[IIAS] The Newsletter | No. 60 | Summer 2012

["International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)" <iias@xxxxxxx>]

The Newsletter | No. 60 | Summer 2012

	FROM THE DIRECTOR The Study The multiple meanings of tradition Catherine Ingram On the causes of socialism's deconstruction Irina Morozova Mukul Dey: an autobiographically modern Indian artist Adrienne Fast Translation studies go Asian in a quantitative way Alexandre Sotov & Meng Ji Opium, empire and Assam Kawal Deep Kour The forgotten Penang hill station Louis Zweers Kazakhstan and Perestroika: was a chance at "heroism" lost? Tolganay Umbetalieva Tackling the overweight problem: healthy Japan was no exception Kaori Takano The Alumnus Reading seventeenth century Dutch Willem Vogelsang The Review New for Review New ICAS and IIAS publications Geopolitical contention and institutional inadequacy in the global energy game Yifei Li Individual choice but not individualism: new mortuary rites in Japan Eyal Ben-Ari Rejection and embrace William Noseworthy Analysing China's changing society C.M. de Boer Strategic restraint? Chris Ogden Memorial landscapes Nicholas Tarling The Network Announcements IIAS News News from Asia ICAS IIAS Research Projects IIAS Fellows The Portrait The most beautiful flowers often bloom in hidden places Matthias Naranjo Aguiler

	Guest editor Frans-Paul van der Putten suggests that China's declared support for political and economic diversity in international relations should not be discarded as mere propaganda, but closer inspection is needed to understand how exactly the notion of diversity ... Sanne van der Lugt shows how Chinese actors tend to promote a favourable investment climate in Africa, which may not always be the best possible approach for the host country in each particular instance. She poses that all countries have the right to choose their own path of development ... William A. Callahan suggests that the relevance of diversity in China's foreign policy discourse is decreasing – in the long-term China's ideal international system seems to be a Sino-centric world order in which unity rather than diversity is the main value. The Chinese understanding of what is good for developing countries differs from the Western view. Mamoudou Gazibo and Olivier Mbabia, in their article 'How China seduces Africa', show how this is one of the elements that make China attractive to many Africans. Not only is China's African policy not based on ideology, but – as Zhang Qingmin and Song Wei point out in their article 'China's policy toward Africa: a Chinese perspective' – it also limits the eff ects of Western attempts to promote liberal values. In Chih-yu Shih's article 'Harmonious racism: China's civilizational soft power in Africa', he points at limitations in the role of diversity in Sino-African relations. Although China's state-level foreign policy might respect African political and economic preferences, it lacks a firm foundation of respect ... Stephen Ellis notes in his contribution, 'China and Africa's development: the testing ground of a world power', that for China to protect its business interests in Africa, it may feel compelled to give increasing support to multilateral bodies and their use of interventionist policies.

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