China's Diplomacy: Theory And Practice 9781938134395, 9781938134388

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CHINA’S DIPLOMACY Theory and Practice

May 2, 2013

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CHINA’S DIPLOMACY Theory and Practice

Editor

Jiemian Yang Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), China

World Century

Published by World Century Publishing Corporation 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data China’s diplomacy : theory and practice / edited by Jiemian Yang, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), China. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-938134-38-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Zhongguo gong chan dang. 2. Political parties--China. 3. China--Foreign relations. 4. China-Politics and government. I. Yang, Jiemian. JQ1519.A5C4745 2014 327.51--dc23 2013041934

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright © 2014 by World Century Publishing Corporation All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.

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In-house Editor: Lee Xin Ying

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b1630 The Communist Party of China’s Diplomacy: Theory and Practice

Contents

Preface

Part One

Leadership and Achievements of the CPC in China’s Diplomacy YANG Jiemian Theory

Chapter One

Chapter Two

1

The Concept of the Times and the Foreign Policy of China YE Qing The Concept of the International System and China’s Foreign Policy ZHANG Pei

Chapter Three

The Concept of National Interests LIU Zongyi

Chapter Four

Scientific Outlook on Development and China’s Diplomacy ZHANG Haibing

Part Two

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Practice

3

65 121

191

245

Chapter Five

Traditional Deployments of China’s Diplomacy 247 ZHANG Chun

Chapter Six

China’s Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas YU Hongyuan

327

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China’s Diplomacy

Chapter Seven

Conclusion

Bibliography Postscript Index

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Party Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics NIU Haibin

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CPC Advancing with the Times: Future Prospects of China’s Diplomacy YANG Jiemian

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505 515 519

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PREFACE

Leadership and Achievements of the CPC in China’s Diplomacy

2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The past 90 years were a period in which the CPC became mature and grew in strength, the Chinese people kept exploring a way out and seeking development, and the Chinese diplomacy moved toward the world arena. In the past 90 years, the CPC has always had a good understanding of the world trends and the historical development trends. It has formed its own well-developed and integrated concept system that has kept abreast of the times, a concept system composed of how values, the times, the system, the state, the sovereignty, the interests and developments are conceptualized. All this has enabled the CPC to successfully steer China’s diplomacy through three periods, namely, the period of the peaceful liberation, that of peaceful coexistence and that of peaceful development. It has skillfully balanced the role of a leader with that of a practitioner, the world trends with the practical needs, and the international cause with the domestic cause. In the process, it has formulated a rational global strategy and made comprehensive diplomatic deployments, facilitating the formation and evolution of the theory of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and hence laying a solid foundation for the development and improvement of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics as well as the great rejuvenation of China.

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I. Internal and External Environment for China’s Diplomacy and Its 90-Year Diplomatic Course Internally, China has undergone earth-shaking changes over 90 years since the founding of the CPC. First, China achieved the great victory of the new democratic revolution in 1949, which was followed by the 30-year socialist construction. Then in 1979, it started the great reform and opening-up process, ushering in China’s great rejuvenation. At the same time, the international environment facing China has also seen major changes. The international principle of the national selfdetermination was already established before the CPC’s inception. However, the Cold War configuration of the bipolar confrontation was also in place before the founding of New China. The hostility between the US and the Soviet Union started to ease gradually and the globalization process begun before China started to reform and open up. The end of the Cold War ushered in the historical process of reorganizing the international system and re-shaping the international norms. In face of the overlapping and dislocated internal and international situations, the CPC has always followed the historical trends and has guided China’s diplomatic work into splendid victories one after another. It could be concluded with certainty that the CPC leadership and practice in China’s diplomacy in the past 90 years themselves have represented an evolving process of the relations between China and the entire international system. The most important aspect in this evolving process is the “harmony” and “accommodation” between China and the international system. Hence, a most salient feature of the CPC-led diplomacy in China has been “diplomacy for peace” or “peace diplomacy”, i.e. to unite all those nations and peoples who treat the Chinese nation equally in an effort to safeguard world peace and promote common development. The purpose of China’s diplomacy has been to create a “favorable” surrounding and international environment for the new democratic revolution and socialist construction of New China.1 As the environment in which China has conducted diplomacy has changed in different historical 1

Qi Pengfei (ed.): The Communist Party of China and Diplomacy of Contemporary China (1949–2009), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2010 Edition, pp. 1–2.

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periods, it is only natural for China’s “peace diplomacy” to exhibit different features in different periods. Generally speaking, it has experienced three periods: diplomacy for peaceful liberation, diplomacy for peaceful coexistence and diplomacy for peaceful development.

A. Diplomacy for Peaceful Liberation (1921–1949) The creation of the CPC was an inevitable outcome in the post-World War I era when the principle of national self-determination was established and enjoyed popular support. In pursuit of the ideal of national self-determination at the first stage after its founding, the CPC made unswerving efforts to create a favorable external environment and seek maximum international support for a peaceful liberation of China, in face of a generally unfavorable international system and environment in the “war and revolution” era. The CPC has since its inception been committed to the realization of national self-determination. As stated in the Declaration of the 2nd CPC National Congress, the CPC knows better than others what the imperialists mean when talking about “equality and self-determination,” because it was the CPC’s goal to “defuse internal turmoil, overthrow warlords and build peace internally; and to remove international imperialist oppression and achieve full independence of the Chinese nation.”2 In order to gain maximum international support for China’s national self-determination in the face of the powerful opposition forces, both domestic and international, the CPC actually opted for the “learning on one side” diplomacy at the beginning, which was not the same as the “leaning to one side” policy that the CPC implemented immediately after the founding of New China, but it was nevertheless similar in essence. The 1st CPC National Congress went as far as announcing in its resolution that the CPC Central Committee shall submit a monthly work report to the Third International.3 2

People’s Net: The First Resolution of the Chinese Communist Party (1921), http:// cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64168/64553/4427949.html, accessed July 31, 2013. 3 People’s Net: The Declaration of the 2nd CPC National Congress, July 16–23, 1922, Shanghai, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64168/64554/4428164.html, accessed July 31, 2013.

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As the CPC grew more mature and as China was plunged into the war against Japanese invasion, the CPC had a better and more profound understanding of its diplomatic mission. It realized that the support of the Communist International alone was inadequate for it to achieve its national liberation and that it had to win extensive international recognition and support. To a large extent, this understanding of the CPC was consistent with the international community’s recognition of the sovereign legitimacy and, in particular, it was consistent with the principle of the sovereign legitimacy established by the UN after World War II.4 In this context, the CPC took advantage of the international war against fascism and widely disseminated its thinking on foreign relations. On the one hand, the CPC made known its foreign policy theories through what we call “public diplomacy” today. For instance, the CPC invited the well-known journalist Edgar Snow and other “China experts” or “China Hands” to Yan’an. On the other, Mao Zedong instructed in December 1940 that the CPC should formulate its own differentiated foreign policy: first, to differentiate the Soviet Union from capitalist countries; second, to differentiate the policies that Great Britain and US adopted in the Far East Munich period from those adopted in 1940s; third, to differentiate UK and US from Germany and Italy; and fourth, to differentiate the British and American peoples from their imperialist governments.5 This differentiated foreign policy finally helped the CPC to get the support of the Soviet Union and other countries for the Chinese struggle for liberation and also to gain the understanding of the US, though short-lived. The latter subsequently dispatched two separate Observers Missions to Yan’an in 1944. The US decision to support the Chiang Kai-shek clique in launching a civil war prevented the CPC from realizing its goal of peaceful liberation in China. Nevertheless, the rich experience it accumulated 4

Zhang Chun: Order or Justice? — The Principle of Self-determination v. Sovereign Legitimacy. In Institute of World Economics and Politics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (ed.), International Environment and Peaceful Development of China: Research on International Relations, Volume 3, Beijing: Shishi Press, 2006 Edition. 5 Selected Documents of Central Committee of CPC, Vol. XIII, Beijing: Party Press of the CCCPC, 1991 Edition, pp. 251–252.

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in conducting foreign relations and exchanges for China’s peaceful liberation inspired those countries that struggled against colonization for national liberation after World War II. As a matter of fact, China succeeded in its liberation struggle earlier than most countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its concepts and experience in seeking national self-determination through relatively peaceful means later served as good reference for the latter. Furthermore, these concepts and experience were often cited by people with great relish, even many years later.

