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Dr HONGYI LAI's Outputs (17)

Differentiated yet common sentiments: UK news coverage on the Biden–Xi summit meeting (2025)
Journal Article
Lewis, A., & Lai, H. (2025). Differentiated yet common sentiments: UK news coverage on the Biden–Xi summit meeting. Global Media and China, https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364251325515

Britain’s policy on China fluctuated from positive engagement to China scepticism between 2015 and 2023, influenced by geopolitical and domestic politics and economic concerns. British media coverage of US–China interactions and rivalry therefore war... Read More about Differentiated yet common sentiments: UK news coverage on the Biden–Xi summit meeting.

Zero-COVID Policy in China: Epidemic Control and the Mode of Politics (2023)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2023). Zero-COVID Policy in China: Epidemic Control and the Mode of Politics. East Asian Policy, 15(4), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793930523000296

In 2022 highly restrictive measures were imposed in China to contain the less deadly Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. This study argues that these measures resulted from a move away from pragmatic authoritarianism and toward totalitarianism since 2013... Read More about Zero-COVID Policy in China: Epidemic Control and the Mode of Politics.

Private Investment in Chinese Football Clubs: Political Capital and State-Business Exchanges (2023)
Journal Article
Ross, T., Sullivan, J., & Lai, H. (2023). Private Investment in Chinese Football Clubs: Political Capital and State-Business Exchanges. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 52(3), 518 - 541. https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026231188142

Business-government relations play a crucial role in China's economic development and policy implementation. Situated in an asymmetric dependency nexus, local officials court business investments to facilitate policy and boost their political careers... Read More about Private Investment in Chinese Football Clubs: Political Capital and State-Business Exchanges.

The evolution of China's climate change policy: international and domestic political economy and a strategy for working with China (2021)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2021). The evolution of China's climate change policy: international and domestic political economy and a strategy for working with China. Journal of the British Academy, 9(10), 69-98. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/009s10.069

For over a decade China has been the predominant carbon emitter in the global economy. It is thus imperative for us to understand the factors behind its climate change policy in the past decades. In the article, the author surveys the evolution of Ch... Read More about The evolution of China's climate change policy: international and domestic political economy and a strategy for working with China.

Battling Over Social Media: Public Protest and State Responses concerning Dr Li Wenliang’s Death in China (2021)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2021). Battling Over Social Media: Public Protest and State Responses concerning Dr Li Wenliang’s Death in China. East Asian Policy, 13(2), 36-48. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793930521000118

This article conducts a case study regarding the reactions by the public and the state on the internet to the death of Dr Li Wenliang, a whistleblower revealing the Covid-19 outbreak in China. It addresses the ongoing debate in the literature regardi... Read More about Battling Over Social Media: Public Protest and State Responses concerning Dr Li Wenliang’s Death in China.

The Rationale and Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Reducing Vulnerabilities in Domestic Political Economy (2020)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2021). The Rationale and Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Reducing Vulnerabilities in Domestic Political Economy. Journal of Contemporary China, 30(128), 330-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2020.1790896

The existing literature suggests that China launched the belt and road initiative (BRI) in order to stimulate economic growth through infrastructural investment abroad, foster closer economic ties with Eurasia, and counter the US pivot to Asia. In th... Read More about The Rationale and Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Reducing Vulnerabilities in Domestic Political Economy.

Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China: A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Agreement (2019)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2019). Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China: A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Agreement. Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 37(1), 8-35. https://doi.org/10.22439/cjas.v37i1.5904

Statistical tests are conducted on two explanations of soft power. One is Joseph Nye's argument that political values, foreign policy, and cultural appeals shape soft power, and the other is the positive peace argument which suggests the significant... Read More about Soft Power Determinants in the World and Implications for China: A Quantitative Test of Joseph Nye's Theory on Three Soft Power Resources and of the Positive Peace Agreement.

China’s governance model: flexibility and durability of pragmatic authoritarianism (2016)
Book
Lai, H. (2016). China’s governance model: flexibility and durability of pragmatic authoritarianism. Routledge

Many studies of government in China either simply describe the political institutions or else focus, critically, on the weaknesses of the system, such as corruption or the absence of Western-style democracy. Authors of these studies fail to appreciat... Read More about China’s governance model: flexibility and durability of pragmatic authoritarianism.

