The Theoretical And Practical Studies On Contemporary China's City Diplomacy

City diplomacy is an emerging phenomenon worth being studied in the field of contemporary diplomacy.From the early form of Sister Cities to the increasingly diverse forms of international city exchanges,city diplomacy has witnessed a vigorous development momentum.After China's reform and opening-up,the relation between China and the world has undergone a historic transformation and China's diplomatic means are constantly enriching.China's city diplomacy which has become a new phenomenon in the contemporary Chinese foreign affairs is worthy of attention in theory.The rich practice also laid the basis for the research of theory.This dissertation starts from the general rules of city diplomacy by exploring the issues of what the city diplomacy is and how it operates.The basis of the proposition is the generalized concept of diplomacy which covers the official,non-official and semi-official practices,different from the diplomacy in restricted sense,and reflects the multi-layered and diversified trend of diplomatic transformation.There has not been a unified definition of city diplomacy in the academic circle up to now.The definition,essential features and the forms of city diplomacy are demonstrated in this thesis on the basis of reviewing the development of city diplomacy,and through the analysis of several elements including the subject,object,issues,goal and organizational system related to city diplomacy.City diplomacy is a kind of semi-official diplomacy.Compared with the traditional diplomacy dominated by the central government,city diplomacy is more diverse regarding the subjects and objects,richer in content and more flexible in form.The logics of city diplomacy is influenced by certain time and space conditions,which reflects the complex interaction between the city and the sovereign states,international organizations and non-state systems in the era of globalization.Global cities have been embedded in the different dimensions and layers of the contemporary international system as economic units,political actors and the nodes of global social networks.Through the comprehensive analysis under the framework of agent-structure elements,the dynamic mechanism and function realization path of city diplomacy are derived.Because of the traction from the global city network the cities seek to explore their global communications.With the national power decentralized and partly transferred to cities,the city diplomacy becomes possible.The driven force from both the internal and external side improves the cities to play important roles on the international stage.The function of city diplomacy can be observed from three angles,which contains the improvement of national diplomatic capacity,the realization of the international interests of the city,and the institutional innovation and norms establishment in the field of global governance.After the theoretical analysis of the general law,and the case studies to observe the practices both at home and abroad,the thesis goes on for further exploration on the contemporary China's city diplomacy,which includes the influencing factors,the patterns and characteristics,and the challenges.After the reform and opening-up,China's comprehensive participation in the international system is an important background for the internationalization of Chinese cities.A series of progressive opening strategies have created favorable conditions for the internationalization of cities.China's decentralization in various fields has become an important internal impetus for cities to participate in the international exchanges.In the dual process of globalization and urbanization,cities have become the bridge and link between China and the world,because of the multiple influences by the global market network,policy network and social network.Nowadays,more and more Chinese cities seek for sister cities,join the international organizations among cities,hold international events,improve the interactions with the international organizations,multinational company,foreign public and social groups in order to expand the participation in the international and regional cooperation.It can be found that China's city diplomacy not only conforms to the general law,but also embodies the distinctive Chinese characteristics.First,China's city diplomacy is an integral component of the state's overall diplomacy,which not only includes the local practices serving for the central government,but also the diverse cities' global interactions in the broader field of economic,social and cultural development.Second,it embodies the dialectical relationship between official and civil diplomacy,and demonstrates that the good relationships between the nations are based on the friendship of the people.Third,it is the joint point of internal affairs and diplomacy,which reflects the effective coordination of the two resources in the international and domestic sectors.Fourth,presents differentiated development characteristics.The advantages of mega cities are obvious,and other cities show certain regional features due to their differences in geographical location and urban function.The final task of the thesis is to analyze the relationship between the city diplomacy and major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics within the ideological and strategic framework of the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.The conclusion is that it's important to strengthen the strategic position of city diplomacy in China's overall diplomacy by implementing national strategy and creating conditions to be integrated into the international system.On ideological level,the principle of city diplomacy conforms to the philosophy of China's diplomacy which contains values of win-win cooperation,righteousness-benefit balance and people orientation.In terms of strategy,city diplomacy should be embedded into the overall diplomacy through both the regional and the realm-specific dimensions.On one hand,the communications between the cities will help to consolidate the social foundation of interstate relations.The cooperation between some certain cities will be an important channel to deal with the relations with major powers,neighbouring countries and developing countries.On the other hand,city diplomacy will facilitate the progress for China to be integrated into the global relations through tackling global problems,establishing norms and spreading national image.A better city diplomacy mechanism should to be created which supports positive interactions between central and local governments,among different municipal department,and between the government and society.