Emotional assertiveness: China's coercive diplomacy against non-state actors

Abstract While the economic, political and military instruments of China's coercive diplomacy have been intensely studied in recent years, its emotional dimension has largely been overlooked. This article investigates China's ‘emotional assertiveness’ as a distinct discursive practice of coercion in which state representatives publicly express moral indignation and urge offenders to apologise for violating China's red lines. It examines several western non-state actors targeted by China in this way, as these unexplored cases provide a unique perspective on the role played by emotions in state coercive diplomacy. Specifically, they demonstrate how identity-related emotionalized concerns, rather than instrumental and strategic considerations, may sometimes constitute the underlying motivational driver of China's assertiveness. Apart from carving out new space for a non-rationalist approach to coercive diplomacy within the International Relations discipline, the article develops the key components of China's emotional assertiveness, arguing that it is fuelled by moral indignation, rather than anger; is triggered by a perceived wrong; is nurtured by identity-related concerns; and is manifested in repeated demands for repentance. To illustrate China's practice of emotional assertiveness, the article analyses two specific cases: Intel's instruction in 2021 to its suppliers to avoid products from Xinjiang and an opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in early 2020, titled ‘China is the real sick man of Asia’.