What is China Striving for? International Institutions and China's Influence

• In Event: China and Great Power Competition: Security, Economy, and Institution

Abstract

Some observers have sounded alarm about China's expanding revisionist influence in international institutions. This paper argues that international institutions not only constrain but also project influence for rising powers like China, as they do for established powers. Indeed, a hallmark of Xi's "major power diplomacy" is greater Chinese institutional activism, leveraging China's immense resources for greater influence in international institutions. Specifically, the paper addresses two puzzles: how has China's institutional approach changed from participation, socialization, and compliance to promotion of its voice and representation? What does Chinese institutional activism tell us about its influence abroad? I differentiate Chinese institutional activism concerning its approach to Asian regionalism that may decisively determine the regional architecture, to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an alternative to the Bretton Woods system, and to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the United States, two organizations that China enjoys considerable leadership role. The paper then evaluates Chinese influence in terms of its motives and policy ends. Several scholars have noted the mismatch between China's material capacity, on the other hand, and on the other, its seemingly limited ability to reshape its international environment to its preferences. For Chinese leaders and policy elites alike, China has to react to the great-power competition waged by the United States; Asia is hardly deferential to its interests and status; and they still cannot debunk the narrative of "China threat theory". The frustration has motivated Xi's policy of "striving for achievement." I further investigate the question of Chinese influence, giving due attention to Beijing's motives and ends, which the literature has treated as a given. In this way the paper will establish a clear benchmark to evaluate China's revisionism and answer the question of whether China is indeed an underachiever when comes to international influence.

Author

• Yong Deng, U.S. Naval Academy