China’s Relational Power in Central and Eastern Europe Lessons from the Czech Republic

Introduction: Sino-Czech Relational Shift in Context

Chapter 1 Relational Theorizing with Chinese Characteristics

1.1 Toward a Chinese School of International Relations

1.2 Between Western and Eastern Ontologies of Relationships

1.3 Relationality vs. Guanxi

1.4 The Relational World of Dependency

1.5 Relationality, Normativity, and Bilateralism

1.6 Relationality in Chinese Foreign Policy Practice: The Case of Africa

1.7 Framework for Relational Analysis

Chapter 2 Between Global South and the West: Central and Eastern Europe as a Relational Partner of China

2.1. The Peripherality of Central and Eastern Europe in the Chinese Imaginary

2.2. A Balancing Tool: Central and Eastern Europe as a (Post)colonial Area

2.3 Chinese Perception of Political Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe

2.4 Central and Eastern Europe as the Global South

2.5 The 16+1 Format as a Relational Tool for Building a Network of Bilateral Strategic Partnerships

2.6. Conclusions

Chapter 3 Relational Turn in Sino-Czech Relations

3.1 Czech Foreign Policy and China’s “Core Interests”

3.2 Creating a Basis for a Relational Turn

3.3 Party and Local-level Relational Networks

3.4 Czech Business Interests and Foreign Policy Reversal

3.5 CEFC as a Relational Anchor of China’s State Interests

3.6 Drivers of China’s Economic Engagement in the Czech Republic

3.7.Conclusions

Chapter 4 Defending China's Core Interests: Mixed Responses in the Czech Republic

4.1 Manipulating Relational Networks During the Dalai Lama's Visit to Prague

4.2 Protecting Chinese Business Interests in the Case of 5G Security

4.3 Safeguarding Local Ties: The Prague-Beijing Partnership

4.4 Mitigating Czech Parliamentary Diplomacy Towards Taiwan

4.5 Leveraging Pandemic Diplomacy in the Service of the Chinese Communist Party

 4.6 Creating a  “Correct Perception” of China in the Czech Republic

4.7. Conclusions

Chapter 5 Reversing Course: The Unraveling of China’s Relational Approach

5.1 China’s Economic Engagement: From Great Expectations to Disillusionment

5.2 Renewed Challenge to China’s Core Interests

5.3. Disruption of Relational Networks

5.4. Limits of Public Opinion Management

5.5 Conclusions

Conclusions: Limits of China’s Relational Power

Index

Biography

Bartosz Kowalski is an Associate Professor at the Department of Asian Studies of the University of Łódź, Poland. His research explores China’s foreign policy, particularly its engagement with Central and Eastern Europe and the Global South. He has published on China’s regional diplomacy in Central and Eastern Europe and Chinese ideological narratives. He is the co-author of China's Vertical Multilateralism and the Global South: Narratives, Networks, and Money (2025).

Filip Šebok is a PhD researcher at the Department of Asian Studies, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, and the Head of Prague Office at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS). He has published on China’s relations with Central and Eastern Europe, particularly with the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

"This is a superb book on the China-Czech Republic relationship – but it is also much more than that. While the book offers a detailed analysis of the bilateral relationship, it also situates the Czech-China link within the broader context of China’s foreign policy towards Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Global South, aptly identifying CEE's ‘peripheral’ position in Chinese political thinking. The Czech Republic is a great case to study the ups and downs of China’s relations with post-communist countries in the CEE region over the previous decade, full of interesting examples of the evolving roles of ideology, historical memory, economic exchanges, and strategic considerations.

The rich empirical analysis is well grounded in the relational theory rooted in the Chinese concept of guanxi, making this also a worthy contribution to the theoretical discussions."

 - Richard Turcsányi, Palacký University Olomouc & Central European Institute of Asian Studies

"Sharp, original, and deeply informed, this book offers the most rigorous account yet of how China’s relational power operates in practice and where it fails. Rich in empirical detail and theoretically innovative, this landmark study is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand China’s engagement with Central and Eastern Europe and the wider reordering of global politics."

- Emilian Kavalski, Tampere University