B. Diplomacy for Peaceful Coexistence (1949–1979) The New China in early years after independence found itself in an embarrassing international and domestic environment. With the Cold War configuration of a bipolar confrontation in full force, there was little room for China to maneuver. And internally, years of war left China ruined everywhere and made nation-building a formidable task to fulfill. While most countries, influenced by the Cold War structure and the Cold War mentality, had limitations in their diplomatic strategies, the CPC, from a forward-looking perspective, recognized the inevitable historical trend and the common desire of the international community for peace and development and for getting rid of the Cold War shackles. It soon initiated the diplomatic philosophy of “peaceful coexistence” transcending the Cold War mentality, or the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which China consistently adhered to, though it encountered some difficulties at a later stage. Trapped in the acute bipolar confrontation, the CPC realized that to achieve full national self-determination, it was necessary to negate all the diplomatic relations established by Kuomintang (KMT) with foreign countries. In this context, Mao Zedong gave important instructions in early 1949 to “set up a new kitchen or make a new start” and “clean the house before inviting guests.” At the very core of these two instructions was China’s independence in foreign policy, which not only embodied its firm determination for national self-determination, but also laid a theoretical foundation for the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

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Due to the serious confrontation between the two main camps in the early years after the founding of New China, many countries had limited strategic foreign policy choices. However, it was still the common aspiration of the international community to see peaceful coexistence of all countries beyond the bipolar structure. In view of this, the Chinese government and the Indian government jointly put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in April 1954. Two months later, China, India and Myanmar jointly proposed to apply the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to state-to-state relations in Asia and in the world. For more than 50 years, the Five Principles of “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence” have become the foundation for China’s independent foreign policy of peace. And they have also been accepted by the vast majority of countries in the world and have become important norms guiding international relations. The 1955 Bandung Conference and, subsequently, the Non-aligned Movement were all based on these principles. Given the grave hostility between the two camps during the Cold War in the world and the remnant enthusiasm out of the democratic revolution at home, China’s efforts to pursue and implement the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were bound to be greatly circumvented. China had to make some expedient diplomatic concessions. One of the most important concessions was the “leaning to one side” diplomatic strategy initiated immediately after its liberation and the “one line and a large number of intermediary countries” theory advocated in the 1960s. Despite all sorts of twists and turns, the CPC has always adhered to the principle of peaceful coexistence in conducting foreign relations. Foreign policy was the first area to be gradually rectified, even during the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.6 China normalized its relations with Japan in 1972 and with the US in 1979. In fact, while most Third

6

Discussions on the Impact of the Cultural Revolution on the Diplomatic Work and the Repair, See CCCPC Party History Research Center: History of the Communist Party of China, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, pp. 879–882.

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World countries, including non-aligned countries, were still fettered by the Cold War structure, China successfully got rid of the bipolar shackles, advocated and practiced the diplomatic principles of peaceful coexistence. China was ahead of the trend of the times in the world.

C. Diplomacy for Peaceful Development (1979–present) The improvement in the international system and relations in the 1970s enabled China to achieve the foreign policy goals of peaceful coexistence much earlier than other countries, if considering the ramification of the globalization on the post-Cold War world. The inevitable logic would lead us to the conclusion that while many countries still affiliated to one of the two camps and engaged in ideological struggle, the CPC once again went beyond the post-Cold War peaceful coexistence and looked forward to a higher stage of “peaceful development”. China firmly seized the opportunities brought about by the newly emerged globalization wave, refused to classify countries along the ideological line, implemented the policy of reform and opening up, and unswervingly followed an independent foreign policy of peace, all of which has laid an important foundation for China’s rejuvenation today. When the Cold War escalated once again after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and after the US took a series of confrontational moves, Deng Xiaoping pointed out with a far-sighted vision that “peace” and “development” were the two main themes of the times, which resulted in profound changes in the guiding ideology of China’s foreign policy. Apart from maintaining national independence, sovereignty and the socialist system as it did in the past, China should conduct diplomacy for a favorable peaceful international environment to facilitate its national economic development and the important cause of the reunification of the motherland. To be brief, the Chinese foreign policy shifted from the “economy for diplomacy” mode to the “diplomacy for economy” mode.7 As former General Secretary Hu Jintao stated in his report to the 17th CPC National Congress, China’s main achieve7

Zhuang Xiaojun and Wu Guangxiang: Understanding Chinese Diplomacy in Contemporary Times — The Diplomatic Wisdom of the Collective Leadership of the

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ments in diplomacy in the past 30 years of reform and opening up were reflected in “combining the pursuit of independent development with participation in economic globalization.”8 Firmly keeping abreast with the globalization trend of the times, the CPC put forward the foreign policy and line of seeking peaceful development and helping build a harmonious world. Once again China led the world. Then General Secretary Hu Jintao addressed the General Assembly at the UN Headquarters on 15 September 2005, in which he holistically and comprehensively expounded the profound meaning of “a harmonious world”. His address was well received by delegates and attracted much attention and positive comments from the foreign media. It was believed that Hu Jintao sent a message to the world that China desired peaceful development, was a responsible big country and would work with other countries in building a world of peace, prosperity and harmony. In the meantime, China gradually developed a road map and ways to build a harmonious world, or the road leading to peaceful development. In December 2005, the Chinese government issued a White Paper on China’s Peaceful Development Road, which stated: “China’s road of peaceful development is a brand new one for mankind in pursuit of civilization and progress, the inevitable way for China to achieve modernization, and a serious choice and solemn promise made by the Chinese government and the Chinese people... Along this road, the Chinese people are working hard to build China into a prosperous, powerful, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern country, and continually making new contributions to human progress with China’s own development… Building a harmonious world of sustained peace and common prosperity is a common wish of the people throughout the world as well as the lofty goal of China in taking the road of peaceful development.”9 Communist Party of China in Handling International Relations, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2009 Edition, p. 191. 8 Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects — Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, People’s Daily, October 25, 2007. 9 The Information Office of the State Council: China’s Peaceful Development Road (White Paper), Xinhuanet, December 22, 2005, http://news.xinhuanet.com/poli-

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It must be noted that the Chinese foreign policies, guidelines and efforts for peaceful liberation, peaceful coexistence and peaceful development are an integral part of China’s “diplomacy for peace” and are specific manifestations of the lines and policies guiding foreign affairs that the CPC adopted in different periods based on different domestic and international circumstances. The CPC has been able to formulate specific policies and lines guiding foreign affairs suitable to specific conditions in different periods, in line with the overall “diplomacy for peace” foreign policy framework, and it has been able to always stand in the forefront of the times without divorcing from reality. This ability of the CPC has precisely facilitated the development of a new mode of diplomacy featuring “three-dimensional thinking and three-dimensional operation” and has “led China onto an ever broader road toward peaceful development.”10

II. The CPC and the Diplomatic Theory with Chinese Characteristics The 90 years since the founding of the CPC have witnessed in China a transformation from a weak country to a strong power and a shift from seclusion to opening up. Under the strong CPC leadership over the past 90 years, China has gradually formed and developed a unique set of diplomatic theories and practice, that is, the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics. The Chinese diplomatic theory, unique as it is, is both an integral part of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and also its development and improvement. It is for this reason that the Chinese diplomatic theory is based on the same concepts of the values, the state, the sovereignty and the development as the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, its diplomatic theory somewhat differs from that of socialism

tics/2005-12/22/content_3954937.htm, accessed July 31, 2013. 10 China’s Road of Peaceful Development Becoming Broader and Broader — Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the Press Conference, Xinhuanet, March 8, 2011, http:// news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011lh/2011-03/08/c_121160028.htm, accessed July 31, 2013.

