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China and International Cooperation on the Environment: Historical and Intellectual Roots of Chinese Thinking about the Environment

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America, China, and the Struggle for World Order

Part of the book series: Asia Today ((ASIAT))

Abstract

The environment is normally viewed as a growing but still low-priority area for a general study of Chinese foreign policy or Sino-US relations, but it is actually central to the Chinese conception of world order from a longer historical lens because it goes to the core of Chinese natural philosophy as the intellectual foundation for its understanding of world order. Thus, China’s orientation toward environmental problems that has deep, enduring, and conflicting historical roots opens a window into its basic attitude toward world order.

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Notes

  1. The periodization of the first three periods borrows from Robert P. Weiler and Peter K. Bol, “From Heaven-and-Earth to Nature: Chinese Concepts of the Environment and their Influence on Policy Implementation,” in Michael B. McElroy, Chris P. Nielsen, and Peter Lydon, eds., Energizing China: Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth (Cambridge: Harvard University Committee on Environment, 1998), 473–499.

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Authors

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G. John Ikenberry Wang Jisi Zhu Feng

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© 2015 G. John Ikenberry, Wang Jisi, and Zhu Feng

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Wan, M. (2015). China and International Cooperation on the Environment: Historical and Intellectual Roots of Chinese Thinking about the Environment. In: Ikenberry, G.J., Jisi, W., Feng, Z. (eds) America, China, and the Struggle for World Order. Asia Today. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137508317_11

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