Making Dragons from Pandas (熊猫做龙): Chinese Revisionism on the World Stage

Abstract

This thesis a novel approach to the evaluation of China’s actions on the international stage, breaking the international order into sub-orders as opposed to broad generalizations about China’s grand strategy. Through using a typology of revisionism developed by Stacie Goddard, this thesis evaluates China’s network positions in three different “issue specific orders”, as defined by Iain Johnston, being trade, investment, and information, under the administration of Xi Jinping. I argue that China’s positions in these “issue specific orders” cannot be generalized into an overall position of China as a revisionist; however, these orders provide areas of cooperation which the United States can use to better align China with the values fundamental to the liberal international order. This thesis finds that China is most aligned with the international order in terms of international trade; however, its positions on international investment and the international flow of information are revisionist, which create points of contention for furthering the relationship with China. The purpose of this thesis is to create a more nuanced view of China as an emerging power on the world stage in the face of possible conflicts over Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong, advocating for further evaluation of China using these “issue specific orders” to ensure that the United States is engaging China in a focused and effective manner.