China's economic clout and economic diplomacy

July 18 2017

The Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney welcomed Dr James Reilly, Associate Professor in Northeast Asian Politics at the University of Sydney, to discuss the complexities and challenges of China's current policy settings.

How will China deploy its economic clout as well as its economic diplomacy?

Dr Reilly made reference to his forthcoming book, China's Economic Statecraft in Asia and Europe, due to be published later this year.

Time: 6:00pm-7:30pm

About Dr James Reilly

James Reilly is an Associate Professor in Northeast Asian Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He holds a PhD in Political Science (George Washington University 2008) and an MA in East Asia Area Studies (University of Washington 1999), was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford (2008-09), and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2015-16). He also served as the East Asia Representative of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in China from 2001-2008.

He is the author of Strong Society, Smart State: The Rise of Public Opinion in China’s Japan Policy (Columbia University Press, 2012) and the co-editor of Australia and China at 40 (UNSW Press, 2012). His articles have also appeared in numerous edited volumes and academic journals, including Asian Survey, China Quarterly, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Journal of Contemporary China, Modern Asian Studies, Survival, and Washington Quarterly.

Dr Reilly's forthcoming book China's Economic Statecraft in Asia and Europe examines how relations between Chinese central leaders and agents of the state shape China’s effectiveness in using economic resources to advance foreign policy objectives. Tempted by their broad authority over China’s massive economy, Chinese leaders deploy economic resources such as foreign aid and overseas investments to influence policy decisions in other countries. To implement economic statecraft, China’s leaders must rely upon their state-owned companies, bureaucratic agencies, and local Chinese officials, even though they may be unreliable representatives of the central government. The book examines how central leaders’ delegation of authority shapes both the strategies and effectiveness of China’s economic statecraft.