China`s Rising Foreign Ministry: Practices and Representations of Assertive Diplomacy, Dylan M.H Loh

Chinas rise and its importance to international relations as a discipline-defining phenomenon is well recognized. Yet when scholars analyze Chinas foreign relations, they typically focus on Beijings military power, economic might, or political leaders. As a result, most traditional assessments miss a crucial factor: Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). In Chinas Rising Foreign Ministry, Dylan M.H Loh upends conventional understandings of Chinese diplomacy by underlining the importance of the ministry and its diplomats in contemporary Chinese foreign policy. Loh explains how MOFA gradually became the main interface of Chinas foreign policy and the primary vehicle through which the idea of China is produced, articulated, and represented on the world stage. This theoretically innovative and ambitious book offers an original reading of Chinese foreign policy, with wide-ranging implications for international relations. By shedding light on the dynamics of Chinese diplomacy and how assertiveness is constructed, Loh provides readers with a comprehensive re-appraisal of Chinas foreign ministry and the role it performs in Chinas re-emergence.