The Long Quest for an International Order with Chinese Characteristics: A Cultural Perspective on Modern China's Foreign Policies

The role of the P eople's R epublic of C hina in international relations ( IR ) is academically contested and politically crucial. While the dominance of (neo‐)realist perspectives of C hina's rise as a threat to the current order is receding, new approaches in the study of the foreign policies of the P eople's R epublic of C hina and their impact on global issues are needed. This paper follows L ebow's cultural theory of IR by adapting the categories of “appetite” – L ebow's code for material interests – and “spirit” – non‐materialistic objectives, such as prestige or international standing – to the study of C hinese foreign policy‐making since the X inhai revolution. The paper argues that C hina seeks to transform the system not merely as a means of attaining prestige or other liberalist or realist concerns. One of the key defining images of C hinese elites over time has been – and continues to be – one of C hina as a leading civilization setting global norms and standards. Applying Lebow's theory to foreign‐policy making therefore allows the integration of a normative dimension without immediately entering the dogmatic clashes among IR theorists. By proposing a long‐term perspective on C hina's engagement with the international system over the past 100 years, we assert that the desire for prestige and honor within the international system is one key determinant in C hina's behavior. Clearly, it cannot explain all of C hina's foreign policy choices. It highlights, however, how C hina's self‐esteem has meant that it has constantly sought to remake the rules to take account of C hina's own self‐image.