Abstract
The book under review is an examination of China’s role in global governance, using China’s response to HIV/AIDS as a case study. At the start of the book, the author Lai-Ha Chan points out the seemingly paradoxical nature of China’s rhetoric and practice in relation to global governance. On the one hand, the Chinese government criticizes globalization as a hegemonic domination of liberalization. On the other hand, China’s own economic and social policies appear to have been developed along such lines. This contrast has spurred Chan to determine whether China intends to become a responsible stakeholder in global governance – thereby legitimizing the existing international order – or whether it seeks to transform a world order that it views as unfair.
Comprised of seven chapters, this book is divided into two areas: China’s changing policies and practices in global health governance and how China perceives the existing world order. Secondary sources such as official documents were used to identify China’s official line of thinking in terms of its role in global health governance and these sources were supported by empirical evidence. Interviews with stakeholders including health officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and international relations specialists were also conducted in an attempt to further understand the dynamics pertaining to China’s foreign policies. This mixed-method approach is carried out quite effectively.
Overall, the chapters are well structured, with each chapter shedding light on the reasons behind China’s engagement or lack of it with global governance. By pointing out that the Chinese government is now taking a more proactive role in mitigating HIV/AIDS, not only domestically but also in the African continent, Chan argues that China has become more engaged in global governance. Bates Gill and James Reilly have made similar conclusions in studies on China’s involvement in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, arguing that China is now a more ‘responsible’ global actor. However, they cautioned that analyses on China’s foreign policies should not dismiss realism as hypothesized by the international relations (IR) theory and shared by theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, who argue that there is no actor capable of regulating interactions other than the state and that all states are self-centred and competitive.
Chan seems to take a softer stance towards China’s role in global governance. Although the author does not explicitly mention it, her interpretation of China’s assistance to Africa in combatting HIV/AIDS without conditionality resonates strongly with cosmopolitanism, another international relations theory advocated by political philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, who believe all human groups belong to one community with universal values and morality. Chan argues that China’s assistance to Africa reflects its growing integration into the global community and its willingness to comply with international norms. Her arguments are echoed in the works of other scholars, for instance, Alastair Iain Johnston, who investigated Beijing’s approach to arms control, and Margaret Pearson, who examined China’s membership in the World Trade Organization. These authors posit that China is, indeed, showing evident signs that it is complying with international norms in exchange for legitimacy and credibility.
However, these approaches may be a narrow interpretation of Chinese strategy. Chan skims over the intentions of other great powers such as the United States in her analysis of China’s foreign relations and the inherently complex dynamics. International relations is, after all, a ‘two-way street’: China’s engagement with the international community is not simply motivated by its own desire to gain credibility. The world will also benefit from China’s commitment to international peace, security, and economic development. To date, China has proven to be an important player in stabilizing regional security (e.g. dealing with the North Korean nuclear arms threat). A more in-depth analysis from both perspectives (China’s perception of the world and vice versa) would have strengthened Chan’s book.
In the concluding chapter, Chan reasserts that China’s practices do not substantiate the view that it seeks to transform the world order. Instead, China is keen to maintain the status quo. The author also highlights China’s peculiar position in the international order – it seeks to gain credibility yet vehemently defends the notions of non-intervention and national sovereignty. This, of course, is due to the fear of compromising China’s sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan. China’s recent refusal to intervene on behalf of victims of the Syrian and Burmese regimes are examples of its insistence on sovereignty despite gross human rights violations. Perhaps these decisions find resonance with realism.
The book contributes fresh knowledge to the discourse on international relations and global governance, especially through the novel perspective of health and the HIV/AIDS case study. This is unconventional in that it departs from traditional international relations analyses, which focus heavily on economics and ‘hard’ politics. Readers who are interested in political science, global governance, and global citizenship will benefit from reading this book. However, international relations are evolving continuously, and the forces of globalization will continue to shape and reshape China’s role in the international order.