Aleksander Lust
Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
Keywords: China, Taiwan, South China Sea, Belt and Road Initiative, European Union, Baltic Sea
DOI: 10.5509/2024971-art7
DISPATCHES FROM THE SOUTH CHINA SEA: Navigating to Common Ground. By James Borton. Irvine, CA: Universal Publishers Inc., 2022. xix, 270 pp. (Maps, B&W photos) US$28.00, paper. ISBN 9781627343701.
STRATEGIC NARRATIVES, ONTOLOGICAL SECURITY AND GLOBAL POLICY: Responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Palgrave Studies in International Relations (PSIR). By Thomas Colley and Carolijn van Noort. London: Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2022. xxi, 352 pp. (Illustrations.) US$90.00, paper; US$90.00, cloth. ISBN 9783031008542.
WAR AND PEACE IN THE TAIWAN STRAIT. Contemporary Asia in the World. By Scott L. Kastner. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022. x, 252 pp. US$30.00, paper. ISBN 9780231198646.
CHINA-EU RELATIONS IN A NEW ERA OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION. New Regionalism Series. Edited by Li Xing. Abingdon, UK; New York: Routledge, 2022. 310 pp. (B&W photos) US$170.00, cloth. ISBN 9780367562397.
BETWEEN BRUSSELS AND BEIJING: The Transatlantic Response to the Chinese Presence in the Baltic Sea Region. Edited by Olevs Nikers and Otto Tabuns. Washington, DC: The Jamestown Foundation, 2022. iv, 225 pp. (Tables, maps.) US$32.00, paper. ISBN 9798987451908.
Five new works on Chinese foreign relations break important theoretical and empirical ground. From the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and the South China Sea to the Baltic Sea, they discuss China’s economic, political, and security relations with the rest of the world. They also show that other countries are not passive recipients of China’s policies, but adopt, reject, or redefine Chinese initiatives, such as Belt and Road, based on their interests, values, and stories about their place in the world. However, the books overlook the broader international context in which these interactions take place: the relationship between China and the United States. The intensifying Sino-US rivalry forces other states to take sides in a fight that is not their own and strengthens some political actors and narratives at the expense of others. We need to start building bridges across this divide to prevent a renewed division of the world into two hostile blocs.
一座跨越困境的桥梁？ 中国外交关系的新发展
关键词：中国、台湾、南海、一带一路、欧盟、波罗的海
五部有关中国外交关系的新作在理论和实证方面取得了重要的突破。他们讨论了中国与世界其它部分——从太平洋到大西洋、从南中国海到波罗地海——的经济、政治和安全关系。他们也表明其它国家并非只是中国政策的被动接受者，而是基于自己的利益、价值和关于自己在世界上的位置的故事，采纳、拒绝、并且重新定义诸如“一带一路”等中国方面的倡议。然而这些著作也忽略了这些互动所发生的更广阔的国际背景：中美关系。日益加剧的中美对抗迫使其它国家在一场并不属于他们的斗争中进行选边站队，以牺牲其它行动者和叙事为代价，强化某些政治行动者和叙事。我们需要开始建造跨越这个鸿沟的桥梁，以防止这个世界重新陷入两大敌对阵营的对立之中。
Translated by Li Guo