Multiple speakers

As China expands its global influence, it simultaneously grapples with economic slowdowns and tightens its governance system at home. These global and domestic trends reinforce each other, sharping business environments, foreign and security policies of the Global South, and the political, economic, and cultural landscapes of many countries. Traditionally, China Studies examined international relations and domestic affairs as separate domains. Today’s complex global environment, however, demands a different approach, one that integrates both. How do China’s domestic policies shape its external behaviour? How do China’s overseas activities feed back into domestic policies? Understanding these connections and circulations matters for everyone from policymakers and diplomats to business leaders and cultural practitioners. Global China Studies offers a practical framework for addressing these questions. It examines how diverse actors interact and compete for influence: Chinese government agencies and companies, host governments and communities, international organisations, and civil society groups. Who holds power and why? How do political, economic, and cultural institutions and norms enable or constrain them? What drives cooperation or conflict? What new regional orders emerge from these interaction and competition? Answering these questions provides valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers alike. This symposium explores these interactions and power competition from two vantage points. First, looking from inside China, we examine how domestic policies and economic structures drive the country’s external behaviour. Second, looking from outside China, we focus on Southeast Asia as a key example, analysing through concrete cases how Chinese influence plays out and how local governments, businesses, and civil society respond. We cover the full spectrum of engagement: development aid, investment, diplomatic relations, and security cooperation. We also discuss what distinctive contributions Japanese scholarship can make to Global China Studies as an academic field. Japan occupies a unique position, bridging the Western principles of democracy and market economy with Asian relationship-centred approaches. What new perspectives or analytical framework can these characteristics bring to Global China Studies? This symposium focuses on advancing Global China Studies as an academic endeavour and explores the potential for intellectual contribution from Japan.