No Escaping from the Thucydides Trap

By Flair Donglai Shi, World Literatures in English (MSt) at University of Oxford. The whole the-rise-of-china-and-power-shift discussion has been heated up again since Xi Jinping’s first visit to the US as the president of PRC, despite its presence in the American media having been largely hijacked by the visit of the Pope. At the end …

Is China’s International Strategy a Trojan Horse?

By Joseph Healy, MA student in Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC When President Xi Jinping said in January 2014 that China would become “proactive” in international affairs, did this signal that China was abandoning its “non-interference” foreign policy stance, first enunciated as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence by Zhou Enlai in 1955? Is the growing …

Situating China

By Jessica Brown, Studying History and Politics at the University of Nottingham, UK. A Western-centric notion is often applied when considering China’s role on the world stage. As the Asian giant grows internationally through its economic liberalization and consequent development, questions loom over what role it will play in international relations today. Will it develop …