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with Chinese characteristics in their theoretical foundation such as the concepts of the times, the international system and the state interests, concepts that are of great guiding significance and unique practical importance for China’s diplomacy. Consistent with its exploration for a road to socialism for China, the CPC has, in its leading role in China’s diplomacy in the past 90 years, closely followed the three historical trends of the times, i.e. peace and development, economic globalization and democratization of international politics.11 Hence, the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics focuses, both in theory and practice, on how to accurately understand the three historical trends and on how to put in practice its perception of the three historical trends in diplomatic practice. In this process, three basic elements underpinning various aspects of the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics have emerged, namely, diplomacy for peace and harmony in pursuit of peace and development, diplomacy for opening up and inclusion consistent with the trend of economic globalization, and diplomacy for independence and democracy in committed pursuit of democratization of international politics.

A. Diplomacy for Peace and Harmony As stated above, diplomacy for peace and harmony is one of the basic features of the Chinese foreign policy. Although it might have different emphases in different development stages, China has always sought to live in peace and harmony with other countries. However, due to changes in the strength of the CPC and of China, what the diplomatic policy for peace and harmony has achieved has differed from period to period. Overall, with its growth, China has scored increasingly more achievements through its diplomacy for peace and harmony and has made increasingly greater contributions to peace and development of the human society. During the peaceful liberation period, the CPC stuck to its differentiated policy toward various forces and worked hard to create a 11

Zhang Baijia: Review of One Hundred Years — Changing China in the Changing World, World Affairs, 2000, No. 4, p. 10.

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favorable external environment for a peaceful liberation. But due to systematic instability during the two world wars and the evolving full-scale war in World War II, improvement of situation in some localities failed to reverse the overall worsening environment. Consequently, diplomatic efforts for a peaceful liberation largely failed. On the other hand, with external support, the Chiang Kai-shek clique took advantage of the CPC policy for a peaceful liberation, fought a civil war and staged confrontation on a larger scale. This had also contributed to the failure of CPC’s efforts for a peaceful liberation. For example, on the eve of the nationwide liberation and the founding of New China, knowing that countries like the US and the UK were thinking of establishing diplomatic relations with China, Mao Zedong said: “We can consider establishing diplomatic relations with the US and Britain if they sever relations with the Kuomintang.”12 But apparently, the only purpose of John Leighton Stuart’s stay in Nanjing was to keep the US privileges in China and to sound out China’s attitude.13 The British warship Amethyst and other foreign warships even cruised along the People’s Liberation Army defense line in the Yangtze River in an attempt to interfere in the liberation war in China. Though China’s diplomatic efforts for a peaceful liberation generally failed, its diplomatic pursuit for peaceful coexistence succeeded, at least partially. This partial success was mainly embodied in the establishment and dissemination of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as discussed earlier, as well as in the true, though relative, independence of China in the two camps headed by the US and the Soviet Union that came earlier than most countries. Of course, constrained by the general bipolar structure, China was compelled to make some expedient short-term tactical policy choices such as “leaning to one side,” “fighting with two fists” and “one line and a large number of intermediary countries,” which have never become China’s long-term 12

Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press and World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 83. 13 Zhuang Xiaojun and Wu Guangxiang: Understanding Chinese Diplomacy in Contemporary Times — The Diplomatic Wisdom of the Collective Leadership of the Communist Party of China in Handling International Relations, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2009 Edition, p. 9.

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diplomatic strategy. In fact, even when implementing these short-term policies, the CPC was still seriously contemplating on how to materialize the essence of diplomacy for peaceful coexistence. A most salient example was Mao Zedong’s “Three Worlds” theory. To apply this theory to the implementation of the principle of peaceful coexistence, China, a Third World country, should strengthen solidarity with the vast majority of Third World countries, win over Second World countries and unite with the less threatening First World countries.14 Entering the period of peaceful development, China achieved greater successes in its diplomatic pursuit for peace and development, or its diplomacy for peace and harmony. With the end of the Cold War and the accelerated globalization, and especially the outbreak of the international financial crisis in the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, the three major trends of the time, i.e. the trends of peace, development and cooperation, have drawn the world’s attention. Development of multi-polarization, deepened economic globalization and the Chinese diplomatic strategies for peaceful development and for a harmonious world have been increasingly accepted by the international community. The international community, still having some concerns though, has generally believed that the rise of a group of large emerging countries, including China, could more likely facilitate a “peaceful” power transfer, as these emerging countries have, more often than not, adopted a reforming policy by integrating themselves into the existing international system and modifying outdated rules and regulations therein, instead of a revolutionary strategy of replacing the existing international system.15

B. Open and Inclusive Diplomacy The CPC, the vanguard of the proletariat, has always been open to the outside world. Specifically in foreign affairs, China has, under the CPC leadership, implemented an open and inclusive policy to all 14

CCCPC Party History Research Center (2011), p. 897. Op. cit. Zhang Chun: Peaceful Transition of Power and Choice of China’s US Strategy, Teaching and Research, 2007, No. 3.

15

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forces, both before and after the liberation, and furthermore it has adopted an open and inclusive attitude toward all developments and historical trends. The CPC has always adopted an open and inclusive attitude toward all international actors in accordance with the principle of proletarian internationalism and the principle of combining patriotism with internationalism, in spite of the determination of class status. As mentioned earlier, as early as during the Liberation War, the CPC employed various diplomatic means such as public diplomacy and party-to-party diplomacy, which have developed rapidly today. Examples of this could be found in establishing relations with the communist parties in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and in inviting the American journalist Edgar Snow to Yan’an. Also for example, though China was faced with the grim situation of the bipolar structure soon after the liberation, the CPC still exhorted its people as follows: “Internationally, we must unite with all peace-loving and freedom-loving countries and peoples, and first of all with the Soviet Union and the New Democracies, so that we shall not stand alone in our struggle to safeguard these fruits of victory and to thwart the plots of domestic and foreign enemies for restoration. As long as we persist in the people’s democratic dictatorship and unite with our foreign friends, we shall always be victorious.”16 The choice was made naturally, as proletarian patriotism was consistent with internationalism. Internationalism was a fundamental principle that a proletarian party must adhere to in the struggle: “Proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a worldwide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.”17 Today, still believing that sovereign states should have a dominant place in

16

The Chinese People Have Stood Up! In Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. V, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1996 Edition, p. 344. 17 Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions. In Selected Works of Lenin, Vol. IV, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995 Edition, p. 219–220.

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the international system, the CPC attaches considerable importance to the significant influence of the non-state actors, including the civil society, NGOs, multinational corporations and the media. It has vigorously explored new forms and new means of diplomacy in all areas, such as people-to-people diplomacy, sports diplomacy, public diplomacy, public opinion diplomacy and diplomacy through large-scale international events. On the other hand, the CPC has always stood ahead of the times and maintained an open and tolerant attitude toward all forces and trends that have impacted the course of human history. The most concentrated manifestation of this attitude could be found in the CPC’s support for the national liberation movement and the decolonization movement in numerous Asian, African and Latin American countries and in its effort to take advantage of opportunities brought about by globalization and interdependence among world countries. As mentioned before, the CPC’s success in the new democratic revolution itself served as an example for many Asian, African and Latin American countries to follow in their struggle for national liberation and at the same time enabled the CPC to give greater support to the latter’s liberation movement. The introduction of the reform and opening-up policy, which was led by Deng Xiaoping, demonstrated that China timely seized the opportunity of a new wave of globalization that started in the 1970s. China gradually found the road toward socialism with Chinese characteristics. The “global war on terror” that the US launched immediately after the 9/11 incident in 2001 once distorted the relationship between peace and development.18 Nevertheless, the CPC rationally turned the challenges into opportunities and accelerated the pace of development in China, which offered an important opportunity for the handling of the 2007 international financial crisis and the reform of the international economic system.

18

Fu Ying, former Chinese Ambassador to UK and currently the Vice Foreign Minister, held that the US’s “global war on terrorism” put the issue of security above that of development and distorted the relationship between the two themes of the times. Fu Ying made remarks in the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies on July 23, 2009.

