ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the debates of Chinese scholars about economic diplomacy. It examines how to understand the definition of economic diplomacy, especially how to define the relations between economy and diplomacy in China’s situation. The chapter discusses the decision-making mechanism of China’s economic diplomacy, especially the position of governmental actors in the overall decision-making process. It explores how Chinese scholars evaluate the means of China’s economic diplomacy, in particular economic sanctions and aid. The chapter provides several reasons that explain the different attitudes of Chinese scholars towards the issues of economic diplomacy. The research on the decision-making mechanism of China’s economic diplomacy is relatively scarce. For instance, little research has applied the theory of diplomacy decision-making and international relations to explain China’s economic diplomacy policy making or discussed the role local government’s play and the impact of big data on the decision-making process. Foreign aid is a very important and strategic part of economic diplomacy.
