Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance
In recent years, China has become an increasingly important actor in Arctic regional governance. While Beijing consistently frames its engagement in the region as a strategy of mutually-beneficial cooperation, some Arctic countries have raised significant concerns about its growing economic presence...
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ftcogitatiopress:oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/7222 2024-02-11T09:59:19+01:00 Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance Wang, Yaohui Ma, Yanhong 2024-01-17 application/pdf https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222 https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.7222 eng eng Cogitatio Press https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222/3494 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222 doi:10.17645/pag.7222 Copyright (c) 2024 Yaohui Wang, Yanhong Ma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Politics and Governance; Vol 12 (2024): Arctic Regional Governance: Actors and Transformations 2183-2463 10.17645/pag.i377 Arctic governance Chinese diplomacy costly signaling global environmental values sustainable development info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2024 ftcogitatiopress https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.722210.17645/pag.i377 2024-01-24T01:05:38Z In recent years, China has become an increasingly important actor in Arctic regional governance. While Beijing consistently frames its engagement in the region as a strategy of mutually-beneficial cooperation, some Arctic countries have raised significant concerns about its growing economic presence, warning that China may leverage its geopolitical influence to change the existing norms and rules in the polar region. Facing the mounting “China threat” skepticism, what are Beijing’s coping strategies to belie concerns? Based on a review of the existing research and government documents, particularly Chinese-language scholarly works and official reports, this article specifically identifies two types of costly signaling approaches employed by China to reduce Arctic countries’ distrust. First, China has started to curtail its Arctic investment in oil, gas, and mining while engaging more in sectors that chime well with Western societies’ global environmental values, including clean and renewable energy, ecological research that addresses further climatic change associated with global warming, and other environmentally sustainable industries. Second, Beijing has increasingly involved in regional international organizations, such as the Arctic Council, to signal its willingness to exercise state power under institutional constraints. These approaches aim to send a series of costly signals to conventional Arctic states, reassuring them that China is not a revisionist power that pursues hegemony in the region. Taken together, our findings have both scholarly and policymaking implications to understand China’s participation in Arctic regional governance. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Council Arctic Global warming Cogitatio Press (E-Journals) Arctic |
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language |
English |
topic |
Arctic governance Chinese diplomacy costly signaling global environmental values sustainable development |
spellingShingle |
Arctic governance Chinese diplomacy costly signaling global environmental values sustainable development Wang, Yaohui Ma, Yanhong Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
topic_facet |
Arctic governance Chinese diplomacy costly signaling global environmental values sustainable development |
description |
In recent years, China has become an increasingly important actor in Arctic regional governance. While Beijing consistently frames its engagement in the region as a strategy of mutually-beneficial cooperation, some Arctic countries have raised significant concerns about its growing economic presence, warning that China may leverage its geopolitical influence to change the existing norms and rules in the polar region. Facing the mounting “China threat” skepticism, what are Beijing’s coping strategies to belie concerns? Based on a review of the existing research and government documents, particularly Chinese-language scholarly works and official reports, this article specifically identifies two types of costly signaling approaches employed by China to reduce Arctic countries’ distrust. First, China has started to curtail its Arctic investment in oil, gas, and mining while engaging more in sectors that chime well with Western societies’ global environmental values, including clean and renewable energy, ecological research that addresses further climatic change associated with global warming, and other environmentally sustainable industries. Second, Beijing has increasingly involved in regional international organizations, such as the Arctic Council, to signal its willingness to exercise state power under institutional constraints. These approaches aim to send a series of costly signals to conventional Arctic states, reassuring them that China is not a revisionist power that pursues hegemony in the region. Taken together, our findings have both scholarly and policymaking implications to understand China’s participation in Arctic regional governance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wang, Yaohui Ma, Yanhong |
author_facet |
Wang, Yaohui Ma, Yanhong |
author_sort |
Wang, Yaohui |
title |
Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
title_short |
Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
title_full |
Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
title_fullStr |
Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Costly Signaling and China's Strategic Engagement in Arctic Regional Governance |
title_sort |
costly signaling and china's strategic engagement in arctic regional governance |
publisher |
Cogitatio Press |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222 https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.7222 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Council Arctic Global warming |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Council Arctic Global warming |
op_source |
Politics and Governance; Vol 12 (2024): Arctic Regional Governance: Actors and Transformations 2183-2463 10.17645/pag.i377 |
op_relation |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222/3494 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7222 doi:10.17645/pag.7222 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2024 Yaohui Wang, Yanhong Ma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.722210.17645/pag.i377 |
_version_ |
1790595282469126144 |