Organizing China’s Inter-state Relations: from “Tianxia” (All-Under-Heaven)to the International Order

　　Director and Professor, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore

　　Abstract: Following China rise, what role will China play in the contemporary international order? This is an important question within the discipline of International Relations. Academics and policymakers alike are concerned if China will seek to return to the principles of the tributary system in organizing its international relations. This article first discusses Wang Gungwu’s works on international relations and applies Wang’s approach to the subject: history and reality to discuss China’s principles of organizing its international relations. This article emphasizes the necessity of first discovering a set of discourses suitable for China before any research on China’s international system and behaviors can be conducted. Simplistic application of Western-developed international relations discourse is often misleading. This article attempts to redefine the concept of power. It forwards the point that international relations are not necessarily zero-sum games that are decided upon the manifestation of the relative powers between different states. From this perspective, this article discusses how China has transformed from its previous belief in the tributary system to its acceptance of the principles of international relations of this present day, at the same time how the openness of the tributary system relates to its current principles of open regionalism.