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C. Diplomacy for Independence and Democracy The CPC, setting great score by peace and openness, has guided China’s diplomacy on the important basis of independence and democracy, which is the only way for a country to enjoy peace, equality, openness and inclusiveness in its foreign relations and for the world to succeed in democratization of international relations and international politics. It is because of this that one of the important features distinguishing the CPC-led Chinese diplomatic practice from the Western diplomacy is the way in which one conducts diplomacy. China seeks a state-to-state relationship based on independence, democracy and equality, by exchanging ideas first and materials later, while Western countries develop external relations through gunboats. The CPC-guided Chinese diplomacy has, first of all, followed an independent foreign policy. It was true that the CPC largely leaned to the Communist International in the first few years after its founding. But it more often than not stressed independence, after it rectified the“left”putschism tendency. Mao Zedong said at the time: “When we say Marxism is correct, it is certainly not because Marx was a ‘prophet’ but because his theory has been proved correct in our practice and in our struggle.”19 This independent stance was also embodied in the CPC’s relations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union before the liberation of China. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai emphasized this many times: “Some of our international friends were doubtful about our victory of the liberation war. They persuaded us to stop the war there and talk with Chiang Kai-shek about dividing the country into North and South China along the Yangtze River. If we listened to them, China would have indeed been divided into north and south countries.”20 Even when China was engaged in alliance and quasialliance in the first few years after the founding of New China, the CPC continued its independent foreign policy. And it was this 19

Oppose Book Worship. In Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, p. 111. 20 Wang Fangming: Think Realistically and Independently — A Cordial Talk with Chairman Mao in 1957, People’s Daily, January 2, 1979, as quoted from Zhuang and Wu (2009), p. 19. Op. cit.

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independent foreign policy that made it possible for the New China to improve itself in face of acute hostility in the Cold War context. The 6th National People’s Congress summed up at its fourth session in March 1986 China’s overall foreign policy as an “independent foreign policy of peace” for the first time and elaborated the main contents and basic principles of this overall foreign policy from ten aspects.21 While pursuing an independent foreign policy, the CPC has been committed to the democratization of international relations and international politics. A salient example is that China has promoted the efforts to establish a new international political and economic order. China has all along supported and helped vast Third World countries in their efforts to establish a new international political and economic order. Deng Xiaoping addressed the 6th special session of the UN General Assembly in April 1974 on behalf of the Chinese government, stating that China “warmly endorses and resolutely supports” the propositions put forward by Third World countries for establishing a new international economic order. In addition, Deng Xiaoping comprehensively expounded the Chinese government’s position on international economic relations. In September 1988, Deng Xiaoping raised the issue of establishing a new international political order for the first time. He said: “Two things have to be done at the same time. One is to establish a new international political order; the other is to establish a new international economic order.”22 Since then, to promote the establishment of a new international political and economic order has become an important element in China’s foreign policy strategy.

III. Features of the CPC Leadership in China’s Diplomatic Work The past 90 years after the inception of the CPC is a period in which China has changed the international political and economic balance 21

Zhao Ziyang: Report on the 7th Five-Year Plan — Delivered at the 4th Session of the 6th National People’s Congress (March 25, 1986), People’s Net, http://www.people.com. cn/zgrdxw/zlk/rd/6jie/newfiles/d1140.html, accessed July 31, 2013. 22 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 282.

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by way of continuously effecting revolutionary changes on its own and in which China has increasingly improved its international status. More often than not, China does not have the ability to intervene in international politics and change its overall structure. Therefore, the centralized and unified CPC leadership over China’s diplomatic work is both a distinctive feature of China’s diplomacy and also a fundamental guarantee for its continuous victories.23 The CPC Central Committee has always attached great importance to diplomatic work. With great foresight and carefully-worked-out strategies, it has guided diplomatic work out of all sorts of difficulties and obstacles, and has won China an invincible position in the international arena. What is important for the CPC to understand and lead the international trend and take China to an all-round national liberation for the great rejuvenation of the country is that the CPC has achieved a balance in three important areas in the process of guiding China’s diplomacy.

A. To Balance the Role of a Leader with that of a Practitioner The CPC is first of all the leader and then a practitioner of China’s diplomacy. As a leader, it has shaped China’s global strategy based on its scientific assessment and judgment of the international and domestic situations, and has designed China’s foreign policy objectives and specific tasks based on its understanding of China’s overall strategic objectives and phased missions. As a practitioner, the CPC has promoted and improved the theory and practice of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics by conducting party-to-party diplomacy. Thanks to the effective balancing of the role of a leader with that of a practitioner, the CPC has been able to guide, through its leadership and practice, China’s diplomacy from one victory to another and to contribute to the formation and development of the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics. China’s foreign policy in the past 90 years since the founding of the CPC has first of all drawn from the CPC efforts to continuously 23

Yang Jiechi: Diplomacy of New China Advancing from Victory to Victory Under the CPC Leadership, Studies on Party Building, 2009, No. 10.

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readjust, from a leading position, the specific contents of its theories, strategies and policies on foreign relations on the basis of its assessments and judgment of the developments and changes in the domestic and international situations. First, China’s overall foreign policy strategy should be attributed to the CPC’s perception and judgment of the general trends of the domestic and international developments and changes. For example, during the war of liberation, the CPC wisely saw and timely followed the historical trend to national liberation and decolonization, and led China in achieving national liberation and independence earlier than other countries. In early years of the Cold War, the Chinese communists accurately recognized the universal desire for peaceful coexistence and were the first to break the constraints that the Cold War had on China’s diplomacy. Later in the globalization era, the CPC, having keenly discerned and quickly responded to the two themes of the times — peace and development, has taken China onto the road toward peaceful development earlier than other countries and has landed China in a favorable position in the re-shaping of the international system and re-construction of international norms. The CPC has developed phased foreign policy goals and tasks for different periods in light of changing domestic and international situations in different periods and in line with China’s overall diplomatic strategy. As a well-known scholar said, the ideas and proposals such as “putting ideology above everything else,” “leaning to one side,” “fighting with two fists,” “one line and a large number of intermediary countries” and the “Three Worlds” theory that were advocated in the planned economy era, in the times of “taking class struggle as the key link,” in the Cold War era with two confrontational camps of socialism and capitalism and in the most populous “poor and blank” country, were “historical choices” resulting from the “lack of choice” for the New China diplomacy. Likewise, it is also a “historical choice from the lack of choice”24 for the PRC’s foreign policy to map out such policies and strategies as the “two-pronged” strategy of both economic diplomacy and political diplomacy; the “quadrupled diplomatic pillars” of relations 24

Qi (2010), p. 4. Op. cit.

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with big powers, with developing countries, with neighboring countries and on the multilateral arena; diplomacy complemented by the government diplomacy, inter-party diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy and “diplomacy by leaders”; and an all-round development of friendly relations and cooperation with countries, regions and international organizations; foreign policy strategies that have been put forward in the “important national interests” in the market economy era, in the days of “focusing on economic development,” in the post-Cold War era of economic globalization and political multi-polarization, and in the era of “economic” and “political powers” with the biggest potential for development and for keeping to the developmental trend. Apart from playing a leading role in designing a global strategy for China’s diplomacy and formulating specific foreign policy goals and tasks for different periods, the CPC has, as a practitioner, practiced and participated in the actual operation of China’s diplomacy. Without a nation-wide government during the War of Liberation, the CPC’s involvement in diplomacy was all-round and comprehensive. But this situation has changed after the liberation. The Party has promoted an all-round development of foreign relations through party-to-party diplomacy, which is an integral part of China’s overall diplomacy, without intervening in the day-to-day conduct of China’s diplomacy. In essence, party-to-party diplomacy is an important component of China’s overall diplomacy. The party diplomacy on the one hand, and the government diplomacy, parliamentary diplomacy, economic diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy and public diplomacy on the other, coordinate and complement each other. At this stage, the specific objectives and tasks of the party diplomacy are to serve China’s modernization drive and its reform and opening-up endeavor and to promote an international environment of peace and security.25 Its long-term objectives and mandate are two-fold. First, the Party should, through direct involvement and participation in diplomatic activities, understand clearly and follow closely the international situation and the direction in which political parties in other countries 25

Wu Xingtang: Party Diplomacy and International Relations, Beijing: Contemporary World Press, 2004 Edition, pp. 2–3.

