The use of special envoys as a microcosm of China's rise? Understanding the shifts in Sino-western envoy engagement in Africa.
The many tasks associated with special envoys include engaging with those of their country's foes and competitors. However, such envoy engagement with counterparts, especially that of China's envoys, has received little scholarly attention. This gap is especially evident with regard to Africa, with...
| Publicado en: | International Affairs Vol. 102; no. 4; pp. 1335 - 1352 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195222504&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195222504 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00205850 INA jtl: International Affairs issn: 00205850 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 102 iid: 4 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 195222504 10.1093/ia/iiag041 ppf: 1335 ppct: 17 formats: tig: atl: The use of special envoys as a microcosm of China's rise? Understanding the shifts in Sino-western envoy engagement in Africa. aug: au: Wu, Hao Barton, Benjamin affil: Peking University University of Nottingham Malaysia su: China Africa Diplomacy International relations Policy sciences Countries Diplomats sug: subj: Diplomacy International relations Policy sciences China Africa Foreign affairs International Affairs Countries Diplomats keyword: Competition Cooperation copyrightHolder:The Royal Institute of International Affairs copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiag041 special Envoys West Competition Cooperation copyrightHolder:The Royal Institute of International Affairs copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiag041 special Envoys West ab: The many tasks associated with special envoys include engaging with those of their country's foes and competitors. However, such envoy engagement with counterparts, especially that of China's envoys, has received little scholarly attention. This gap is especially evident with regard to Africa, with Chinese and western envoys engaging closely in private and in public before 2016, when there began a sharp decline in their engagement. This raises a central question: why did Sino-western envoy engagement in Africa shift from harmonious interaction to diminishing contact to today's nadir? While system-level explanations are important, they do not fully account for this deterioration. Drawing on interviews with current and former Chinese and western diplomats for Africa, this article highlights the importance of unit-level factors—the institutional maturation of the role of China's envoys, diminishing information asymmetry between them and their western counterparts, their increasingly diversified portfolios and China's more restrictive domestic political climate—in explaining the shift since 2016 and the forces driving it. This article thus contributes to a better understanding of China's special envoy system as well as connecting the evolving dynamics of China's foreign policy bureaucrats to broader debates on its shifting role in the international order. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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