Open Access"Diamond Stage" in Sino-Croatian Relations
Author(s) -
Ivica Bakota
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
croatian international relations review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1848-5782
pISSN - 1331-1182
DOI - 10.37173/cirr.26.86.6
Subject(s) - croatian , context (archaeology) , china , political science , international relations , beijing , stage (stratigraphy) , state (computer science) , sociology , history , politics , law , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , archaeology , geology , paleontology , algorithm
Byborrowing an ad hoc concept 'diamond stage'uttered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Croatia in April 2019to describe a new stage in Sino-Croatian bilateral relations, this article setsto analyse the reasons behind this flattering diplomatic designation. Itdeparts from the context of weak, historically distant and asymmetricalSino-Croatian cooperation (SCC), giving, firstly, a short account on historicalrelations between China and Croatia and, secondly, relying on small state power scholarshipin IR, depicting the opening and advancing of SCC. Whilecategories of state size, geographical proximity, bilateral history andrelational capacity are relatively pointless given the previous track of SCC,the dynamics of decreasing asymmetry between a small state and a big power helpsto understand the recent upcoming of a new, 'diamond' stage in bilateralrelations. Therefore, the articleproposes several features as particularly relevant for understanding decreasedasymmetry in SCC.