Finnish–Chinese investment negotiation: power positioning and search for common ground

Santa Stopniece

Economic and Political Studies, 2018, vol. 6, issue 4, 445-468

Abstract: This article explores what kind of a role ‘the rise of China’ plays in negotiation and searches for common ground between Finnish and Chinese representatives in the context of Chinese investment, trade and cooperation facilitation initiatives in Finland. The study predominantly builds on the positioning theory, and the data collection methods of this study are interviewing and observation. Five styles of positioning regarding power and common ground are found – adjustment, use of existing common ground, autonomy, ‘soft’ power and pressure/hedging, the character of which corresponds to phases of Chinese five elements theory (wu xing). While data suggest that both Finnish and Chinese representatives use all these strategies, the trend is that Finnish representatives use active responses such as adjustment and pressure/hedging more, while Chinese representatives more often resort to autonomy stance. A variety of both external and internal factors influencing positioning could also be traced, such as organisational roles in situation, place of meeting, discourses about countries and considerations of ‘face’.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1080/20954816.2018.1535760

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