Balance vs. Harmony: Interpreting China's Illiberal Internationalism under Hu Jintao.

Under Hu Jintao, China has promoted a “harmonious society” domestically and a “harmonious world” internationally. This policy has explicit Confucian overtones in obvious contrast to Maoist policies predicated on contradiction and conflict. The author inquires whether a foreign policy predicated on “harmony” can be theoretically and empirically differentiated from a realist outlook founded on “national interest.” The paper seeks to enrich sociological theories of international relations from non-Western sources and examine the real-world consequences of Chinese foreign policy discourse in an emergent East Asian order.The literature on traditional Chinese law distinguishes adjudication behaviour directed at Confucian notions of harmony from rights-based adjudication oriented towards justice and fairness in the Western legal tradition. The sociological work of Fei Xiaotong also distinguished traditional Chinese human relations from wetern sociological constructs. This paper applies Chinese sociological thought to international relations theory. How do contemporary Chinese views of world order bridge traditional themes with modern international relations theory? In what ways does Chinese pursuit of “harmony” complement or conflict with multilateral views of a liberal internationalism or the “international society” of the English School? The author looks at the Six Party Talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, China’s engagement of ASEAN and Africa as well as conflictual relations with Taiwan and Japan as evidence to interpret China’s role in constructing regional and world orders. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]