China’s Overseas Influence: Mechanisms, Strategies, and Effectiveness

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

With China’s emergence as a global power, the Chinese government has increasingly used its economic, information, and cultural resources in attempts to influence the attitudes and behaviors of both leaders and publics in other countries. This has sparked concerns of creeping authoritarian interference in democratic political processes. However, there remains relatively limited analysis of the mechanisms and strategies through which China is seeking to influence foreign audiences, and the effectiveness of such influence activities. In answering these theoretical and empirical questions, the papers in this panel use new data and a range of methodological approaches – including surveys, case studies, interviews, and large-N analysis – to develop new analytical frameworks and assess the extent of China’s overseas influence. Two of the featured papers focus on the information sphere, examining the strategies used by Beijing to shape the political behavior of Chinese diaspora populations in developed democracies (Wong) and the individual-level effects of China’s public diplomacy toward students in the United States (Green-Riley). The two remaining papers hone in on China’s strategies of foreign economic influence, developing a framework to analyze the mechanisms and conditions of influence through economic statecraft (Kastner and Pearson) and explaining how China’s strategy of economic coercion might limit its ability to extract political concessions but allow Beijing to achieve other national interests (Miura). The papers on this panel contribute to understanding the conditions under which authoritarian states can use informational diplomacy and economic statecraft to achieve foreign policy objectives. The findings also have implications for evaluating the impacts of such emerging foreign policy tools on democratic political systems. Not only will this panel enrich the intellectual dialogue at APSA 2020, but it will also feature a diverse range of panelists and include individuals across the full spectrum of the academic career ladder.

Sub Unit

• Division 20: Foreign Policy

Individual Presentations

• Informational Statecraft: China’s Overseas Influence and the Role of Diasporas - Audrye Wong, University of Southern California

• The Effects of China’s Educational Public Diplomacy - Naima Green-Riley, Harvard University

• Exploring the Parameters of China’s Economic Influence - Scott L. Kastner, University of Maryland; Margaret M. Pearson, University of Maryland

• China’s Use of Economic Coercion Against Interdependent Rivals - Kacie Kieko Miura, University of San Diego

Chair

• Larry Diamond Stanford University

Discussants

• Larry Diamond Stanford University

• Jessica Chen Weiss Cornell University