Ye, MinSklar, Sarah2025-09-122025-09-122024https://hdl.handle.net/2144/512152024This dissertation examines China’s role in the International Political Economy at the local, regional, and international level. The domestic circumstances within a country influence their foreign relations and China is no exception. My first paper starts at the micro level, looking at prefecture level governments and examining the relationship between promotions and economic growth. Prior literature finds a performance bonus for recently promoted officials, however, with a deeper look I find that it is actually an early-career performance bonus and it does not appear for subsequent promotions. I also find provincial differences in my two cases, Yunnan and Guangxi, and show that the central government uses different strategies to exert control in different locations. My second paper zooms out to examine China’s regional influence through Xi Jinping’s flagship foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative. I examine the similarities and differences in how world regions engage with China and which issues are most salient in different areas. I find local agency has been overlooked by Western observes and has significant impact on project outcomes. My third paper looks at China’s role in the international liberal economic order. I argue that China’s rise is not a threat to the order because the order is flexible and adaptive. With a new dataset on FTA depth, I show how neoliberal clauses spread through the free trade agreement network over time and find that China’s free trade agreements generally maintain more protections for domestic policy space, ensuring that local sovereignty will not clash with international agreements. Together these papers show the many levels through which China engages with the world. Local officials are the foundation of the Chinese state and play an important role in policy implementation. This is especially important in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, with many sub-national actors seeking out opportunities abroad. This regional engagement happens within the broader context of international institutions and both shapes and is shaped by those very institutions.en-USAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Political scienceAsian studiesBelt and roadFree trade agreementsLocal politicsThesis/Dissertation2025-09-11