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move, and constantly adjust and enrich the “grand strategy” and guiding principles of China’s diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. Second, the Party should firmly base its party diplomacy on the national conditions, have a thorough understanding of the scientific meaning of the party diplomacy and put its diplomatic work in a proper perspective.26

B. To Balance the National Interests with the Interests of the Human Society as a Whole As a firm believer in Marxism, the CPC has always combined the national interests closely with those of all mankind, adhered to the proletarian internationalism and firmly believed in the unity of patriotism and internationalism. The 90-year course of China’s foreign relations has seen an increasingly improved balance of national interests and those of all mankind, particularly after China moved to the period of “diplomacy for peaceful development”. From the historical perspective, prior to the period of “diplomacy for peaceful development”, there existed some inadequacies in China’s diplomacy in terms of balancing the national interests with those of all mankind. At that time, China often put more emphasis on ideological interests, sometimes even at the expense of its national interests. Both during the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the Chinese people, under tremendous pressure for development at home, tightened their belts and resolutely supported, under the CPC leadership, the Korean and Vietnamese peoples in their struggle for national liberation. At the same time, China also vigorously supported various Asian, African and Latin American countries in their struggle for national liberation. It was also true that such support sometimes conflicted with the interests of the local people or China’s own national interests. For instance, China was once involved in the civil war in Angola and supported the local communist movement in some Southeast Asian countries, for which China sacrificed its own national

26

Qi (2010), pp. 389–391. Op. cit.

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interests and which caused tension in China’s relations with these Southeast Asian countries for many years. Entering the stage of diplomacy for peaceful development, China paid more attention to balancing the interests of all mankind with its national interests and the national interests became the basic principle and the highest standards for its foreign policy. Deng Xiaoping taught China repeatedly that: “In determining relations between two countries, each party should proceed from its country’s own strategic interests. I too think that each country should proceed from its own long-term strategic interests and at the same time respect the interests of the other. Each country, whether it is big or small, strong or weak, should respect others as equals,…in studying and handling problems, both of us place the highest importance on the national interest.”27 The CPC stated clearly in its report to the 12th National Party Congress: “We are patriots and we can never tolerate any infringement of China’s national dignity and national interests. We are also internationalists and we know full well that China could not fully realize its national interests, if the overall interests of all mankind are impinged upon. The implementation of China’s independent foreign policy does not conflict with its lofty international obligation to maintain world peace and promote human progress.”28 With a rapid increase in China’s aggregate strength, with a continually greater degree of globalization and interdependence, and with a proliferation of transnational problems brought about by globalization, the national interests and the common interests of all mankind have existed hand in hand and developed in parallel. The common interests of all mankind have increasingly become the focus of people’s attention and also an important factor that have affected all actors in international relations. Similarly, to maintain the common interests of humanity has become a rational choice and value orientation by big and responsible countries in their foreign relations. Thus, to combine

27

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, p. 330. Op. cit. Hu Yaobang: Create a New Situation in All Fields of Socialist Modernization — Hu Yaobang’s Report at the 12th CPC National Congress, September 1, 1982, http://cpc. people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66678/4493895.html, accessed July 31, 2013. 28

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the common interests of humanity and the national interests has become a basic element of China’s principle of national interests. Jiang Zemin said: “China is a member of the international family. It cannot do without the world. China’s reform, opening up and modernization require a long period of international peace and the development of friendly relations and cooperation with other countries. The world also needs China — world peace and developments requires a stable and prosperous China.”29 The CPC’s report at the 17th National Party Congress also emphasized that: “We will continue to contribute to regional and global development through our own development, and expand the areas where our interests meet with those of various sides. While securing our own development, we will accommodate the legitimate concerns of other countries, especially other developing countries.”30 When proposing the strategic design of building a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity, Hu Jintao stressed that in the era of globalization, the common interests of humanity and the national interests of a country are in integral unity. It is the call of the times to safeguard the national interests and at the same time to maintain the common interests of mankind, to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity, and to promote the cause of human progress, all in the interest of the survival and development of humanity.

C. To Give Considerations to Both Domestic and International Situations The CPC has led China’s diplomatic work always on the basis of its understanding and assessment of the developments and changes in the domestic and international situations. Therefore, it is imperative to

29

Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects — Report Delivered at the 17th CPC National Congress (October 15, 2007), People’s Daily, October 25, 2007. 30 Jiang Zemin: Let Us Create a Better World Together. In Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 481.

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give balanced considerations to both the domestic and international situations. In fact, the CPC has made consistent efforts to rationally balance the two, in light of different environments and focuses in different periods so as to optimize China’s diplomatic strategy and foreign policies and hence to create a most favorable external environment for China’s peaceful liberation, peaceful coexistence and peaceful development. There are generally two stages in giving balanced considerations to domestic and international situations in China’s diplomatic endeavor. The first stage covers the period from the founding of the CPC in 1921 to the beginning of the 21st century. During this stage, diplomatic work was mainly subjected to and served political and economic needs at home. In the first two periods at this stage, the diplomatic emphasis in this regard was mainly put on the national liberation and domestic stability. In the first period between the founding of the CPC in 1921 and the founding of New China in 1949, the main diplomatic task was to win peaceful liberation for China. Although this objective largely failed to be achieved, it nevertheless helped to create a favorable environment for the founding of New China, especially helped to enhance the image and international reputation of the CPC, and to some extent, laid a foundation for expanding diplomatic space after the founding of New China. During the period of expanding the international space for China’s peaceful coexistence, China’s diplomacy was more oriented toward domestic political needs, especially given the ideological enthusiasm immediately after the success of the revolution. It was precisely due to this political orientation that the Cultural Revolution could have severely and adversely affected China’s diplomatic work. In the period of reform and opening up or the period of diplomacy for peaceful development, China quickly shifted the objectives and tasks of its foreign policy to serving the domestic economic development and creating a favorable external environment for domestic reform and opening up. Obviously, the emphasis in balanced considerations of the domestic and international situations, in the past 80 years or so, was put on the overall political and economic interests at home. This was mainly because China did not have adequate aggregate national strength to

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exert extensive international influence. In fact, China and its diplomacy grew from a “weak” to “strong” position and from “chaotic” to “orderliness”. It was this growth that has laid a solid foundation for diplomacy with Chinese characteristics to work for a “harmonious society” at home and a “harmonious world” externally. Since the beginning of the 21st century, with an increase in China’s aggregate strength and the spread of its interests, the peaceful development in China has become an important factor in influencing the direction in which the international system develops. Thanks to nearly 30 years of reform, opening up and practical exploration, China has become a regional power with world influence. With rapid economic growth and visibly improved economic level and quality, China has moved upwards in the world economic rating and has increasingly more actively participated in international affairs in width and depth. Consequently, the interaction between internal and external needs has become the very foundation and departure points for China’s foreign policy strategy. Thus, the frequent interaction between international factors and domestic development has added new meaning to the concept that “diplomacy is the extension of the domestic politics or diplomacy should serve domestic politics”. In this context, the central government called the Central Conference on China’s Foreign Affairs Work in August 2006, which called for “continued efforts to take both domestic and international situations into consideration”.31 This means that China’s diplomacy must serve the central tasks of the Party and the state, put the safeguarding of the national interests above everything else, coordinate efforts for domestic development and opening up, link the development in China to that of the world, and combine the fundamental interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of the world people. China must seek a peaceful development through scientific development and promote the building of a harmonious world through the building of a harmonious society in China. 31

CPC Central Conference on China’s Foreign Affairs Work held in Beijing, Hu Jintao Delivered an Important Speech, Xinhuanet, 23 August 2006, http://news.xinhuanet. com/politics/2006–08/23/content_4999294.htm.

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IV. The CPC’s Global Strategy and Its Diplomatic Deployments Both as the leader and practitioner of the Chinese diplomacy, the CPC naturally needs to have its own global strategy and overall diplomatic deployments, which could differ, in some ways, from the overall global strategy and comprehensive diplomatic movements designed by China to a large extent. As the ruling party, the CPC needs to have its own global strategy so as to guide China’s diplomacy on the one hand, and to guide party-to-party diplomacy on the other, which is part of the overall diplomacy of China. Likewise, the CPC’s diplomatic deployments derived from its global strategy are both associated with and differentiated from the overall diplomatic moves of the country.

