Deepening Informal-Consultative Governance in China's Relationship With Asean Members During Covid-19

This article analyses the activities of Chinese embassies in ASEAN member states during the COVID-19 pandemic, understood as one part of China's efforts to reshape the regional order towards a more informal structure it calls 'consultative governance'. The article begins by providing a theoretical explanation of informal practices in international politics and the Chinese cultural and political context. It mainly focuses on the concepts of 'track two diplomacy' and 'peripheral diplomacy'. The empirical section then outlines how China, within its pandemic diplomacy, actively fostered relations with Southeast Asian countries. It notes that this was not a one-size-fits-all approach. China diversified its informal tactics to secure regional interests and promote network-based regional consultative governance. Chinese diplomats prioritised economic interests while cultivating network politics. They engaged with political, party, and military elites while strengthening relations with the Chinese diaspora

Asian studies · China · Context (archaeology · Corporate governance · Development economics · Diaspora · Diplomacy · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Geography · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Public Administration