“INEVITABILITY”: Capturing Strategic Ambiguity in Xi Jinping's China

ABSTRACT This article approaches the discourse of inevitability used by Xi Jinping and his foreign policy communicators from the perspective of strategic ambiguity signaling. Drawing on the post‐realist rhetoric turn, it analyzes its roots, evolution, as well as the contexts in which Xi Jinping deploys it, most notably in relation to the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and its element of “resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China's complete reunification.” Centering on official English translations, I examine the original texts in Chinese to establish the Chinese equivalents of wording where viable. I show that the inevitability discourse projects assurance yet fails to provide detail or indicate a preference of one scenario (peaceful unification) over any other (takeover by force), indicating that it falls within a conceptualization of strategic ambiguity.