Table Of ContentProtecting China’s Interests Overseas
Protecting China’s
Interests Overseas
Securitization and Foreign Policy
ANDREA GHISELLI
1
1
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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
List of Tables xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1. The Chinese Government, the Idea of Security,
and Foreign Policy 19
2. The Chinese Armed Forces and the Challenges
of Globalization 49
3. From Deng’s Reforms to Libya 71
4. The Problems of Knowledge in Policymaking 114
5. Chinese Public Opinion and the Interest Frontiers 144
6. Diverse Threats, Diverse Responses 170
7. Guarding the Interest Frontiers 203
Conclusion 241
Appendices 253
Index 277
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Preface
Among the many Chinese sayings, there is one that, translated literally,
describes this book best: “It is coincidence that makes a book” (无巧不成书).
This study is the product of the many events that first brought me to study
Chinese and then made me interested in Chinese affairs.
Coming from a small, quiet city in Italy’s Emilia Romagna, between the
Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic Sea, I did not have any special link
with or interest in China or, in general, Asia. When I started studying the
Chinese language in Venice in 2008, I had almost no clue about China. From
then on, many things happened that made me spend a significant number of
years in that country and write a book on its foreign policy.
Back then, relations between the West and China were far more relaxed
than today. China, too, was different. Over the years, the situation has signifi-
cantly changed and, today, we are told that we live in an era of great power
competition.
One of the most significant products of this turn of events is that Chinese
foreign policy is increasingly seen as an issue that can be only black or white.
In my opinion, this is something that the world cannot afford, as confronta-
tional narratives go hand in hand with similarly confrontational, but more
dangerous policies.
Against this background, I believe that the mission of a so-called “China
watcher,” even one who became so by accident, is to provide a balanced and
accurate analysis of the situation, especially when it comes to a subject like
the expansion of China’s interests overseas and its attempts to protect them.
There is no doubt that the analysis in the following pages has flaws. Yet I
did my best and I hope the reader will appreciate my work.
Acknowledgments
This book could have not been written without the help and support of the
many people whom I had the luck and privilege to meet over the years. The
first person who ought to be thanked is my wife. My nocturnal writing
habits and her much healthier need to sleep like normal people working
outside academia were hard to reconcile with each other. This was especially
true during the final and, to borrow from the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi,
“crazy and most desperate” days of writing. Despite this, she was always
supportive and patient. My family has also provided me with great support
and love which has kept me afloat in the most difficult moments. This book
would not be here without them.
I think that research is not just about collecting data and writing during the
many solitary hours that scholars spend in front of a laptop. Indeed, I would
not have been able to write this book without the encouragement and the help
of many other fellow scholars who helped me in different moments along
the way.
This book originates from the doctoral dissertation that I wrote at the
School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. My
then advisor, Professor Chen Zhimin, constantly exhorted me to be rigorous
in the interpretation of the sources and cautious in my analysis, so as to truly
shed light on a complex issue like that at the center of this study. Like a true
mentor, he was supportive, patient, as well as very straightforward during the
many hours that we spent talking about my work. Yet it goes without saying
that any mistakes in this book can be attributed to me alone.
Heartfelt thanks also go to five other people whom I consider friends, first,
and colleagues, second. The first two are Professor Enrico Fardella and
Professor Giovanni B. Andornino. Their vision and inspirational leadership at
the TOChina Hub and the ChinaMed Project had a tremendous influence on
me and my research, pushing me to look at China’s presence in North Africa
and the Middle East. The third is Doctor Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, who
has never pulled punches in his feedback on my work and has always pushed
me to do better. His German sense of humor, critical mind, and straightfor-
wardness never allowed me to settle for work that was only “good enough.”
The fourth is Professor Ivan W. Rasmussen. Ivan offered me guidance and
