Discourse Power as a Means to ‘Struggle for Position’: a Critical Case Study of the Belt and Road Narrative’s Effects on Foreign Policy Formulation in the Netherlands

Abstract

This article investigates China's use of strategic narratives to facilitate its geopolitical return, through a critical case study of the Belt and Road narrative's effects on foreign policy formulation in the Netherlands. Departing from postmodern critiques of the traditional Western approach to soft power and Chinese elites' conceptualization of the Belt and Road as a means to contest the West's discursive hegemony, it initially proposes a theoretical framework meant to identify co-optive processes resulting from the narrative's reception. It subsequently tests this framework, which combines the strategic narrative strand of constructivist soft power theory with Gallarotti's concept of 'bargaining spaces' to structure the analysis, on the the Netherlands' in the context of its recent revision of its China policy. By connecting elements of the narrative with co-optive processes found to occur within three subnational cohorts (business, media ecology, and foreign policy establishment), it highlights that Western countries may be more susceptible to non-coercive Chinese influence than is conventionally thought. In terms of a theoretical contribution, the article demonstrates that a decentred and outcome-oriented approach to narratives like the Belt and Road may enhance understanding of the mechanisms underlying China's ability to use rhetorical strategy to tilt political battlefields to its favor.

Studying Chinese Foreign Policy Narratives: Introducing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Conferences Corpus

“…In fact, proponents of the study of strategic narratives Miskimmon, O’Loughlin, and Zeng have devoted an edited volume to the particular issue of BRI and EU-China strategic narratives [ 32 ]. Elsewhere, Lina Benabdallah argued that the selection of the BRI narratives employs ‘nostalgia’ for political purposes [ 4 ], while other works have focused on how BRI and related narratives have shaped European receptions [ 28 , 53 , 54 ].…”

The Silk Road Spirit: China’s BRI discourse and its pursuit for great power status

“…Likewise, they have also observed that Italy just like China has also drawn on historical narratives emphasizing the BRI as a "natural progression of the past" to justify the European country's economic partnership with China (van Noort & Cooly, 2020, p. 16). Other specific country case studies, such as those focusing on the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary, and Slovakia have also observed relative success in terms of exhibiting generally positive reception to the project and China's leadership over it (see Langendonk, 2020;Matura, 2018;Ravitsky, 2018). There are, indeed, multiple indications that China's discourse of the BRI has been well-received by other nations, thereby affirming the value of its discourse in its image-building agenda.…”

Alister Miskimmon, Ben O’Loughlin and Jinghan Zeng, eds., One Belt, One Road, One Story? Towards an EU-China Strategic Narrative

“…Ma likewise posits that the relationship is hindered by the inability of the respective sides to cognitively remove themselves from their "own institution and historical experiences" (p. 111). Finally, Li's analysis of German, British and French media points to deep-seated and stable anxieties about China's growing role in European affairs (see also [3]).…”