Chinese Diplomatic Narratives : A Comparative Analysis of China's Approach with Global South and North Nations

Abstract

In recent years, China has been actively expanding its partnership networks. Meanwhile, China has been using the context of partnership negotiations to promote its formulations and desired norms. The present research employs thematic and frequency analysis in parallel to examine 47 documents published on China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese government websites between 2013 and 2023 regarding China’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreements with Global South and Global North nations. The aim is to explore China’s negotiation strategies with partners at varies level of development. The main finding of this study includes four identified themes within the dataset: China’s worldview, China’s basic co-policy conditions, Common human values, and Western norms. In addition to the overall introduction of themes, the frequency distribution and the share of codes and themes have been measured to examine whether China is willing to compromise with Global North nations by incorporating Western formulation while putting more emphasize on Chinese norms and concepts in talks with Global South countries. Findings bring to light China’s adaptability in talks with Global South and Global North, suggesting that China speaks more openly and in more detail about its preferred norms and desired normative changes with Global South partners. Analysis reveals that China promotes its normative preference regarding the community with a shared future only with Global South partners. In addition, China is more vocal about its position regarding Taiwan and concepts such as democracy and human rights with Global South nations. As a member of the Global South and developing world, China feels closer to countries belonging to this group. Shared historical challenges and similar contemporary concerns, in addition to the mutual commitment to development, forge a strong connection between China and Global South countries, facilitating the acceptance of China’s perspective by its Global South partners. While mapping out an overall picture of China’s adoptability in diplomatic negotiations, this study introduces a framework which can be employed to study China's diplomatic narratives in various contexts.