A. The CPC’s Global Strategy The CPC’s global strategy serves the global strategy of the country and goes beyond that. The CPC gives guidance to diplomatic work, without actually getting involved in the handling of relations with other countries. Rather, it works more on the people. It exchanges views extensively with political parties of other countries through party diplomacy on international and domestic issues of mutual interest and exchanges experience with the latter on how to manage the Party and to run the country. Specifically, the CPC’s global strategy should be understood at the three levels. First, to fully respect the diversity of the world in the era of globalization and advocate a new concept of party diplomacy. Notwithstanding some twists and turns, the CPC has consistently respected fully the diversity of the world in the spirit of historical materialism. It has proposed four principles for party-to-party diplomacy, namely, “independence, complete equality, mutual respect, mutual non-interference in the internal affairs of other parties”. Jiang Zemin once said: “We stand for maintaining the diversity of the world and are in favor of promoting democracy in international relations and diversifying development models. Ours is a colorful world. Countries having different civilizations and social systems and taking different roads to development should respect one another and draw

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upon one another’s strong points through competition and comparison and should develop side by side, by seeking common ground while shelving differences.”32 It is out of respect for the diversity of the world that the CPC has advocated the development of the new type of inter-party exchanges and cooperation. What is “new” in this type of inter-party relationship is that it is aimed at peace and development in compliance with the requirements of the times and the development of the situation. This relationship is “new” because it has drawn on historical experience and lessons and adopted the four principles guiding the party-to-party relations. It is “new” also because it is ready to have contacts and exchanges with all political parties that are willing to work with the CPC by transcending ideological differences. It is “new” still because it has sought to promote state-to-state relations through conducting all-directional, wide-ranging and multichannel party-to-party exchanges and cooperation.33 Secondly, to raise awareness for an international strategy and work for a relaxed and friendly international public opinion environment. The CPC’s global strategy should both give guidance to China’s diplomatic practice and serve the Chinese diplomacy. Believing in communism, the CPC, the ruling party in China, and China are both under fairly big “pressure” of international public opinions. Therefore, an important aspect of the CPC’s global strategy is to create a relaxed and friendly environment of international public opinions by demonstrating to the world a peace-loving, responsible and trustworthy image of the CPC and the Chinese people. On the one hand, the CPC should vigorously engage in exchanging experience with political parties in other countries on how to manage the party and govern the country, share its ideas on a peaceful development road and conduct a candid and sincere exchange of views with their counterparts with a view to removing their doubts and prejudices, if any. On the other hand, the 32

Build a Well-off Society in an All-Round Way and Create a New Situation in Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (November 8, 2002). In Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 567. 33 The Principles and Current Situation of the Party-to-party Relations of the CPC, CPC’s News Net, March 17, 2011, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64107/66150/66161/ 4466931.html, accessed July 31, 2013.

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CPC also wishes to present to the outside world an image of a responsible party by making committed efforts to actively solve regional and international hotspot and sticky issues. Through the channel of interparty exchanges, the CPC has actively mediated the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. It maintained communication with political parties in Japan and urged Japanese leaders to properly handle history and other issues when Sino–Japanese relations were at low ebb. During the third period of fluid Palestinian–Israeli situation, the CPC sent delegations to the region, worked on the parties concerned and persuaded them into negotiations for peace. In addition, the CPC has engaged in discussions with political parties of other countries on the establishment of a fair and rational new international political and economic order and has promoted a fair and rational reform of the UN. Third, to enrich the content of the party diplomacy by basing itself on peaceful development and modernization in China. The CPC has actively conducted foreign relations with a view to fostering a peaceful international environment for China’s modernization drive, promoting a healthy and steady development of state relations between China and other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and contributing to world peace, economic development and human progress. To this end, the CPC has worked hard to establish and develop all forms of exchanges and cooperation with all willing parties of other countries, regardless of their differences in ideologies and social systems, in order to increase mutual understanding, enhance friendship, identify areas for convergence of interests, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and move forward state relations. Just as former General Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out, the diplomatic work carried out by the CPC was both “an indispensable part of the Party’s cause” and “an important component of China’s overall diplomacy.” It has been argued to play an irreplaceable role in the establishment, consolidation and development of state-to-state relations, and in advancing the reform, opening up and socialist modernization.34

34

Qi (2010), p. 386. Op. cit.

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B. Diplomatic Deployments of the CPC By December 2009, the CPC had established ties and relations in various forms with more than 600 political parties and organizations of different denominations from over 160 countries and regions in the world. Among those having relations with the CPC, there were ruling parties and parties participating in state affairs on the one hand and major opposition parties and parties from those countries with which China had no diplomatic relations on the other. They included communist parties, socialist parties, labor parties and conservative parties. They also included political parties in developed countries in Europe, Japan and other regions; as well as those parties from the vast number of developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In line with its global strategy, the CPC has mapped out detailed and specific diplomatic deployments. The Party and the country’s diplomatic deployments are closely interrelated with each other. At the same time, they also differ from and complement each other. Thus, a three-dimensional and composite overall diplomatic strategy of China has taken shape. The CPC’s overall diplomatic deployments contain the following six specific elements. First, emphasis is placed on exchanging experience in governance with political parties from socialist countries. Exchanges with political parties of socialist countries have always been an important part of the CPC’s diplomatic work. Though there was contention for an orthodox position in the community of communist parties in early years, the CPC has, since the 1980s, normalized its relations with political parties of socialist countries. Especially after the end of the Cold War, the CPC has attached great importance to exchanging experience and lessons with these parties on how to manage the Party and govern a country. This stems from the belief that even if world socialism is at a low ebb, China needs to persevere, steel itself and keep persevering, and at the same time develop its socialist cause well.35 Thanks to this conviction, the substantive relations between the ruling parties in China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and other

35

Jiang Zemin: Develop Our Socialist Cause Well. In Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. I, People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 136.

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socialist countries have developed by leaps and bounds since the end of the Cold War. Second, emphasis is placed on building up mutual trust and dispelling misgivings through its relations with political parties in neighboring countries. Every development step and policy that China takes would attract much attention from its neighboring countries, as China is a regional power and a potential global power, and especially in the context of China’s rapid growth. Therefore, it is important for the CPC to implement the diplomatic guiding principle adopted at the 16th National Party Congress for relations with neighboring countries in its contacts with political parties in these neighboring countries, namely, the principle of “treating neighbors as friends and as partners”, and to create a peaceful and stable surrounding environment. In recent years, the CPC has established an all-round relationship with political factions and forces in Russia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries. Third, emphasis is placed on sharing development experience with political parties in developing countries. The deepening of globalization and interdependence has brought about huge opportunities to the vast number of developing countries and at the same time has thrown a large number of developing countries behind. As the ruling party in the world’s largest developing country, the CPC is more than happy to share “the China experience” with their counterparts in developing countries. What is worth mentioning in particular is that the CPC has enjoyed all-round cooperation with more than 50 political parties spanning over 40 countries in Africa, discussing with them how to respond to economic globalization and sharing with them its experience in economic development. Fourth, emphasis is placed on enhancing mutual understanding through developing relations with political parties in developed countries. Largely due to ideological differences and the choice of different paths for political and economic development, there are widespread misgivings in developed countries about China’s development and its future road. The existence of these misgivings or prejudices has prompted the CPC to identify the principle of “seeking understanding and cooperation beyond differences and disputes.” The CPC has

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engaged in extensive exchanges, dialogues on an equal footing and mutually beneficial cooperation with left center and right wing political parties in developed countries in Western Europe, Northern Europe, Oceania and North America in an open and constructive manner in an effort to find common interests and convergence of interests. Fifth, emphasis is placed on seeking common ground while reserving differences in its relations with political parties in those countries with which China does not have diplomatic relations. The absence of diplomatic ties between China and these countries has resulted in a lack of communication and mutual understanding. Hence, party-toparty exchanges have an edge in that such contacts are both official and non-governmental. Such communication and exchanges could effectively help increase mutual understanding and friendship, afford opportunities to exchange views on national and international issues of mutual interest, reach consensus on these issues and lay a foundation for gradual normalization of diplomatic relations with these countries. As Dai Bingguo, the former Minister in Charge of the CPC International Liaison Department, puts it, “One advantage of party diplomacy lies in the use of Party channels to communicate with countries without diplomatic relations with China.”36 Sixth, emphasis is placed on harmony in developing relations with regional and international organizations of political parties. The era of globalization has spawned many transnational political party organizations. These organizations have increasingly enjoyed a higher position and played an ever important role in the international arena, such as the Socialist International, the Green Party Movement and Asian Political Party Conference. These transnational political party organizations tend to pay more attention to issues concerning the global system or issues that often involve the common interests and common destiny of mankind, which has much in common with the concept of a harmonious world that China has advocated.

