Between Sovereignty and Legitimacy

China and Unesco, 1946-1953

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3607052
AutoresG Barrett (0000-0002-8763-1192, University of Oxford, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume53
Fascículo05
Páginas1516-1542
Data de publicação2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x17001159
OpenAlexW2948571644
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas20

UNESCO's founding in 1946 coincided with the resumption of hostilities between China's ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) and their Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rivals for power. The new international organization's officials in Paris and its representatives on the ground in China were thus forced to navigate a fractious and fluid set of national circumstances that would result in an ambiguous outcome in 1949, with regimes on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan both claiming to represent 'China'. Although the KMT-led Republic of China continued to claim membership in UNESCO until the 1970s, the international organization nevertheless continued to operate within the People's Republic of China (PRC) for a number of years. Exploring the relationship between the issue of Chinese representation in UNESCO and the organization's on-the-ground presence from the mid-1940s through to the early 1950s, this article argues that domestic and international factors were inescapably intertwined in shaping the trajectory of Chinese relations with international organizations during this period. While CCP officials demonstrated a mixture of ideology and pragmatism, similar to their handling of foreign entities and groups present in the PRC after its founding, engagement with UNESCO was significantly shaped by the complexity and depth of the KMT's engagement with the international organization from its inception onwards. The CCP's relations with UNESCO underscore the extent to which the emerging Cold War-and China's place within it-was ultimately characterized by complexity and contingency

China · Communism · Ideology · International relations · Legitimacy · Mainland China · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Chinese history and philosophy · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Japanese History and Culture · Law