Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
This study examines China's evolving use of sanctions as a foreign policy instrument, with a focus on their symbolic functions and role in international status signaling. Moving beyond conventional perspectives that emphasize coercive aspects of sanctions, the study frames China's sanctions as part of a broader effort by an emerging great power to gain international recognition as a legitimate great power. Drawing on content analysis of official announcements from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state‐run media articles from 2014 to 2023, the study identifies key narratives that structure China's sanctions discourse. The findings reveal that sanctions are used not primarily to compel behavior, but to signal China's readiness for expanded global influence and to reframe its image as a responsible and capable actor. Through these strategic messages, China seeks broad‐based, organically formed recognition, not through revisionist disruption, but by positioning itself within existing norms and institutions. By uncovering the symbolic dimensions of sanctions, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how emerging great powers engage in identity construction and status negotiation in world politics. It also provides an analytical framework for assessing the sanctioning behavior of other emerging powers and the shifting normative foundations of global governance.
Soojin Han (Tue,) studied this question.