Friday, September 16, 2022 — 3:15 p.m - 4:30 p.m.

Zoom registration: https://bit.ly/BreslinUVA

New Cabell Hall 309

The concept of Economic Statecraft, and its close relative Geoeconomics, have become increasingly popular as frameworks for understanding the drivers and consequences of China’s international economic interactions. Important in their own right in suggesting that geostrategic ambition are at the heart of even commercial projects pursued by private actors, these concepts also feed into other understandings of Chinese party/state objectives such as “debt trap diplomacy.”

Such an understanding of intent generates a concomitant understanding of what is evidence. And the BRI has been one of the key sources of evidence of Chinese Economic Statecraft in action. Though not the only reason, it contributed to a rather rapid and significant change in dominant perceptions of the consequences of China’s rise in some parts of the world. The shift from the Golden Era of UK-China relations to China now being identified as a major threat to UK national security is a particular good example. It also shows how perceptions of statecraft and (in)security are often predicated on a pre-existing understanding of both the nature of Chinese politics, and rather vague and imprecise concerns about “what China wants.”

Shaun Breslin is Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick in the UK. He is also Co-Editor of the Pacific Review, Senior Research Fellow at the Wong MNC Center, Associate Senior Research Fellow at ISPI in Milan, and Scientific Advisor on the ForAc research project in Finland. His research focuses on the intersection between China’s domestic political economy and international relations, with a side interest in comparative approaches to regionalism and regionalisation. His latest book, China Risen? Studying Chinese Global Power, was published by Bristol University Press in 2021.