The Thucydides trap and a US-China face-off are not structurally inevitable; US-China relations are what the US and China make of them. Phua focuses on the ability to see "US as US" and "China as China" to trigger both countries’ cultural tendencies towards pragmatism.
Phua examines China’s arduous journey to fit in the Westphalian system, the deep cultural misunderstandings by the West of Sunzi’s The Art of War, and attempts to offer an inside-out cultural synthesis of classical and modern Chinese thought as a proxy of their operational code, beyond the standard clichés about Confucian and Daoist thought. He builds on Jervis’ perception and misperception as well as Alastair Johnston’s cultural realism. Readers will benefit from a culturally-Chinese, western-educated and politically neutral understanding of "China as China".
An essential primer for academics, practitioners and students of international relations, diplomacy and Chinese culture.
Author(s): Charles Chao Rong Phua
Series: Routledge-Solaris Focus on Strategy, Wisdom and Skills
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 178
City: London
Cover
Endorsement Page
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: what is Cultural Pragmatism?
Chapter 1 From trade war to cold war?
Protectionism vs. free trade
The US-China trade war
The Thucydides trap
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 2 Why does China punch below its weight in international relations theory?
International relations: An Anglo-European discipline?
Anglo-European structuralism
Effects of Anglo-European structuralism on Chinese international relations theory
A resilient “Chinese-ness” today?
Chinese vs. Anglo-European structuralism – a case of “dialectical blindness”
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 3 Sunzi in the US military thinking: A case of cultural misunderstanding
Sunzi in the Gulf War
The Boyd factor
Strategic culture
The Owens factor
Strategic culture in perspective
Sunzi in America
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 4 The origins of Chinese political thought
Fight for your rites: the decline and fall of the Zhou dynasty
From ru to wandering persuaders: the rise of the official class
A hundred schools of thought contend
Han syncretism
Neo-Confucianism
Twentieth-century developments in Chinese thought
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 5 Modern Chinese international relations theory
Chinese literature on international relations: a review
Pragmatism and Cultural Pragmatism in China’s international relations
Wisdom studies in international relations
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 6 Separating military and economic leadership in international relations
The monopoly of legitimate benevolence
The tributary system
Foreign relations with Chinese characteristics
Everyone’s a winner: reconciling the Chinese and US perceptions of international politics
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 7 Conclusion: a non-zero-sum vision of international relations
Notes
Post-script: Tribute to Robert Jervis
Index
