China’s approach to economic diplomacy and human rights

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century’s second decade, China became not only a major emerging economy, one of the BRICS, but also assumed an increasingly pivotal role in the world economy. As long since demonstrated by Hirschman (1945), wealth and economic strength also mean power and the capacity to influence the behaviour of other nations. In this paper, we examine the rise of China from the perspective of economic diplomacy in conjunction with its relationship with human rights issues. In this setting, understanding its geopolitical priorities alongside the main instruments and goals of its economic diplomacy is essential to properly concluding whether or not its model is coercive by nature or simply pragmatic. Is China effectively playing the global game fairly or should concerns be raised? This paper attempts to answer this and other questions including what rapport exists between China’s foreign policy and human rights related issues.