Strategy and Diplomacy: China and the LIO in an Evolving World -A Study on China’s High-Level Strategic Dialogue with its European Counterparts (2001-2023)

The relationship between China and the Liberal International Order (LIO) has been a topic of much debate in International Relations (IR) studies for the past two decades. Why does China apply different strategies to the main status quo powers of the LIO between Europe and the U.S.? As one of the primary diplomatic instruments China has chosen to practice its foreign policy, the High-Level Strategic Dialogue (SD) is established for China to promote its Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with its European counterparts of interest, namely, France, the UK, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Portuguese, and the EU. The importance of the SD is manifested in the Joint Statement of both sides and relevant government documents. Yet, how important is this SD mechanism to China? How influential is this SD compared to other forums? This paper argues that China has made efforts to shift its influence on the LIO in a more Westphalian direction with a vision of multi-polarity through the SD channel. In developing this argument, the paper examines the SD case through a forum shopping lens by comparing it with the Ministerial Meeting (MM) of the Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations (GoFDefenseUNCharter). Drawn on IR scholarship, which suggests that states’ overarching rationale for forum shopping is to strategically choose those venues that are most convenient for their policy objectives, this paper further identifies two determinants that drive China’s strategic behaviour in its forum shopping activities: its actorness and its counterparts’ position in the LIO. This paper makes both theoretical and empirical contributions in three ways. Firstly, it enriches the ongoing debates about the extent to which China accepts or challenges the LIO by interpreting China’s foreign policy practice in a SD context. This interpretation also helps understand how bilateral interactions in the SD can help make sense of shifting geopolitical sands. Secondly, from a theoretical perspective, this paper introduces the political strategy of forum shopping as distinct from the existing theoretical considerations of the literature on the SD studies between China and its major power counterparts. As yet, the implications of the SD, which require a systematic and holistic review, have been rarely examined. Thirdly, this paper adds value to complement current studies on forum shopping in the IR field. From an empirical perspective, this paper introduces two determinants that were highly relevant but under-studied by previous research: the actorness of the state of interest and its counterparts’ social position. These determinants help understand the dynamics of a state’s strategic behaviour in its forum shopping activities in IR studies.