The Evolution of Chinese Foreign Policy since Reform and Opening：A Position vs. Identity"" Analysis of Party and Government Reports since the CPC Twelfth Party Congress""
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Lee, Wan-Ju
Abstract
At the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC in December 1978, the Chinese leadership came up with the so-called reform and opening-up policy. Since then, China''s national strength has steadily increased and hence the rise of China. Today, China exerts considerable regional and international influence. With its increasingly greater national strength, whether the rise of China is to be accompanied with threat or peace to the international community is a critical issue where stability of the Asia Pacific and the world as a whole are at stake. For the ROC, China''s rise is not only a question of international relations, but also a key factor affecting cross-strait relations. In view of this, the current thesis intends to analyze the Chinese foreign policy to understand the trajectory and development of China’s external policy since its rise following the opening-up and reform policy. Meanwhile, the thesis also seeks to shed light on the consistency, as well as adjustments, of Chinese foreign policy in its evolution. In order to demonstrate the consistency and adjustments of Chinese foreign policy in a concrete manner, rather than being abstract, this study takes a viewpoint of “position” and “identity” in analyzing the CPC and Chinese government reports concerning foreign policy since the 12th CPC Party Congress. Hence, Chinese foreign policy falls into three categories or roles: ""the balancer of the international system,"" ""the responsible stakeholder of the international community"" and ""the revisionist of the status quo."" The weight of each of the three roles in a given period would decide the direction and contour of Chinese foreign policy in that period and the changing weight of the three roles would offer clues as to China’s diplomacy in that period. The study concludes that between the 12th and 15th CPC party Congress during the 1980''s and 1990''s, China primarily played the role of ""the balancer of the international system."" During this period, Beijing focused on developing the country''s economy on the domestic front and adhered to the five principles of peaceful coexistence, as well as the principle of peace and development, on the external front. As a result, China managed to accumulate greater national strength. During the 16th and 17th CPC Party Congress period, China had enjoyed considerable national strength and its national development was firmly on track, Beijing became more and more active in participating in various international organizations and international institutions, hence playing the role of ""the responsible stakeholder of the international community. Since the 18th CPC Party Congress, China has actively sough a greater say in the international community and tried to dominate the international order in a systematic way, as evidenced by initiatives such as the ""One Belt, One Road"" and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, etc. Therefore, China at this stage is playing the role of the revisionist of the status quo. The evolution of these three roles that China has assumed revealed a trajectory of China''s rise in the past 30 years; it has evolved from a devastated basket case of the Cultural Revolution to a regional and world power. Moreover, the different weight of each of the three roles in each period is also indicative of China''s multi-fold intentions and strategic objectives behind its diplomatic moves.
Subjects
Chinese foreign policy
balancer
responsible stakeholder
revisionist
SDGs
Type
thesis