[Gmw.cn] Yin Jiwu: Host Diplomacy is an Important Platform to Enhance China’s Strategic Ability

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China’s host diplomacy has become more dynamic and an important link in China’s layout of foreign relations. Over the past few years, China sponsored Boao Forum for Asia, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, APEC China 2014 in Beijing, G20 Hangzhou Summit, BRICS 2017 in Xiamen, China, and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as well as other host diplomacy activities. With increasingly diversified participation bodies and more topics, host diplomacy has become an important platform for China to enhance foreign strategic ability in recent years. Specifically speaking, in the process that China’s diplomacy goes abroad, host diplomacy is helpful for us to more effectively make contributions in aspects of norm proposing, institution building and order establishing.

1. Topic setting. The policy of reform and opening-up laid the foundation for China to establish the overall strategy of gradually integrating it into the international community. With increasing strength, China has joined more and more international organizations, but it begins to face difficulties almost in many fields such as topic setting and discourse building at the existing institutional level dominated by the Western countries due to its inherent non-neutral characteristics, and to suffer the paradox of right-responsibility inconsistency as an emerging power. Being a host, a country can make use of advantages such as opportunity, topographical advantages and support of the people to design topics and agendas favorable for it. Such agenda guidance lays a foundation for breaking the existing institutional non-neutrality. Meanwhile, China can also make contributions to the agenda of multilateral diplomacy with its characteristics. For example, in G20 Summit 2016, China gave priority to issues on development, innovation and trade as the matters for discussion, making the attention to the fields reach an unprecedented height in the Summit.

2. Norm contribution. At the global level, there are different norm types in different issue fields, for example, human rights norm, military force use norm, security norm, diplomatic norm and economic aid norm, etc. On the basis of increasing national power, China’s diplomacy keeps developing global diplomatic fields. However, in the existing Western-dominated international system, China’s inherent normative power and influences are still insufficient. The political and economic crises in Western countries over the past few years have caused the reflection on Western order and its normative elements. Therefore, in terms of value contribution of host diplomacy, China can add the value ideas with Chinese characteristics by setting summit theme and agenda, for example, diversity, inclusiveness, green and peace, fairness and justice, so as to make its contributions in proposing international norms. For instance, in the field of security, China itself advocates non-alliance normative idea, and SCO focuses on building a collective system for regional security to improve local security and promote political and economic exchanges in Central Asia through military and security cooperation, representing a regional collective security norm different from the alliance security norm.

3. Institution building. The influence in the international institution field is an important factor in a country’s strategic ability. The course of China’s integration into the international community is in fact one accepting and internalizing international institutions and their norms, supported by corresponding cases accepting proposals of the international community on institutional development and the decision-making procedures, for example, sponsoring international summits in host diplomacy, and the multilateral institutions established by China itself. In the process, however, China’s activity can be demonstrated to certain extent, and China can enhance its influences in relevant international institutions through host diplomacy. For example, the form of group diplomacy such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the objection to the exclusive cooperation system of traditional alliance all embody corresponding ideas of China.

4. Image management. The international image of a country means comprehensive cognition and appraisal by the international community of the country’s political, economic, social, cultural, diplomatic and natural elements. On the one hand, host diplomacy is a major window for China to demonstrate the active image and ideas that it hopes to the international community, including some above-mentioned special norms and institutional ideas that China upholds; on the other hand, host diplomacy is an important way for China to enhance the internationalization course of it and specific cities and strengthen international exchanges between it and foreign countries. Relevant language programs, volunteer service and construction of international towns prepare possibilities for the international community to deepen understanding of China, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment, and narrow the gap in image cognition between China and the outside world.

5. Leadership. In the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, the Chinese leader pointed out: “China will continue to play its part as a major and responsible country, take an active part in reforming and developing the global governance system, and keep contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to global governance.” China sticks to the policy of not confronting mainstream international system and hegemonism, advocates the idea of new-type international relations, and takes realizing a community with a shared future for mankind as an important demand of ideal and goal. In designing and proposing the macro order vision, China’s order ideal and leadership play a critical role. Host diplomacy has become an important arena for China to initiate and establish a more just and reasonable order philosophy, give play to the important role of norm advocator and solution provider and thus make contributions to global governance.

In a word, in view of the strategic ability and layout of foreign relations, host diplomacy has become an important platform for China to practice its diplomatic philosophy and order vision. On the platform, China has correspondingly demonstrated its abilities in image management and leadership, experiences in external institution building and efforts in internal norm and value advocating through practices. Host diplomacy plays an important role of platform for stronger strategic ability of China, behind which some more foundational and substantial factors are essential, for example, growth of strength and normative power of China, upgrading of its diplomatic and strategic design ability and so on. Host diplomacy as a platform is more an ideal space for practice, cannot take the place of the hard power and soft power which are more foundational in China’s foreign relations. Furthermore, how to evaluate the effect of host diplomacy on the uplifting of strategic ability needs more scientific indicator system and systemic case comparison and analysis. With richer host diplomacy contents in the future, building domestic social and political foundations of China’s diplomacy will be a very important topic, and the guarantee for modernization of China’s diplomacy.

(The author is a Research Fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy, and a Professor at the School of International Studies, RUC).

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