Mechanism Coordination: China's Consular Protection In The Middle East

Consular protection is an important research question in diplomacy,indissolubly connected with the studies of international law,politics,history,sociology and management.Since the reform and opening up in late 1970 s,China's integration into the world has been accelerated and its overseas interests have been expanding.At the same time,consular protection for overseas Chinese citizens and enterprises has become frequent.How to protect the large scale and rapid growth of overseas Chinese enterprises and Chinese citizens has become an increasingly prominent diplomatic task of China.The Middle East is an important testing ground for China's efforts to build multi-dimensional consular mechanisms and improve the coordination of consular protection mechanisms.After the “Arab Spring”,the Middle East has fallen into continuous turmoil worsened by the impact of the COVID-19 since 2020.The Middle East order is entering a period of historic adjustment,causing the security situation more complicated and making China's consular protection tasks even more difficult.Under the leadership of the Party,the Foreign Ministry,the Ministry of Commerce,the Ministry of National Defense,the Ministry of Public Security,Chinese embassies and consulates abroad,local governments and enterprises constitute the main body of China's consular protection in the Middle East.The grand consul mechanism,which strengthens vertical management internally and adopts flat management externally,reflects China's institutional advantages in responding to overseas emergencies.This dissertation defines the concept of China's consular protection,summarizes the mechanism framework,evolution path and characteristics of China's consular protection,and provides theoretical explanations for the innovation of China's consular protection mechanism.Firstly,it defines the relevant concepts of consular protection and summarizes the historical logic of the development of consular protection in China.To construct an analytical framework with the chain of "diplomatic decision-making mechanism--consular protection practice--improvement of consular protection mechanism",this dissertation emphatically analyzes how the evolution of China's diplomatic decision-making mechanism influences the establishment of consular protection mechanism.It aims to theoretically explain the internal relationship between diplomatic decision-making mechanism and consular protection mechanism,analyze the operation mode and main features of China's consular protection mechanism,and build an analytical framework for the study of China's consular protection mechanism.Secondly,this dissertation comprehensively analyzes the concept,practice and mechanism innovation of China's consular protection in the Middle East,expounds the expansion of overseas interests and the concept development of China's consular protection in the Middle East,and investigates China's main measures and institutional construction of consular protection in the Middle East through case study.Finally,based on the theoretical research,historical investigation and realistic analysis of China's consular protection,this dissertation expounds the experience of consular protection China has accumulated in the Middle East,the dilemma it faces and the construction path of China's consular protection system in the Middle East.Chinese government has carried out mechanism coordination in consular protection.The “grand consul” mechanism with Chinese characteristics has gradually taken shape.Under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC),the government,the military and the civil society all have participated in the construction of consular protection mechanisms,forming a diversified consular protection system.In practice,China's consular protection system has also gradually formed,with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at its core,relevant ministries and commissions,local governments,enterprises and overseas Chinese communities as its pillars.The multi-dimensional consular protection mode is an important symbol of the innovation of China's diplomatic theory and practice.It has provided security guarantee for overseas Chinese citizens and enterprises and valuable experience for other countries to learn from.Based on theoretical analysis and empirical investigation,this dissertation draws the following conclusions.First,China's consular protection in the Middle East starts from experience rather than abstract concepts,and follows the path of practice-theory and practice.the development of China's consular protection is obviously historic.The objects and participants of Chinese consular protection have shown obvious differences in divergent historical stages.The Chinese government has constantly developed its national interests,diplomatic concepts and national security concepts,which has become the historical logic behind the development of consular protection in China.Second,China's diplomatic decision-making mechanism,an institutional arrangement with highly centralized power and integrated mechanism,has laid an institutional foundation for China's overall implementation of the mechanism in consular protection.Since the 18 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the new government has put more emphasis on the overall planning and coordination of internal affairs and foreign affairs,strengthened the centralized and unified leadership of the Party over foreign affairs,and realized the overall planning and coordination among multiple forces involved in consular protection.Third,the overall operation of China's consular protection mechanism is divided into four dimensions.China's consular protection mechanism is mainly manifested in four aspects with Chinese characteristics: the vertical administration of government,the coordination among ministries and commissions,the cooperation of governmental and non-governmental forces as well as the coordination at home and abroad.In practice,the consular protection mechanisms with Chinese characteristics have been constantly improved to promote the security of overseas Chinese.