My interest in Chinese development finance policy lead me to interview LBJ Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, Dr. Joshua Eisenman. Dr. Eisenman is an expert on Chinese politics. He has written several books on China, including his upcoming book Red China’s Green Revolution: Technological Innovation, Institutional Change, and Economic Development Under the Commune and China and Africa: A Century of Engagement. Dr. Eisenman also teaches policy courses on China, like China and the World, at the LBJ School of Public Policy, and is a visiting faculty member at Peking University in Beijing, China.
I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Eisenman about his own career, his experiences with Chinese policy, and his recommendations on influencing foreign policy, especially in China. I left with four key points and a better understanding of Chinese culture and politics and how those two domains of society impacts how a foreigner should act in China, engage in Chinese policy, and more broadly, understand the world around them.
According to Dr. Eisenman, here are some tips on influencing Chinese foreign policy.
First, you must recognize how Chinese diplomacy and negotiation tactics impact you. China have been having foreign relations for 5000 years and they are now experts at telling foreigners what they want to hear. Dr. Eisenman emphasized the fact that China understands that the ego is a driver of people’s behaviors.
So the Chinese lay it on thick intending to create feelings of gratitude, awe, and helplessness. To do this Dr. Eisenman explains, they treat you well. He says that, “everyone is nice, no one is disagreeable, the culture is beautiful and the food is good.” And as a result and naturally, you are full of gratitude. Then, the Chinese will overwhelm you with the grandeur of their cities, their palaces, and cultural practices. “You are in awe of them,” Dr. Eisenman speaks from his experiences of living in China. Finally, you are helpless. As a foreigner, chances are you don’t speak Mandarin and you become dependent on them. The Chinese, by creating these feelings, create feelings of obligation in their foreign guests.
In fact this leads to Dr. Eisenman’s second point. You must recognize that you can’t really influence Chinese foreign policy. Meanwhile, they are always trying to influence you. Chinese diplomacy sees the long term. They will first cultivate a relationship which they may be able to leverage to their advantage in the future. Dr. Eisenman adds to this, “essentially, if you think you can influence Chinese policy as a foreigner, then you are the fool.”
Despite the impossibility of influencing Chinese foreign policy, according to Dr. Eisenman as you engage with Chinese foreign policy, you will ultimately have to speak at conferences or interact with Chinese policymakers. So, here is the third thing to remember. Be humble, act with humility and modesty. These are valued characteristics in China. If you are a foreigner, it might be worthwhile to acknowledge that status as you interact with Chinese people. If you are making a speech, you might want to recognize that you have no influence over China’s policies but highlight the fact that you will share what you know and they can take that or leave it.
Finally, in order to engage with Chinese foreign policy you must inform yourself. Dr. Eisenman warns that you should be weary as you engage with any sources in general, and especially on China. Always try to learn who wrote the source and what views they might be presenting. He mentions that, “the purpose of any good propaganda machine is to make you not know the source and the views of that source. The objective of propaganda is to mask fiction in truth the two so that it is difficult to differentiate lie from fact.”
As you research, especially in China, try to identify who is talking, what are they trying to get, and what is their angle in the piece. In addition, in any foreign policy there will information from the other side of the relationship. When researching Chinese foreign policy, it is important to look at outlets in the surrounding countries and to compare the information.
Overall, because of my conversation with Dr. Eisenman, I learned a great deal about engaging with foreign policy, both here in the U.S. and abroad. I think that some of Dr. Eisenman’s advice on engaging with China and how to inform yourself as an analyst is applicable to anyone who is interested in policy. Especially his emphasis on how important it is to read from a wide variety of sources as you learn about policy and how we all need to to critically inform ourselves about sources, the authors, and their intentions in sharing that information.
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