China’s Third World Policy from Maoist Era to Present

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Dr. Joseph T. Lee looks at the current development of the Sino-American encounter in the Third World. During the Maoist and the Dengist era, China was responding to the international pressures from the United States and the Soviet Union rather than dealing with the Third World countries per se. But since the launching of the War on Terror in 2001, the American military expansion into Iraq and Afghanistan completely changed China’s diplomatic priorities. Beijing has begun to pursue an active policy of engaging many Third World countries in order to undermine the U.S.-dominated international order. This development reflects the current Chinese government’s rhetoric about the peaceful rise of China, meaning that a powerful China will not threaten its Asian neighbors as the Western imperialists had done in the past.

Author Bio

Presented By:

Joseph Tse-Hei Lee is an Associate Professor of History at Pace University. Dr. Lee earned his B.A. Honors, M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of London in England.

Dr Lee is the author of The Bible and the Gun: Christianity in South China, 1860-1900 (New York and London: Routledge, 2003). He has also published numerous journal articles and book chapters on the church-state relations in modern China, Chinese diasporas in Southeast Asia, and the Sino-American relations. His most recent publications include the following:

● “Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China.” Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 74, no.1 (March 2005): 68-96. ● “Christianity in Contemporary China: An Update.” Journal of Church and State 49, no.2 (Spring 2007): 277-304. ● “Christianity and Chinese Diaspora in the Nineteenth Century.” In Chinese Diaspora since Admiral Zheng He, edited by Leo Suryadinata (Singapore: Chinese Heritage Centre, 2007): 247-266. ● “(Coauthored with Amy Lee) The Korean Military Brides in New York.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 8, no.3 (September 2007): 458-465