Climate Change and China’s Rise to Great Power Status: Implications for the Global Arctic

Kopra, Sanna

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91995-9_8

Climate Change and China’s Rise to Great Power Status: Implications for the Global Arctic

Sanna Kopra³

Chapter
First Online: 28 June 2018

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Abstract

China’s rising great power status will shape the contemporary international order and generate transformation in international practices including in Arctic governance. This chapter investigates China’s emerging great power status and its implications for the Global Arctic, focusing in particular on China’s climate policies. The chapter asks whether and to what extent China’s Arctic engagement is motivated by climate change mitigation.

Keywords

Great Power Status
Its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)
Arctic Council
UN Framework Convention On Climate Change (UNFCCC)
International Political Climate

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Notes

1.
Jin (2011, 251) has distinguished four identities for China, all of which all are currently in flux. First, China’s identity as the largest developing country is being challenged by its economic miracle. Second, China’s identity as a regional power is no longer very accurate, as contemporary China has wide global interests and influence. Third, China’s identity as a socialist country is being eroded by its capitalist market system and consumerism. Fourth, China’s identity as a Confucian civilization is being lost in modernization and market economy.
2.
In the Chinese context, the concept of “face” is often used to describe human concerns over honor and respect. It explains why national image-building plays such an important role in Chinese foreign policy. The Chinese government seeks to maintain face because it means “maintaining authority” and the state’s national honor; losing face would mean “losing status and the ability to pursue instrumental goals” (Gries 2004, 29). In China, others can also “give face” to a person or social group.

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University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Sanna Kopra

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Sanna Kopra
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Institute of Technology and Public Policy, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Prof. Matthias Finger
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland
Lassi Heininen

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Kopra, S. (2019). Climate Change and China’s Rise to Great Power Status: Implications for the Global Arctic. In: Finger, M., Heininen, L. (eds) The GlobalArctic Handbook. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91995-9_8

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91995-9_8
Published: 28 June 2018
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91994-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91995-9
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