China's Contingencies

Critical Geopolitics, Chinese Exceptionalism and the Uses of History

Bibliographic Data

ID3948579
AuthorsChih Yuan Woon (0000-0002-2811-5809, National University of Singapore, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume23
Issue1
Pages67-95
Publication date2018-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2017.1302429
OpenAlexW2604245024
LanguageEN
Citations received33

This paper examines the intimate relationship between narratives emanating from China and their uses of Chinese history, and how such perspectives inform China’s geopolitical positioning and practices in lieu of its purported ‘rise’. Taking inspiration from the deconstructive impetus of critical geopolitics, this article contends that these historical claims to China’s rise constitute deterministic accounts, hinging on the notion of Chinese exceptionalism to provide discursive backing for a Sinocentric geopolitical order in the coming decades. This in turn downplays ‘alternative’ historiographies that can shed light on how the nature of China’s emergence may be more dependent on and shaped by the external environment than previously acknowledged. Building on the historical-geographical expositions related to the idea of contingency, this article demonstrates how China (whether it be in the past or present) cannot be seen as operating in a vacuum but has to constantly negotiate and adjust its strategy of engagements/interactions based on the specific demands imposed by world politics. Specifically, by elucidating these dimensions through cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan, it is argued that understanding China’s contingencies can raise important questions for us to critically appreciate the contextual actors, processes and relationships that differentially impact on China’s engagements in the world

China · Contingency · Epistemology · Exceptionalism · Geopolitics · Narrative · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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