Ordering the Islands? Pacific Responses to China’s Strategic Narratives

Joanne Wallis, Geyi Xie, William Waqavakatoga, Priestley Habru, Maima Koro
{"title":"Ordering the Islands? Pacific Responses to China’s Strategic Narratives","authors":"Joanne Wallis, Geyi Xie, William Waqavakatoga, Priestley Habru, Maima Koro","doi":"10.1093/cjip/poad015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Metropolitan powers are concerned that China is seeking to influence Pacific Island countries and reshape Pacific Islands’ regional order in its favour. But there is a risk that the effectiveness of China’s efforts has been overinterpreted by metropolitan powers. In this article we analyse the effectiveness of one element of China’s activities: the deployment of narrative power. We do this by examining the reception and role of China’s strategic narratives in the Pacific Islands. We analyse how China’s strategic narratives have been interpreted, adopted, and/or instrumentalised by Pacific Island countries and leaders using case studies of three key regional states: Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Samoa. We conclude that while Fijian, Solomon Islands, and Samoan leaders have incorporated elements of China’s strategic narratives into their discourse, they have done so using their own interpretations and, at times, instrumentalised those narratives for their own purposes. We conclude that this suggests that narrative power is more limited than it is often assumed. However, we acknowledge that narrative power may have indirect effects, with China’s narratives in the Pacific Islands region, as well as their instrumental adoption by Pacific Island countries, motivating changes in the policies and narratives of metropolitan powers.","PeriodicalId":501229,"journal":{"name":"The Chinese Journal of International Politics","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Chinese Journal of International Politics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poad015","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Metropolitan powers are concerned that China is seeking to influence Pacific Island countries and reshape Pacific Islands’ regional order in its favour. But there is a risk that the effectiveness of China’s efforts has been overinterpreted by metropolitan powers. In this article we analyse the effectiveness of one element of China’s activities: the deployment of narrative power. We do this by examining the reception and role of China’s strategic narratives in the Pacific Islands. We analyse how China’s strategic narratives have been interpreted, adopted, and/or instrumentalised by Pacific Island countries and leaders using case studies of three key regional states: Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Samoa. We conclude that while Fijian, Solomon Islands, and Samoan leaders have incorporated elements of China’s strategic narratives into their discourse, they have done so using their own interpretations and, at times, instrumentalised those narratives for their own purposes. We conclude that this suggests that narrative power is more limited than it is often assumed. However, we acknowledge that narrative power may have indirect effects, with China’s narratives in the Pacific Islands region, as well as their instrumental adoption by Pacific Island countries, motivating changes in the policies and narratives of metropolitan powers.
为岛屿排序?太平洋地区对中国战略叙事的回应
本土大国担心中国正试图影响太平洋岛国,重塑对其有利的太平洋岛国地区秩序。但是,中国努力的有效性有可能被大国过度解读。在本文中,我们将分析中国活动中的一个要素--叙事力量的部署--的有效性。为此,我们研究了太平洋岛屿对中国战略叙事的接受情况和作用。我们通过对三个主要地区国家的案例研究,分析了太平洋岛国和领导人是如何解读、采纳和/或利用中国的战略叙事的:斐济、所罗门群岛和萨摩亚。我们的结论是,虽然斐济、所罗门群岛和萨摩亚的领导人将中国的战略叙事元素纳入了他们的话语体系,但他们在这样做时使用了自己的解释,有时还将这些叙事工具化,以达到自己的目的。我们的结论是,这表明叙事权力比人们通常认为的更为有限。不过,我们也承认,叙事能力可能会产生间接影响,中国在太平洋岛屿地区的叙事,以及太平洋岛屿国家对这些叙事的工具性采纳,都会促使本土大国的政策和叙事发生变化。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信