Managing China's energy sector: between the market and the state (2014)
Journal Article
Lai, H., & Warner, M. (2014). Managing China's energy sector: between the market and the state. Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2014.939887

As China has now become the largest energy consumer in the world, its energy sector has understandably huge domestic and global implications. In this Special Issue, which is an interdisciplinary one, comprising a set of eight in-depth empirical studi... Read More about Managing China's energy sector: between the market and the state.

Rationale of internationalization of China's national oil companies: seeking natural resources, strategic assets or sectoral specialization? (2014)
Journal Article
Lai, H., O'Hara, S., & Wysoczanska, K. (2015). Rationale of internationalization of China's national oil companies: seeking natural resources, strategic assets or sectoral specialization?. Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(1), 77-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2014.939896

The bulk of the existing literature emphasized that China's companies sought strategic assets (technology, brands and access to markets) through internationalization in order to overcome latecomers' comparative disadvantage, while some studies sugges... Read More about Rationale of internationalization of China's national oil companies: seeking natural resources, strategic assets or sectoral specialization?.

Transformation of China’s energy sector: trends and challenges (2014)
Journal Article
Lai, H., & Warner, M. (2014). Transformation of China’s energy sector: trends and challenges. Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2014.939900

The conclusions presented here sum up the contributions in the Special Issue regarding the managing of China's energy sector, particularly regarding the demand and profile of energy as well as the marketization of the sector. Strategic, organizationa... Read More about Transformation of China’s energy sector: trends and challenges.

Domestic Bureaucratic Politics and Chinese Foreign Policy (2013)
Journal Article
Lai, H., & Kang, S.-J. (2014). Domestic Bureaucratic Politics and Chinese Foreign Policy. Journal of Contemporary China, 23(86), 294-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2013.832531

One of the outstanding features of China's domestic politics is the prominence of the bureaucracy in the policy-making process. Arguably, bureaucracy is the next major player in the policy-making process in China after the top leaders. In this articl... Read More about Domestic Bureaucratic Politics and Chinese Foreign Policy.

Uneven opening of China's society, economy, and politics: pro-growth authoritarian governance and protests in China (2010)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2010). Uneven opening of China's society, economy, and politics: pro-growth authoritarian governance and protests in China. Journal of Contemporary China, 19(67), https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2010.508581

This article evaluates China's model of development, especially its main component, i.e. its model of governance. It suggests that China's model of development is marked by an imbalance between fast opening of the economy and the society and sluggish... Read More about Uneven opening of China's society, economy, and politics: pro-growth authoritarian governance and protests in China.

China’s ethnic policies: political dimension and challenges (2009)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2009). China’s ethnic policies: political dimension and challenges. East Asian Policy, 1(3),

Dramatic developments in Tibet and Xinjiang since 2008 have highlighted the challenges to China’s ethnic policies. The pillar of China’s ethnic policies is regional autonomy for ethnic minorities. Ethnic areas enjoy limited administrative autonomy an... Read More about China’s ethnic policies: political dimension and challenges.

China's oil diplomacy: is it a global security threat? (2007)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2007). China's oil diplomacy: is it a global security threat?. Third World Quarterly, 28(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590701192645

China is now the world's second largest oil consuming nation. China's external quest for oil has thus generated much attention and is believed by many to destabilise the world order. This article attempts to provide an overview of China's external in... Read More about China's oil diplomacy: is it a global security threat?.

Contrasts in China and Soviet reform: sub-national and national causes (2005)
Journal Article
Lai, H. (2005). Contrasts in China and Soviet reform: sub-national and national causes. Asian Journal of Political Science, 13(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/02185370508434248

Why did reform in China and the former Soviet Union produce drastically different outcomes? Why did some provinces in China embrace faster economic reform than others? This article argues that the state sector and reform initiatives in the sub-nation... Read More about Contrasts in China and Soviet reform: sub-national and national causes.