the mainstream IR debate, the Forum highlights the possibility of a third scenario of China's interplay with the liberal world and its key actors, institutions, and rules. A hybrid and variegated scenario that entails both conflict and adaptation, differently entangled in different issue areas. Second, it stresses the need to conceptualize and empirically comprise the essentially interlinked nature of domestic state-society models and the global political economy. Third, we argue for a perspective that incorporates underlying economic and social structures and the power relations embedded therein.

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“…His initiative was welcomed immediately by the developing countries from Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia, but the non-Asian countries, especially those from Europe and North America, were skeptical about it. Two main concerns were raised: one is whether the AIIB is a Chinese bank or a multilateral bank; the other is whether AIIB will lower the high standards of the existing multilateral development banks, including governance structure, environmental and social standards, transparency, and procurement policies (Harpaz, 2016). Behind these concerns, a core question is what China really wants from the initiative of AIIB.…”

Section: Emerging Economies and The Fourth Wave Of Mdbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese Foreign Aid and Financing: An Example of New Development Assistance?

Zhang

2019

Governing China in the 21st Century

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Since 1978, China's political and social systems have transformed significantly to accommodate the world's largest population and second largest economy. These changes have grown more complex and challenging as China deals with modernization, globalization, and informatization. The unique path of sociopolitical development of China hardly fits within any existing frame of reference. The number of scientific explorations of China's political and social development, as well as contributions to international literature from Chinese scholars living and researching in Mainland China, has been growing fast. This series publishes research by Chinese and international scholars on China's politics, diplomacy, public affairs, and social and economic issues for the international academic community.

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China’s Coherence in International Economic Governance

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Varieties of contestation: China’s rise and the liberal trade order

Varieties of contestation: China’s rise and the liberal trade order

China’s rise in a liberal world order in transition – introduction to the FORUM

Chinese Foreign Aid and Financing: An Example of New Development Assistance?

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