Instrumentalisation of Local Knowledge? Unravelling the Patterns of China's Discursive Foreign Policy Practices

Abstract:This article sheds light on the indigenous knowledge structure of China's discursive power strategy and foreign policy practices, as they relate to the development of norms and historicised narratives. Previous studies into China's interstate and foreign communication tend to focus on the Communist Party of China's (CPC) preference for authoritarian, top-down control of the revolutionary zero-sum game, thereby overlooking the representational images and internalisation of symbols underlying its normative speech acts. This study finds elements of social continuity in China's localised style of discourse securitisation that are subtly implicit in its public communicative intent. The aim of the article is to facilitate understanding of the sociopolitical processes driving China's foreign affairs-related dialogue repertoire.