China and Global Governance: Opportunistic Multilateralism

US policy toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) has come under increasing attack in Washington, as a growing chorus of analysts paints the PRC has a revisionist power seeking to undercut existing multilateral institutions. We observe, however, that China's approach to multilateralism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global policy 2020-02, Vol.11 (1), p.164-169
Main Authors: Kastner, Scott L., Pearson, Margaret M., Rector, Chad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Governance
Multilateralism
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Summary:US policy toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) has come under increasing attack in Washington, as a growing chorus of analysts paints the PRC has a revisionist power seeking to undercut existing multilateral institutions. We observe, however, that China's approach to multilateralism varies across different issue areas, and we argue and show that China's approach differs depending on the strategic landscape of any given context. We conclude that it is thus a mistake to view China through a single lens as either a ‘revisionist’ or a ‘status‐quo’ power. China, like every other country, is selective and strategic about how it chooses to invest in multilateralism. Rather than pursuing ‘responsible stakeholdership’ or ‘revisionism’ as an overall agenda, China engages with multilateralism in different ways, depending on the strategic context of each issue.
ISSN:1758-5880
1758-5899
DOI:10.1111/1758-5899.12772