Invited participants included policymakers, experts, journalists, and others-all with deep local knowledge, steeped in their countries’ politics, economies, and civil societies. We began by holding workshops, so that influencers across countries could share experiences and compare notes. To establish a comprehensive picture of China’s activities and their impact, this project dug deeply into Chinese activism in four case countries in each region-eight countries in total. Third, the project sought to develop policy prescriptions for the governments of these countries, as well as the United States and its strategic partners, to mitigate and respond to activities inimical to political independence or well-balanced economic growth and development. Second, the project aimed to strengthen capacity by facilitating a sharing of experiences and best practices across national boundaries. The project’s first objective was to enhance local awareness of the scope and nature of Chinese activism in states with (1) weak state institutions, (2) fragile civil societies, or (3) countries where “elite capture” is a feature of the political landscape.
To address this gap, the Carnegie Endowment initiated a global project to better understand Chinese activities in eight “pivot” countries in these two strategic regions. China’s economic and political profile has expanded unusually quickly in these two regions, but many countries lack a deep bench of local experts who can match analysis of the domestic implications of Chinese activism to policy recommendations that reflect domestic political and economic ground truth. This is especially notable in two strategic regions: Southeastern, Central, and Eastern Europe and South Asia. Both within and beyond these countries, meanwhile, policy too often transposes Western solutions and is not well adapted to local realities. In these countries, the tools and tactics of China’s activism and influence activities remain poorly understood among local experts and elites. But “vulnerable” countries-those where the gap is greatest between the scope and intensity of Chinese activism, on the one hand, and, on the other, local capacity to manage and mitigate political and economic risks-face special challenges. There has been growing attention to this issue in the United States and the advanced industrial democracies of Japan and Western Europe. Preface: China’s Impact on Strategic RegionsĬhina’s economic and political footprint has expanded so quickly that many countries, even those with relatively strong state and civil society institutions, have struggled to grapple with the implications.
0 kommentar(er)
