谁是我们的朋友, 谁是我们的“敌人”? ——基于联合国投票的中国地缘政治准则研究

Geopolitical issues have recently become a hot topic in Chinese human geography. A number of studies have evaluated China's geopolitical environment and proposed various suggestions for promoting the Belt & Road Initiative, solving the territorial disputes in South and East China Sea, and increasing international influence in the South Asia region. Some scholars have also discussed the disciplinary development and theoretical innovation of Chinese geopolitics. However, extant studies tend to have both methodological and theoretical limitations. On the one hand, with most of the extant studies focusing on evaluation of geopolitical environment or proposal of geopolitical strategies, few studies have examined geopolitical relations based on bilateral or multilateral relational data (despite of several exceptions based on trade data, which is arguably unable to directly reflect geopolitical relations). On the other hand, current studies tend to have weak theoretical foundation. To help narrow this gap, this paper analyzes the geopolitical relations between China and other countries based on the geopolitical codes theory and the UN vote data from 1971 to 2017. Using the S score and cluster analysis methods, we divide the dynamics of China's geopolitical relations with other countries into three stages and identify the geopolitical communities of China's "friends" and "enemies" in the recent ten years. We also examine the determinants of S scores between China and other countries using panel regression method and confirms the significant impacts of geographical distance, economic links, natural resource and technology on China's geopolitical relation with other countries. Echoing the "trade war" between China and the US, we pointed out the current and potential "friends" and "enemies" of China. The findings of this paper may have important implications for both enhancing quantitative research in political geography and making policies to improve China's international relations and geopolitical security.