Description
Although China is a relative late-comer to the practice of subnational foreign relations, it has quickly become an enthusiastic proponent of the practice. Since the first subnational agreement between Tianjin and Kobe in 1973, there are now thousands of subnational dyads being developed by Chinese provinces, cities, counties, townships, and villages. The purpose of this paper to identify the key aspects of China’s subnational engagements – both in policy/administrative terms as well as how they are operationally expressed. In doing so, this paper intends to illuminate common patterns in the behavior of Chinese subnational authorities as they develop transnational partnerships below and away from the state’s immediate purview. This paper analyses two sets of relations: between Chinese and Japanese dyads and between Chinese and Indian dyads. The Japanese case is used as it represents the oldest set of subnational dyads that China has pursued. In contrast, the set of Indian subnational ties are the latest set of dyads that have been created. Both are also interesting given the highly contentious nature of the national-level ties. An aim in selecting these two cases is to highlight an underexplored policy continuity in China’s international relations. After these relations are reviewed, the paper will explore some of the issues arising from China’s subnational engagements before concluding.
