At the press conference following China’s National People’s Congress in March 2014, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the media that President Xi Jinping’s diplomacy in his first year in office could be described in one word: active. But contrary to what many international audiences had hoped, China’s more active approach to solving global and regional issues is different than the West’s.

In this podcast, hosted by Carnegie–Tsinghua’s Paul Haenle, Xie Tao, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, described Xi’s active diplomacy as shaped by “Chinese characteristics”: bilateral instead of multilateral negotiations, adherence to non-interference and non-intervention principles, and a preference for diplomatic solutions over the use of force. This means that China could be expected to play a more active role in dealing with issues like climate change because of its own pollution challenges, Xie said, but Chinese leaders are unlikely to be seen on the ground working to find solutions where the political future of another sovereign country is being decided. Nevertheless, Xie noted that China is beginning to adjust and be more flexible regarding its non-interference policy, for example in its implicit acceptance of the annexation of Crimea. 

Turning to the much discussed new type of great-power relations between the United States and China, Xie said that so far, he does not believe there is much that is new in this model of U.S.-China relations. However, he added, the extensive connections that bind the two countries together today are quite different than situation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Xie added that although China certainly is looking for greater respect from the United States in proposing this new concept, it is not necessarily expecting Washington to concede to China’s core interests. 

Xie Tao

Xie Tao is a professor of political science at Beijing Foreign Studies University. He holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University and is the author of U.S.-China Relations: China Policy on Capitol Hill and co-author of Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China. 

Paul Haenle

Paul Haenle is the director of the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center. Prior to joining Carnegie, he served from June 2007 to June 2009 as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former president George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.