EVOLUTION OF CONTEMPORARY CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY: LEGACY AND INNOVATION
Keywords:
PRC’s foreign policy, soft power, new security system doctrine, One Belt, One Road, new international relations model.Abstract
The paper discusses the conceptual foundations of China’s international policy. It traces the phases of establishment and evolution of the PRC’s foreign policy agenda under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. It notes that in the early 1990s, the taoguang yanghui strategic principle (stay in the shadows, keep a low profile, avoid being in the forefront) determined the foreign policy agenda of the PRC during the period of reforms and openness, associated with the implementation of “four modernizations” and “the open-door policy.”
The paper examines the legacy of the foreign policy agenda, focusing on concepts of a peaceful development path, protection of essential interests, and the soft power policy. The third generation of PRC leaders proposed the “new security system doctrine,” which carried over to the next generation’s policy, where PRC security was considered directly dependent on the peaceful development principles. The issue of developing harmonious diplomacy as the foundation of the PRC’s soft power emerged. The foreign policy was intended not only to passively support external conditions favorable to Chinese reforms but also to actively counteract the U.S. and other states in their attempts to thwart China's rise. Western researchers refer to this policy as “the global prevention of external threats.”
The concepts of “China’s peaceful rise” and “China expanding beyond its borders” were based on the idea of development models’ variability, support for global stability, and the creation of conditions for “universal prosperity,” which is, first and foremost, in the best interests of developing countries. According to Xi Jinping, strengthening and developing relations with developing countries is the initial and final point of PRC’s foreign policy.
The paper notes the distinctive features of the foreign policy pursued by the “fifth generation” of PRC leaders, including their proposals on creating a new model of international relations based on mutually rewarding cooperation. This agenda was practically realized in China’s design and implementation of the One Belt, One Road strategy, which integrates major geopolitical infrastructural projects: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It observes that the basic premise of contemporary foreign policy is China’s eagerness to share its success with other countries, particularly with its regional neighbors. One of the seminal principles, namely, cooperation, has to be implemented on the basis of positive interaction, mutual rewards, and collective benefits.
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The first aim is to establish a well-rounded, moderately prosperous society by 2021 (100th anniversary of the CPC). The second aim is to create a rich, prosperous, democratic, civilized, and harmoniously modernized socialist state by 2049 (100th anniversary of PRC), and to achieve the great Chinese national revival over the course of the 21st century.
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