Speaker:

Professor Katherine Morton
Chair and Professor of China’s International Relations, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Date:

Thursday, 16 November 2017, 4:30pm-6:00pm

Venue:

Block B, Level 4, Seminar Room 4-4, Faculty of Law
NUS Bukit Timah Campus
469 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 259770

Abstract:

Recent shifts in Chinese diplomacy, discourses and responses to key global challenges reflect a new global leadership ambition on the part of the Xi Jinping administration. Yet, in practice, China’s commitment towards governing the world appears to be more ambivalent. China is now actively promoting its status within global institutions, while sponsoring alternative governing arrangements. It is also engaging more with international rulemaking, while reaffirming traditional principles of sovereign independence and non-intervention. Is China seeking global leadership in governing the world? Or is it more intent upon changing the rules of international conduct to suit its national interests? In this lecture, the speaker addresses this question through the conceptual lens of political legitimacy. The lecture will first provide an overview of new developments in Chinese foreign policy at the normative and practical levels. Attention will then turn to assessing Chinese involvement in specific realms of global policymaking including climate change, international investment and foreign intervention. The speaker will also highlight some of the legitimacy dilemmas confronting China in its transition towards global leadership.

About the Speaker:

Professor Katherine Morton’s research addresses the domestic and international motivations behind China’s changing role in the world and their implications for foreign policy and the study of international relations. Prior to her current appointment, she was the associate dean for research at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU) and a senior fellow in the Department of International Relations, ANU. Professor Morton is a regular participant of Track II security dialogues and policy briefings in the Asia Pacific. She has been awarded two senior memberships to St Antony’s College, University of Oxford and visiting fellowships to Peking University, Rajaratnam School of International Studies, China Foreign Affairs University and Columbia University. She has published widely on global governance, transnational security, the environment and climate change, food security and maritime security. Her current book project with Oxford University Press examines the likely impacts of China’s rising international status upon the evolving system of global governance.