Unanswered Questions

Why We may be Wrong about Chinese Nationalism and its Foreign Policy Implications

Bibliographic Data

ID8097057
AuthorsXiaofang Duan (0000-0002-7284-9586, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, corresponding author), Duan Xiaolin (King Fhad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia)
Year2017
Volume26
Issue108
Pages886-900
Publication date2017-06-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670564.2017.1337312
OpenAlexW2627089962
LanguageEN
Citations received16

Many China analysts believe Beijing relies on nationalism to shore up its legitimacy of rule and its recent assertiveness, especially in salient territorial issues, is increasingly defined by such nationalism. However, based on a critical review of the existing studies, this article doubts the validity of this nationalism-foreign-assertiveness nexus because most questions that are important and necessary to elucidate the causal mechanisms remain largely unanswered, therefore making this popular narrative biased and somewhat flawed. This article addresses four questions as follows: what Chinese nationalism is, how ‘rising’ nationalism is in China, Beijing’s attitudes towards nationalism, and its foreign policy implications. This article concludes that nationalism’s foreign policy effects may be more moderate than most have assumed, and thus calls for intellectuals’ efforts to move beyond the stereotyped image and make further rigorous analysis

Beijing · China · Economics · Foreign policy · Legitimacy · Narrative · Nationalism · Nexus (standard · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law

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