Chinese Foreign Policy Making

Chinese foreign policy making is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through a party-state structure under which decision-making in foreign policy rests with the party, while the government is primarily responsible for implementation of policy decisions made by the party. Within this general framework of policy making and implementation, the process of Chinese foreign policy making has evolved from the Mao era when foreign policy making was individual leader-based and far from professional to the post-Mao era when it was initially dominated by Deng and was then becoming growingly institutionalized and professionalized, although still subject to the final decisions by top communist leaders. Hence, an institutionalized foreign policy making process has been established and developed in the post-Mao era, which involves a number of relevant offices and organs within the party and government structure. While final decisions of foreign policy are still made by top communist leaders, the specific process of policy making is increasingly based on an institutionalized scientific procedure. In this process, there has been rising influence of think tanks, interest groups and general public opinion in Chinese foreign policy making. Consequently, Chinese foreign policy making has become a much more complex process today than that in the Mao era. This chapter explains how the process of foreign policy making has evolved from the Mao era to the post-Mao era. Then is focuses on the process of Chinese foreign policy making in the post-Mao era by examining the institutional structure of Chinese foreign policy making, the rising role of Chinese think tanks in foreign policy making and the growing influence of interest groups and public opinion in Chinese foreign policy making. As a result, an institutionalized foreign policy making process was established and developed, particularly after the early 1990s, which involved a number of relevant offices and organs within the party and government structure. The Chinese government, which is called the State Council, directly handles China’s diplomacy or foreign policy matters. It is primarily responsible for decisions on routine or specific matters as well as for implementation of foreign policy decisions made by the party.