ABSTRACT
After two decades of “concealing the strength and waiting for opportunities” in handling foreign affairs, in recent years, China has been gradually transitioning its relatively conservative diplomacy to a more extroverted, pragmatic, and mutually adaptive one that emphasizes harmony between countries and between peoples. Yet questions, doubts, and even criticism towards China’s new diplomatic gesture are simmering. Many people wonder: is China’s advocacy of harmony among countries a diplomatic expediency for short-term programmatic purposes? What direction will its harmonious diplomacy take? How does China’s quest for harmony fit into a world with increasing trends of differences, confrontations, and conflicts? How will China settle its own often rocky relationships with the world’s superpower and its neighbors? China has declared its resolution to follow the path of harmonious diplomacy in its pursuit of a harmonious world. However, the mistrust and perceived hostility underneath these questions has at times frustrated China, and could lead to a potential setback to its harmonious orientation. A thorough analysis of China’s new practice of harmonious diplomacy should help dispel some of the confusions and misperceptions, gauge the future direction of China’s diplomatic strategy, and explore adjustments that the world and China can mutually and constructively make.
