China & Asia-Africa Conflict Regions

This course will focus on China’s increasing economic, political and diplomatic engagement with external countries, Asian and African countries in particular, and the enormous implications induced by such activities. With the implementations of China’s “Going Global” strategy, the developing countries become China’s main destinations of economic engagement, which has already lead to lots of suspicions from the western countries about China’s energy and resources “Neo-colonism” intentions. Is that true? This is an issue demands close study.

This course will examine the various aspects of China’s foreign policies towards Asia and Africa, analyze the real motivations behind China’s increasing footprints in developing world, and clarify the misunderstanding and skepticism towards China. By using case study of some disputed countries, like Iran and Sudan, this course will explain the domestic logics and international considerations of China’s foreign policy. This course begins with an analysis of China’s geopolitical power, providing the students with a geopolitical perspective to understand China’s foreign policy, and then proceeds to energy geopolitics, aiming to use the energy as a example to understand China’s international resource strategy. Students are required to finish the reading assignments and discussions of some “hotspot” issues in the class are highly encouraged.