36

Dai Bingguo: Create a New Situation in the Party Diplomacy with the Characteristics of the Times and with Chinese Characteristics, Qiushi, 2002, No. 19, http://www. idcpc.org.cn/ziliao/wenzhang/11.htm, accessed July 31, 2013.

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THEORY

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CHAPTER ONE

The Concept of the Times and the Foreign Policy of China YE Qing

Since its inception, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the Chinese revolution from one victory to another and helped China’s diplomatic work clinch splendid achievements time and again, putting an end to the humiliation faced by the old China, a weak nation that was unable to conduct diplomacy on its own, and making a huge contribution to world peace and development. Following closely the international trends and developments over the past 90 years, the CPC has made timely updates on how it perceives the times and the main contradictions in the international situation, in light of the social conditions and in response to the development needs in China. It has correctly formulated strategies, principles and policies to guide China’s diplomatic work. In this process, the CPC has developed a distinctively Chinese concept of the times. Notwithstanding some setbacks and reversals, the CPC has always been able to recognize the typical historical developments and the main contradictions in international developments across different historical periods. All this has ensured that China’s diplomacy develops in the right direction. To size up and analyze the international situation against the main contradictions are consistent both with the teachings of the classical Marxist writers and with the successful experience that the CPC has learned in leading the Chinese revolution. The CPC’s judgment and identification of the themes of the times have been evidently reflected in its leadership of China’s diplomacy in terms of the concept of the times.

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Over the past 90 years since its founding, the CPC’s understanding of the times has roughly gone through three stages. It identified “war and revolution” as the themes of the times for the first period from the 1920s to the end of the 1970s. As such, efforts should be made to achieve peace and stop or postpone the outbreak of a world war as far as possible, while remaining prepared for the possibility of another world war. In the second stage from the end of the 1970s to the end of the 20th century, the CPC’s perception of the themes of the times gradually shifted from “war and revolution” to “peace and development”. The third stage started with the beginning of the new century. With the end of the post-Cold War transition and with the development of globalization and multi-polarization, the CPC recognized peace, development and cooperation as the main themes of the times for the third stage and put forward the concept of building a harmonious world, which marked a huge leap forward in its cognition.

1.1. China’s Diplomacy in the Context of “War and Revolution” From the founding of the CPC in 1921 to the 1970s, “war and revolution” remained a key feature in the CPC’s concept of the times. Influenced by the concept of “imperialism and the proletarian revolution” advocated by Lenin and Stalin, and through its tenacious exploratory efforts to combine the Marxist theory with the national conditions in China, the CPC led the Chinese people to win the new democratic revolution and in defending the integrity of sovereignty and national security of the newly formed people’s government.

1.1.1. CPC’s Exploration of the Concept of the Times Before the Founding of New China CPC’s identification of war and revolution as the main themes of the times did not come about overnight. The Chinese communists acceded almost entirely to the leadership of the Communist International at the beginning. Later, it gradually came up with a distinctively Chinese concept of the times in light of the specific conditions of the Chinese

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revolution and the features of the times back then. This Chinese concept of the times was a result of tenacious exploratory efforts made by earlier communists in China.

1.1.1.1. Main features of CPC’s concept of the times in the early days A review of the CPC’s 30-year historical experience from 1921 (CPC’s inception) to 1949 (the birth of New China) shows that CPC’s perception of the “war and revolution” themes mainly had the following features: First, it stressed the proletarian nature of the revolution. Internationally, the Chinese revolution was part of the world proletarian revolution. Domestically, the proletariat must lead the revolution. The Chinese communists gradually came to a profound understanding of this point. As early as 1926, Qu Qiubai already pointed out that: “In the international context, the Chinese revolution is only a part of the world proletarian revolution. Within a country, the revolution, though still bourgeois in nature, should nevertheless take the proletariat as its main force.”1 The results of these exploratory efforts by the CPC were reflected in Mao Zedong’s epitomized essay On New Democracy. On the revolutionary front, Mao Zedong analyzed the reasons for which the Chinese revolution was part of the world proletarian socialist revolution. He used four adjectives2 to describe the era then: “In 1

Qu Qiubai: The Class Differentiation in the National Revolutionary Movement — Analysis of the KMT Right-wing and Nationalists Faction, New Youth Magazine, 1926, No. 3, p. 247. 2 Mao Zedong: “It is an era in which the world capitalist front has collapsed in one part of the globe (one-sixth of the world) and has fully revealed its decadence everywhere else, in which the remaining capitalist parts cannot survive without relying more than ever on the colonies and semi-colonies, in which a socialist state has been established and has proclaimed its readiness to give active support to the liberation movement of all colonies and semi-colonies, and in which the proletariat of the capitalist countries is steadily freeing itself from the social-imperialist influence of the social-democratic parties and has proclaimed its support for the liberation movement in the colonies and semi-colonies.”

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this era, any revolution in a colony or semi-colony that is directed against imperialism, that is, against the international bourgeoisie or international capitalism, no longer comes within the old category of the bourgeois-democratic world revolution, but within the new category. It is no longer part of the old bourgeois, or capitalist, world revolution, but is part of the new world revolution, the proletarian-socialist world revolution.”3 On the leadership front, Mao Zedong pointed out that the new democratic revolution was led by the Chinese proletariat, not the bourgeoisie in China. This historical change in the leadership of the Chinese revolution was a main indicator of the change from the old democratic revolution to the new democratic revolution. With regard to the stages of a revolution, Mao Zedong gave a scientific explanation of the historical development of the Chinese revolution and the characteristics of the new democratic revolution during that era. He stated: “The historical characteristic of the Chinese revolution lies in its division into the two stages, democracy and socialism, the first being no longer democracy in general, but democracy of the Chinese type, a new and special type, namely, New Democracy.”4 Mao stressed: “Our revolution is divided into stages, we can only proceed to the next stage of revolution after accomplishing the first, and there is no such thing as ‘accomplishing both in one stroke’.”5 Second, the emphasis was put on the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of a revolution and on the importance of the revolutionary war. With regard to seizing political power through revolutionary means, the CPC has by and large accepted the theories on nationalism and colonialism advanced by Lenin and Stalin, combined these theories with the Chinese revolution, and formulated the revolutionary program of the Party — a program for overthrowing imperialism and 3

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, pp. 667–668. 4 Ibid., p. 666. 5 Ibid., p. 685.

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feudal warlords by revolutionary means. On 15 June 1922, the CPC issued a paper Propositions of the Central Committee of the CPC on the Current Situation, in which it pointedly stated: “Five out of the seven wars that took place in 1922 were fought between democrats and the Northern Warlords over ideals and spheres of influence while the other two were between warlords. The root cause of all these wars was the existence of warlords. And the only way out was to overthrow warlords and build a democratic political power.”6 The Propositions laid a foundation for CPC to cooperate with the Kuomintang (KMT) later and also for the climax of the great revolution. Having experienced the failure of the great revolution, the CPC had a more profound understanding of the weaknesses and compromising nature of the Chinese national bourgeoisie and hardened its determination to carry the revolution through to the end. In November 1938, Mao Zedong summed up the discussion on the war and strategy at the 6th Extended Plenary Session of the 6th Central Committee of the CPC. He identified the differences between China and capitalist countries, saying that: “In China, war is the main form of struggle and the army is the main form of organization. Other forms, such as mass organizations and mass struggles, are also extremely important and indeed indispensable and in no circumstances to be overlooked, but their purpose is to serve war.”7 Therefore, he cautioned: “Without armed struggle, the proletariat and the CPC would have no standing at all in China, and it would be impossible to accomplish any revolutionary task.”8 Finally, the emphasis was put on the universality of the revolution. Lenin wrote a book in 1916, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, in light of the new conditions that emerged when capitalism developed to the monopoly stage in the early 20th century. In the book, he asserted: “Imperialism is the eve of the proletarian socialist revolution.

