嵌入式外交:对中国城市外交的一种理论解释

Embedded Diplomacy:A Theoretical Explanation Towards China's City Diplomacy

城市外交是全球化时代外交领域的一个新现象,从早期的国际姐妹城市到当下日益兴起的多边城市组织,城市外交呈现出蓬勃发展的势头。尤其是随着中国快速崛起和城市化的深入,中国有越来越多的城市确立了世界城市战略或国际化大城市战略,城市外交成为支撑这一战略的重要载体。然而,迄今为止,对于城市外交的研究没有从理论上给出一种令人满意的解释,无论是世界体系理论,还是自由主义和现实主义等主流理论,在解释城市外交兴起方面仅仅抓住了某一侧面,没有看到城市外交多面和多维的特征。事实上,城市外交是城市化在现代外交体系中的功能嵌入过程,在城市化过程中,城市通过嵌入主权国家外交、国际组织和国际制度外交以及社会网络外交体系,逐步构建起一个嵌入式外交体系,以满足全球化和城市化对城市功能的要求。从中国最大的城市——上海的城市外交实践的案例解释中可以更清晰地把握这一过程。今后,中国需要制定明确的城市国际化战略,将丰富的城市国际交往资源转化为城市外交制度,奋发有为地推进城市外交,为增强城市全球竞争力和服务国家外交做出更大的贡献。

City diplomacy is a new diplomatic phenomenon in this world of globalization.From the global sister cities in the early days to today's increasingly emerging multi-lateral organization of cities,city diplomacy is developing in an ever more flourishing way.Especially,with the rapid rise of China and the deepening of urbanization,there are more and more cities which have set up a strategy to be a world city or to be an internationalized metropolis.And to support these strategies,city diplomacy has become an important media.However,there is no satisfactory theoretical explanation toward city diplomacy.Whether it is the world system theory,or the main stream theories such as the liberalism or the realism,they only capture one side of the reason why city diplomacy has become increasingly important,whilst failing to comprehend this phenomenon in a multi-aspect and multi-dimension way.As a matter of fact,city diplomacy is a process of embedment of the diplomatic function of a city.In the process of urbanization,cities are gradually embedded with the diplomacy of sovereign states,of international organizations and institutions,and of social networks,which constructs an embedded diplomacy system that meets the demands of globalization and urbanization towards cities' functions.We can see this process clearly in the diplomatic practice of Shanghai.Thus,China needs to form an explicit strategy of city internationalization so that those cities that have abundant resources of international communications could transform their resources into diplomatic institutions,and promote city diplomacy in an enthusiastic and progressive way,making greater contributions to both the city's international competitiveness and the diplomacy of the country as a whole.