Conditionality in Chinese bilateral lending

China’s long insistence on non-interference and sovereignty and frequent criticism of Western interventionism has contributed to a widely held impression that China lends and invests abroad without attaching policy conditions. This discussion paper surveys the general policy debate on conditionality in lending, as well as China’s own debate on conditionality. We then examine bilateral loans provided by Chinese state-owned policy banks, notably China Exim Bank, arguing that the assumption of China’s shunning conditionality is valid only if the term is taken narrowly to imply the specific set of policy conditions (e.g. privatisation and financial liberalisation) routinely called for by World Bank Group lenders. Based on a literature review and analysis of loan features along with tentative evidence from empirical cases of Chinese bilateral lending, we identify four hypothetical types of conditionality: political conditionality, embedded conditionality, cross-conditionality and emergent conditionality. In all likelihood the last three types of conditionality are not imposed by a unitary state actor, but emerge as an indirect consequence of the voluminous business activities of Chinese state-linked lenders and enterprises in developing countries.China; bilateral lending; conditionality; policy banks

Adapting the DIPLOMACY board game concept for 21st century International Relations teaching

Background. This article reports on pedagogical experiences of designing and teaching an active learning international relations (IR) course utilizing the classical board game DIPLOMACY, with added game elements and modified game rules to make the game better suited for educational purposes. Aim. Game adaptations include team play, a dedicated peace mediator team, altered win rules and a post-game debriefing discussion on different cultures of anarchy. These elements were designed to overcome a shortcoming that the game approximates a worldview akin to offensive realism, which is not practical in contemporary international relations, and also normatively objectionable to many IR scholars. Method. Teacher experiences designing and modifying the course, coupled with student feedback on the course concept from three consecutive years. Results. Student feedback has been exceedingly positive, with a 4.61 average grade (n = 210 grades) on a five-point Likert-type scale, where 1 signifies poor and 5 excellent. Conclusions. Through game modifications, students turned a game infamous for its backstabbing and breaking of promises into a game that resolves in a mediated and negotiated outcome. The findings suggest that DIPLOMACY can be useful beyond teaching the realist worldview, and adapted to create a more accurate microworld approximation of international relations.Peer reviewe

Normative economic statecraft China's quest to shape the world in its image

Peer reviewe

The Chinese government's new approach to ownership and financial control of strategic state-owned enterprises

This paper reviews recent regulatory and policy changes that affect the Chinese central government's ownership and authority over the capital allocations of strategic state-owned enterprises (SOE). The paper examines the reform of the central government's relationship with key SOEs as a consequence of the establishment of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) in 2003, the coming introduction of a centralised operating and budgeting system for SOEs, and the government's ongoing re-evaluation of its ownership policy. SASAC appears to have the potential to develop into a major actor in China's domestic capital allocation, with an active role in strategic financing and restructuring of key sectors of the Chinese economy. The data reviewed for this paper strongly suggests that the Chinese central government aims to retain significant ownership control over key SOEs and, by extension, over a major part of the domestic economy. The new operating and budgeting system is set to significantly enhance central government control over SOEs' capital allocation.state-owned enterprises; privatisation; corporate governance; China

