China’s Strategy On International Institutions:Theory,History And Comparative Study

The international institution is closely related to the growth,development and even the demise of a state,drew the frames of international power and interests,which is not only a strategic path to the rise of great powers,but also a reflection of international order.Therefore,participating in international institution and replying to the change of international institutions become an expression and a component of international strategy.Throughout history,the international institution has played an important role in the creation and disintegration of “the World of China” and the transformation and development of the “China of the World”.At present,the world is undergoing a major change unprecedented in a century,and its evolution is accelerating against the backdrop of the COVID-19 outbreak.The unjust and irrational elements of the current international order still last.As the world’s largest developing country,China’s ability and willingness to participate in international interactions are increasing.How to promote benign changes of the international institution and maintain the overall stability of the international order as a responsible power is a matter of common destiny for China and the world.In conclusion,a systematic analysis of China’s concepts,decisions and actions in the international institution is not only a tactical issue of a momentary nature,but also a strategic issue of a historical and global nature,and is an important component of the proposition of the times to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the midst of the world’s unprecedented changes of the past century,with theoretical,historical,practical and forward-looking significance.In view of this,in the theoretical part,this paper constructs the research program of strategy on international institutions.First,combined with public goods theory,the theoretical framework integrates the main ideas of the existing theoretical paradigms of international institutional studies,and expanded the four basic mechanisms of utility,demand,supply and change,effectively explained the basic principles of state participation in international institutional interaction.Further,this paper constructs a general analytical framework of strategy on international institutions.Finally,this part puts forward the research hypothesis of China’s strategy on international institutions to guide the empirical research.In the study of history,this paper first selects ancient Rome,Britain Empire and United States of America as the representatives of Western powers.The strategic objectives of Western powers are based on the logic of effectiveness and pay attention to the expansion of economic interests.However,as the regimes change from ancient empire to modern nation-state,the economic nature of societies changes from agricultural society to industrial,commercial and financial society,the strategic models of Western powers are gradually upgraded,so are the international orders.Further,the revelation and lesson of the strategies on international institutions of Western powers is that,on the one hand,it is necessary to comprehensively grasp the different perceptions of the public attributes of the international institutions,maximize the cohesion of the mutual demands for the international institutions,enrich the strategies to shape the process of international institutional change;on the other hand,it is important to follow the development trend of the public demands of international institutions,promote benign changes in the international institution and maintain the overall stability of the international order.In the research of traditional China’s strategy on international institutions,it is finds that,despite the absence of a clear concept of “international institution”,the practice of the traditional China’s strategy on international institutions can be traced back to the pre-Qin period in ancient times,experienced three ups and downs in the middle ancient times,and was eventually forced to change in the late 19 th century.Which not only contributed to the formation and development of China,but also served as a link between China and the world.Further,the revelation and lesson of the strategies on international institutions of Western powers is that,on the one hand,we should dialectically understand the effectiveness,legitimacy and limitations of the effectiveness of the international institutions,and maintain universal security and common prosperity in the region and the world as the guarantee of our own security and prosperity.On the other hand,throughout history,we should not pursue the dominant status in the international system,but should constantly improve our ability to converge public demand of international institutions,lead the joint supply of the international institutions,and promote benign changes in the international institutions by enriching strategic approaches.I In the assessment part,through the comparison of the strategic logics of Western powers,the traditional and the contemporary China,the paper finds out that the highest goal of the strategies on international institutions implies a response to the public demand of the international institution,and pursue the construction of certain world order.However,due to the essential differences in the perception of international institutions,they are very different in terms of strategic philosophy,key layouts,and means.The sustainability of contemporary China’s strategy on international institutions is based on unite of opposites between universality and uniqueness,manifesting itself as a “neutralization” between the strategic logic of traditional China and Western powers.Contemporary China’s strategy on international institutions follows the international rule of law of the unity of rights,obligations and responsibilities,while critically inheriting traditional China’s worldview.In the new era,guided by the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and realizing the “Chinese Dream”,China will continue to follow the path of peaceful development and promote gradual international institutional changes.This strategic direction stands at a new historical position and conforms to the general law of strategic logics of both China and Western powers.Furthermore,at state level,contemporary China’s strategy on international institutions is the external support of China’s rejuvenation,the development path of open economy and the important driving force of the evolution of national conditions.At regional level,it promotes regional peace and common development,supports the process of regional economic integration,strengthens interregional connectivity and international cooperation,and faces competition and bottleneck of regional cooperation system.Globally,it alleviates the contradiction between supply and demand of the international institution in developing countries,maintains and expands the public nature of the international institution,shapes the direction and trend of the reform of the world order.However,it also stimulates the suspicion of China’s behavior in international institutions.In view of the new opportunities and challenges facing China’s strategy on international institutions in the new era,this paper proposes that we should focus on the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of China and the great changes unseen in a century,to provide international institution for the construction of the community with a shared future for mankind,and for the peaceful development of China and the world.We should expand the international institutional path for the construction of new type of international relations.We should create an international institutional environment for an open system with win-win cooperation,and participate in,promote and lead the transformation and construction of the global governance system.In the new era,China’s strategy on international institutions should continue to adhere to the overall guiding philosophy of “a community with a shared future for mankind” and “Chinese dream”.Domestically,we should continue to adhere to the concept of peaceful development path and safeguard national sovereignty,security and development interests under the premise of adhering to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.At the level of relations between major powers,we should pool mutual needs of the international institutions with the concept of mutual respect,fairness and justice,winwin cooperation,form the joint supply of the international institution,and avoid the risk of interaction between major powers spreading further into the regional and even global international institution.At the neighboring and developing countries level,we should promote the construction of The Belt and Road Initiative for open system,while accelerating the free trade areas and building an open economic network.Globally,we should continue to adopt reform and construction programs in the field of global governance,guided by the concept of fairness and justice,and provide certainty for the benign changes in the international institutions and keep the overall stability of the international order.The innovation of this paper lies in,first,the research topic selection,focusing on the tortuous process of contemporary China gradually moving towards the center of the world stage,which is macro,scarce and urgent;second,the theoretical framework of international institutional public goods,which not only integrates the main viewpoints of the existing international institutional studies,but also introduces the perspective of public goods theory,so as to construct the general analytical framework of strategy of international institutions;second,taking the pre-modern and non-Western experiences into the vision,which expands the historical period and geographical space concerned by the international institutional studies.Third,the tripartite comparison of strategies of Western powers,traditional China and contemporary China for the first time,which explores the general law.Forth,the framework of China’s strategy on international institutions in the new era.