Xi🇨🇳's diplomacy is increasingly about #struggle #斗争
Wang Yiwei, a top intellectual on Xi's Thought, says:
📍West misrepresents China’s struggle as aggressiveness
📍Goal: change international order
📍It's a historical necessity
With whom & how does #China want to struggle?🧵
2/14
📌WHO IS HE?
📍Vice Pres. of Institute of #XJP Thought on Socialism with CN Characteristics for a New Era, #Renmin Uni
📍Dir. of Institute of International Affairs and EU Research Center at Renmin Uni
📍Major voice on #BRI
📍2008-11 - diplomat at China Mission to the #EU
3/14
📌3 POINT READOUT
⭐️Geopolitical dialectics – Wang says there's a struggle:
China's thesis of remodeling international order in line with historical trends (ideally with developing countries buy-in)
vs
"West's" reactive anti-thesis of maintaining 🇺🇸 favourable status quo
4/14
⭐️Diplomatic struggle - Serves winning the big geopolitical struggle
Chinese diplomats need to shatter mindset of dependence on US/West & build a coalition of those unsatisfied with current international order to change it in line with "trend of times" and China's interests
5/14
⭐️#Marxist foreign policy - #Dialectic thinking increasingly informs 🇨🇳foreign policy actions/thinking. It'll be harder and harder to find areas of common ground b/w #China and EU/#US as Beijing internalises "with us" or "against us" mindset. This goes beyond assertiveness.
6/14
📌STRUGGLING IS GLORIOUS
📍Wang anchors the text in Xi's work report's 3 “musts” (#三个务必) including “must dare to struggle and be good at struggle” (务必敢于斗争、善于斗争)
📍Wang says it applies to diplomacy too. Vice-MFA Ma Zhaoxu said similar at Congress Conference
7/14
📌WAIT, WHAT IS #STRUGGLE?
📍Wang criticises “Western media” for deliberately misrepresenting the “struggle spirit” as “aggressiveness” to ramp up idea of #Chinathreat
📍Instead, struggle is about building up space for a “greater degree of tolerance”...
8/14
e.g. opposing #democracy vs #autocracy, being open to models like 🇨🇳“whole-process people’s democracy”
📍Struggle is about winning over international community (likely outside of West) as “intermediary forces” to change the order to defend the interests of China
9/14
📌WHY STRUGGLE?
📍As Xi said: the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century
📍China developed its position within the international system - from acting in "sub directory" of the #internationalsystem, to its "core directory” (sounds like #Wallerstein's world theory)
10/14
📍As China gets more influential, it faces more resistance from “the reactionary forces” that don’t want to see the international system #change
📍The US and “the West” are in opposition to prevent China’s “rise opposing its #integration and #globalization”
11/14
📍SIDENOTE: You can see this evaluation also in some wording changes in #PartyCongress work reports 2017 vs. 2020.
Beijing's outlook on geopolitical landscape is darker and on potential cooperation with the US (major power relations) more pessimistic
12/14
📌HOW TO STRUGGLE?
📍Oppose the concepts of "worshiping" the US and dependency-rooted mindset
📍Seek support of actors #likeminded on seeing US/West actions to maintain current international order and their position within it as counter to "trend of global #development"
13/14
📍Wang effectively prescribes more assertive diplomacy (#wolfwarrior, but done smarter) + more compelling outreach to international actors that can be brought to China side of history (developing countries)
US/"West" aren't expected to be convinced, but struggled against.
14/14
📌Full: aisixiang.com/data/137398.ht…
📍If you found this thread useful, please consider retweeting to help others find it
📍You may also be interested in a piece on🇨🇳 #GlobalSecurityInitiative & "coalitions of the unsatisfied" @HelenaLegarda and I wrote
merics.org/en/tracker/mer…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.