Kanariefågeln som tystnade. Finlands gestalt shift om kinesiska investeringar

Av historiska, ekonomiska och säkerhetspolitiska orsaker är Finland ett ”minst sannolikt fall” (least likely case) vad gäller oro över kinesiska investeringar. Finland har inom EU haft det högsta relativa handelsberoendet av Kina. Sedan år 2016 är Finland även ett av de EU-länder som fått mest investeringar från Kina absolut sett. Finland, som inte är NATO-medlem, har oproblematiska relationer till Kina och en öppen ekonomi, som ännu för några år sedan välkomnade kinesiska investeringar. Landet har också en ovanligt lång obruten tradition av inhemsk lagstiftning om utländska investeringar som sedan 1992 kan betecknas som liberal. Under de senaste två åren har det emellertid bland policyeliten och i den allmänna diskussionen skett en drastisk förändring i synen på kinesiska investeringar som närmast kan betecknas som en gestalt shift. En påföljd av detta är att behovet av en bättre helhetsbild om kinesiska investeringar har identifierats. Informationsutbyte och koordinering mellan olika myndigheter har förbättrats på många sätt. Samtidigt har man även fördjupat nordiskt myndighetssamarbete och informationsutbyte om relevant lagstiftning och praxis inom området. Även om samarbete kring utländska investeringar inte ingick i Stoltenberg-rekommendationerna år 2009, så kan man se det som ett naturligt led i intensifierat nordiskt säkerhetssamarbete.For a mixture of historical, economic and security policy reasons Finland can be regarded as a least likely case with regard to apprehensiveness over Chinese investments. Within the EU, Finland has had the highest relative trade dependence on China. Since 2016, Finland is also one of the EU member states that have attracted the most Chinese investment in absolute terms. Finland, which is not a NATO member, has unproblematic relations with China and an open economy that up until a few years ago welcomed Chinese investments. The country also has an unusually long unbroken tradition of domestic legislation regarding foreign investments, which since 1992 can be characterised as liberal. However, during the last two years, there has been a drastic change in views on Chinese investments, both among the policy elite and in the public debate. This change can be regarded as a veritable gestalt shift. As a corollary, a need for a better overview of Chinese investments has been identified. Information exchange and coordination between various governmental departments has been improved in several ways. Simultaneously, cooperation and information exchange between relevant Nordic authorities regarding relevant legislation and praxis has also deepened. Although the 2009 Stoltenberg recommendations did not encompass cooperation on foreign investments, this can be seen as a natural leg in intensified Nordic security cooperation.</p

Anarchy is What Students Make of It: Playing Out Wendt’s Three Cultures of Anarchy

This article explores the hidden educational potential in the board game Diplomacy. While commonly recognized as a good low-cost negotiation simulation and a useful teaching platform, the original game version over-emphasizes the conflictual nature of international relations and presents an image of international relations that is not reflective of the state of world politics today. The article reports experiences from developing and teaching a modified version of the game. It suggests a concrete way to integrate International Relations (IR) theories directly into the game. By making three common theoretical approaches an integrated part of the game, as well as expanding game strategies, win conditions and associated payoff tables, Diplomacy can be turned from a tool for teaching one variant of Realism into a flexible platform for teaching a broader range of IR theories, including Liberal-Institutionalism and Constructivism. In this way, the gap between abstract theory and simulated practice can be bridged in a way that students much appreciate as a learning mode. The article thus suggests a partial solution to one of the key challenges of using games and simulations in political science teaching: how to connect the game or simulation with theory.</p

Lautapelin käyttö kansainvälisen politiikan opetuksessa – kokemuksia Diplomatia-pelikurssin pedagogisesta kehittämisestä ja opettamisesta

Tässä artikkelissa kerrotaan kokemuksia Turun yliopistossa vuosina 2015–2016 toteutetusta opetuskokeilusta, joka on ollut erittäin suosittu opiskelijoiden keskuudessa1 ja joka sai myös medianäkyvyyttä2. Opetuskokeilussa hyödynnettiin Diplomacy-lautapeliä, jonka ympärille luotiin uudenlainen kansainvälisen politiikan opetuskonsepti. Kurssia on pidetty intensiivisenä ja fyysisesti sekä emotionaalisesti rankkana, mutta myös erinomaisen opettavaisena opetusmuotona. Monen opiskelijan mielestä tämä oli paras kurssi, jolle he koskaan olivat osallistuneet.</p

Same Content, Different Wrapping: Cross-Strait Policy Under DPP Rule

Surprisingly, cross-Strait political relations under Chen Shui-bian’s first term as President (2000-2004) on the whole diverged little from the trajectory set in the last years of Kuomintang rule. This article analyses the reasons for this continuity