Economic vs. Ideological Interests: Examining Chinese Arms Exports and Aid

This thesis examines China’s role in the world, specifically from 1990 to 2011. I discuss China’s arms exports and outward direct investment (ODI) and how these relate with China’s policy goals. Do Chinese leaders use these two methods as means of gaining long-term, international hegemonic/ strategic support, or are they related to gaining short-term, domestic economic-based support? In this thesis, I attempt to look into international political theory (constructivism and rationalism) and how this applies to China’s current and future ambitions as a world power. I test this by looking at factors like UN voting, polity IV score, and natural resource exports of developing countries. In my results, I find that arms exports are linked to UN voting (hegemonic/ strategic goals) and that ODI is linked to the acquisition of natural resources (economic goals)