The Research On International Third-Party Conflicts Management:the Behavioral Patterns Of China And Their Reasons In The Post-Cold War Era (1989-2013)

While overall peace and development are the themes of international relations after the Cold War, conflicts and frictions happened in different but limited parts of the world still constantly raise concerns among international players. It is strongly believed domestically and internationally that China, as an emerging power pursuing peaceful development, should take a more positive attitude and become more mature to let itself be involved in international third-party conflict management. The logic behind it is that, the world expects China to maintain peace and development as a global power. And doing this is also the intrinsic demands of China to safeguard its national security and economic interests, as well as to enhance its global image. As a result, researchers within the fields of international relations and Chinese diplomacy need to understand thoroughly what China has done and provide suggestions according to this understanding.This paper starts with a comprehensive analysis of the theories of international third-party conflict management. While doing this, our focuses are on its concepts, its methods and techniques, as well as the factors which influence countries’participation. On that basis, the paper identified different behavioral patterns of countries’ participation based on two dimensions:level of management and way of intervention. It also constructed a three-level framework of analysis-featuring management philosophy, conflict background and real-time interaction-to explain reasons behind the patterns. With these theoretical foundations, the paper goes on to a detailed review of specific events and historical processes of China’s participation in international third-party conflict management after Cold War. An in-depth study is then conducted on China’s behavioral patterns in each stage and the reasons behind them.The paper argues that, since the end of the Cold War, China’s participation in international third-party conflict management has went through an evolution from passive to active, from limited to comprehensive, and from separate cases to mechanism-building. A more open management attitude, a wider range of management objects, and a more profound management involvement are the fundamental characteristics of this process. Furthermore, this paper discovers that China’s overall behavioral patterns in each stage are decided by its management philosophy; China’s specific behavioral selections in each conflict are largely influenced by conflict background; and dynamics of interaction help to build a friendly environment that facilitates China’s participation. The collaborated and combined effects of the above three levels have shaped China’s behavioral patterns and their evolution in this field.