The Development of Sino-Serbian Relations under the Belt and Road Initiative: Forging the 'Iron Friendship'

• Autorzy: Jelena Gledić
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

In recent years, Serbia has seemingly been standing out as the leading partner of China in Central and Eastern Europe, and even - relatively speaking - a significant one on a global scale. The two countries state that they share a close and longstanding friendship, which is regularly mentioned in the context of joint 'Belt and Road Initiative' projects that are actively being implemented or planned. However,this narrative seems to have emerged - or at least significantly intensified - only after the start of a closer economic cooperation. This paper analyzes the said change in discourse, aiming to establish when it occurred and how far its reach is, with the goal of using the answers to these research questions as a basis for understanding the underlying governing mechanisms. The hypotheses put forward are that the discourse on Sino-Serbian cultural ties emphasizing the idea of a close and long-standing friendship started only after an increase in the political and economic cooperation, and that it is only or mostly present in the official discourse on the two countries' cooperation. As such, the narrative on Sino-Serbian cultural ties can be explained as an example of the top-down governance of culture, which is in line with the theory on cultural diversity. Tracing the development of Sino-Serbian relations through empirical data, it is shown that the narrative on close cultural ties indeed intensified with an increase in economic cooperation and that the notion of a deep friendship between the two countries has been actively managed since the start of the 'Belt and Road Initiative'. The so-called 'iron friendship' between the two countries is revealed to be less a deeply-rooted historical reality and more an example of consciously forging a narrative with the purpose of facilitating bilateral cooperation.(original abstract)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Partner relationships; Business partners; Economic cooperation; Culture; Cultural management; Cultural diversity

PL

Relacje partnerskie; Partner handlowy; Współpraca gospodarcza; Kultura; Zarządzanie kulturą; Zróżnicowanie kulturowe

• Czasopismo: Stosunki Międzynarodowe
• Rocznik: 2019
• Tom: 55
• Numer: nr 3
• Strony: 21--35

Twórcy

autor

Jelena Gledić

• University of Belgrade

Bibliografia

• I. Lađevac, 'Serbia external relations briefing: Perception of the 70th anniversary of People's Republic of China in Serbia', China-CEE Institute Weekly Briefing, September 2019, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 1-4.
• B. Feng, One Belt and One Road: The Chinese Logic for Global Development ("一带一路": 全球发展的中国逻辑), Beijing: China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House, 2015.
• Y. Wang, The World is Connected: The Logic of the One Belt and One Road Initiative (世界是通的: "一带一路"的逻辑), Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2016.
• W. Liu, Understand the Blueprint for One Belt and One Road - A Detailed Explanation of Jointly Building One Belt and One Road: Concept, Practice and Contributions of China (读懂"一带一路"蓝图 -- 共建一带一路: 理念实践与中国的贡献), Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2017.
• Y. Lin, One Belt One Road 2.0: The New Pattern of the Silk Road under China's Guidance ("一带一路"2.0：中国引领下的丝路新格局), Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2018.
• F. Godement, A. Kratz, "One Belt, One Road": China's Great Leap Outward, European Council on Foreign Relations, 2015.
• T. Lim, H. Chan, K. Tseng and W. Lim, China's One Belt One Road Initiative, London: Imperial College Press, 2016.
• M. Mayer, Rethinking the Silk Road, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
• X. Li, Mapping China's "One Belt One Road" Initiative, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
• J. S. Nye, 'The Rise of China's Soft Power', Wall Street Journal Asia, 2005, No. 29, pp. 6-8.
• Y. Huang and S. Ding, 'Dragon's Underbelly: An Analysis of China's Soft Power', East Asia, 2006, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 22-44.
• J. Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
• T. Winter, 'One Belt, One Road, One Heritage: Cultural Diplomacy and the Silk Road', The Diplomat, 2016, No. 29, pp. 1-5.
• J. Kynge, 'A Tale of Two Harbours Tells Best and Worst of China's "Belt and Road"', Financial Times, 25 September 2018, https://www.ft.com/content/7699d13a-806a-11e8-af48-190d103e32a4, (accessed on 12 December 2019).
• Z. Liu, 'The role of Central and Eastern Europe in the building of silk road economic belt', Medjunarodni problemi, 2015, Vol. 67, No. 2-3, pp. 184-195.
• D. Dimitrijević, 'Chinese investments in Serbia: A Joint pledge for the future of the new Silk road', Baltic Journal of European Studies, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 64-83.
• T. Petrović, Mirroring Europe: Ideas of Europe and Europeanization in Balkan Societies, Leiden: Brill, 2014.
• J. Gledić, 'Formal Vs. Informal Chinese Presence: The Underbelly of Hope in the Western Balkans', in: E. Hung, T. Ngo (eds.), Shadow Economies across the New Silk Road, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020, pp. 163-183.
• A. Iriye, 'Culture and power: international relations as intercultural relations', Diplomatic History, 1979, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 115-128.
• R. P. Anand (ed.), Cultural factors in international relations, Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1981.
• N. G. Onuf, World of Our Making: Rules and Rule in Social Theory and International Relations, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989.
• R. Ashley, 'The geopolitics of geopolitical space: toward a critical social theory of international politics', Alternatives, 1987, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 403-434.
• A. Wendt, Social theory of international politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Y. Lapid and F. V. Kratochwil (eds.), The return of culture and identity in IR theory, Boulder, CO: Rienner, 1996.
• L. Ray, A. Sayer (eds.), Culture and economy after the cultural turn, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999.
• R. Harshe, 'Culture, Identity and International Relations', Economic and Political Weekly, 2006, p. 3945.
• A. Iriye, 'Culture and International History', in: M. Hogan and T. Paterson (eds.), Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 241-256.
• X. Yu (ed.), Cultural factors in international relations, Shanghai Institute of International Studies CRVP, 2004.
• M. Williams, 'Culture', in: R. Adler-Nissen (ed.), Bourdieu in international relations: Rethinking key concepts in IR, London: Routledge, 2012.
• R. N. Lebow, A cultural theory of international relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• N. L. Sum, B. Jessop, Towards a cultural political economy: Putting culture in its place in political economy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013.
• R. Harshe, 'Culture, Identity and International Relations', Economic and Political Weekly, 2006, pp. 3945-3951.
• J. Ferguson, 'The controversial role of culture in international relations', in: Advanced International Relations and Advanced Global Politics, 2001.
• C. Reus-Smit, On cultural diversity: International theory in a world of difference, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
• M. Baroni, S. Bernardini, BootCaT: Bootstrapping corpora and terms from the web, Proceedings of LREC, 2004.
• V. Brezina, M. Timperley and T. McEnery,

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.7366/020909613201902