6

CPC Archives Bureau: The Chinese Communist Party’s Proposition on the Current Situation (June 15, 1922), In Selected Documents of Central Committee of CPC, Vol. I (1921–1925), Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 1989 Edition, p. 42. 7 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office (1991), p. 543. Op. cit. 8 Ibid., p. 544.

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This proposition has been proved worldwide since 1917.”9 Stalin developed Lenin’s proposition further. He predicted in his 1924 book, The Foundations of Leninism, that the proletarian revolution had entered the third stage, which “began after the October Revolution” and its objective was to “consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat in one country”, using it as a base for the defeat of imperialism in all countries. The revolution spreads beyond the confines of one country; the epoch of the world revolution has begun. The main forces of the revolution: the dictatorship of the proletariat in one country, and the revolutionary movement of the proletariat in all countries. Main reserves: the semi-proletarian and small-peasant masses in the developed countries, and the liberation movement in the colonies and dependent countries.10 The expositions by Lenin and Stalin on “imperialism and the proletarian revolution” profoundly revealed the principal contradictions of the era and had a profound impact on the CPC’s perception of the times. Ever since its inception, the CPC has consistently linked the destiny of the Chinese revolution with the worldwide struggle against imperialism. The Chinese communists recognized the important role of war in the proletarian revolution. Mao Zedong stated in his essay On Protracted War that World War II would not “save capitalism” but would “hasten its collapse”. He further elaborated: “Mankind will suffer greatly. But, owing to the existence of the Soviet Union and the growing political consciousness of the people in the world, great revolutionary wars will undoubtedly emerge from this war to oppose all counter-revolutionary wars, thus giving this war the character of a struggle for perpetual peace. Even if there is another period of war subsequently, perpetual world peace will not be far off. Once man has eliminated capitalism, he will attain an era of perpetual peace, and there will be no more need for war.”11 In view of this, the CPC considered it extremely important to determine whether a war

9

Selected Works of Lenin, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995 Edition, pp. 582. 10 J. Stalin Works, Vol. VI, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1979 Edition pp. 247–248. 11 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office (1991), p. 475. Op. cit.

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was just. Mao remarked: “All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. We communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but we do not oppose progressive, just wars. Not only do we communists not oppose just wars, we actively participate in them.”12

1.1.1.2. Background of the concept of the times The expositions elaborated above form the CPC’s preliminary understanding of “war and revolution”. The CPC came to this understanding after studying the international environment and China’s internal social development, and by combining the Marxist principles with specific features of the Chinese revolution. It reflected both the needs of that era and the exploratory and innovative efforts of the Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong to apply Marxism to China. It was historically necessary to form a concept of the times. Internationally, on the one hand, when capitalism developed to the stage of imperialism, with the law of uneven political and economic development implemented in capitalist countries and with existing colonies almost carved up, the emerging imperialist powers would call for a re-division of colonies and spheres of influence, which inevitably led to an imperialist war and increasingly exposed the decadent and moribund nature of imperialism. On the other hand, the victory of the October Revolution in Russia led to a new upsurge in the communist movement in the world and the arrival of the proletarian revolution era, which gave rise to the beginning of the confrontation between the capitalist and the socialist camps. Since its inception, the CPC has consistently linked the fate of the Chinese revolution with the worldwide struggle against imperialism. This is primarily determined by the nature of the party, as the founding of the party itself was an important component of the international communist movement. Internally, China was plunged into an abyss of semi-feudal and semi-colonial misery since modern times. The conflicts between imperialism and the Chinese nation and between feudalism and the broad 12

Ibid., p. 476.

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masses of the people were the main contradictions of the contemporary Chinese society. Only by overthrowing the imperialist and feudalist rule through revolution, could China achieve national independence and the liberation of its people. Under the prevailing historical conditions back then, the national bourgeoisie in China attempted to lead a bourgeois revolution to victory and establish a bourgeois dictatorship. However, it led nowhere, due to inherent deficiencies of the Chinese national bourgeoisie. The victory of the October Revolution in Russia greatly facilitated the spread of Marxism in China and helped revolutionary pioneers in China to use the “proletarian world outlook” as a tool to “observe the destiny of their country and to reconsider their own problems”.13 The CPC realized that only when armed with the correct proletarian concept of the times, can it lead the Chinese people to ultimately fulfill the historical mission and achieve the final victory.

1.1.2. CPC’s Enhanced Understanding of the Times after the Founding of New China After the founding of New China, the CPC started to shift its focus from seizing the state power to defending the newly born people’s democratic dictatorship. In face of the grim situation at home and abroad, New China started its diplomacy from scratch in difficulty.

1.1.2.1. The “leaning to one side” period After the founding of New China, China decided to make a clean break with the old diplomacy of the KMT period. It first adopted a new foreign policy of: “renouncing all the humiliating diplomatic relations the KMT Government had established with foreign countries”, “starting anew”, “eliminating all the remnant forces of imperialism in China and removing the imperialists’ prerogatives in China” and “putting the house in order before inviting guests”, in order to completely destroy the imperialist control of China. In face of the hostility

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CCCPC Party History Research Center: History of the Communist Party of China, Vol. I, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, p. 37.

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and isolation imposed by the US-led capitalist camp on China, the CPC took a firm position of “leaning to one side” in the 1950s, that is, to lean toward the Soviet-led socialist camp. In June 1949, John Leighton Stuart, having learned that Chen Mingshu, Luo Long-ji and other democratic personages would attend the new Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, asked Chen to convey his intention to meet leaders of the CPC Central Committee. Chen Mingshu conveyed John Leighton Stuart’s request to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai as soon as he arrived in Beijing. On June 24, Chen Mingshu said in his letter to Stuart that the line that the CPC had taken was wise, correct and firm and he conveyed Mao Zedong’s oral message to Stuart as follows: “Politically, we must be serious; economically, we can do business.”14 Mao Zedong explicitly pointed out in his essay On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship that: “The forty years of experience with Sun Yat-sen and the twenty-eight years of experience with the Communist Party have taught us to lean to one side. All Chinese, without exception, must lean either to the side of imperialist or to the side of socialism. Sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a third road.”15 On the second day after the ceremony to mark the founding of New China, the Soviet Union sent a cable to the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Zhongnanhai, recognizing the PRC. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with New China, setting off a first wave of establishing diplomatic relations. By November 1950, 6 Asian countries and 12 European countries had established diplomatic relations with New China. Another prominent achievement in the CPC diplomatic exploratory efforts during this period was the introduction of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The joint statements between China and India and between China and Burma as well as former

14

Huang Hua: Huang Hua Memoirs: Contemporary History and Diplomacy of China, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2007 Edition, p. 84. 15 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 93.

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Premier Zhou Enlai’s statement about “seeking common ground while reserving differences” at the Bandung Conference quickly received positive responses and support from many countries, especially from Asian, African and Latin American countries. All this helped dispel their misgivings about the new-born communist regime and greatly expand China’s international influence. China’s diplomatic activities during this period reflected the CPC’s basic view on war and peace at the time. China believed that the confrontation between the Soviet-led socialist camp and the US-led imperialist camp was already in place and it came to three basic conclusions. First, in terms of the changing balance of power between socialism and imperialism, time was on our side. Therefore, China should do everything possible to achieve peace and develop the country. Mao Zedong explained: “For an agricultural country like China to change into an industrialized country, several decades is needed, help from others is needed, and, first of all, a peaceful environment is needed. It is difficult to get things done if we have to fight frequent wars, and maintenance of a large number of troops would hamper economic development.”16 During this period, the main thrust of Mao Zedong’s remarks at his meetings with many foreign delegations was that China wanted peace, not war, and China’s economic development required a peaceful environment. On 18 November 1957, Mao Zedong optimistically predicted at the Moscow Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers’ Parties that the Soviet Union would surpass the US in the steel production in fifteen years and China would overtake Britain in fifteen years. Therefore, Mao commented: “In the final analysis, we should strive for 15 years of peace. By the end of that period, we shall be invincible in the world, nobody will dare to fight against us and the world will be able to enjoy lasting peace.”17 Second, the danger of a world war always existed. But with effort, it could be avoided or halted. Soon after the end of World War II, Mao Zedong pointed out in his essay, Some Points in Appraisal of the Present International Situation, that the danger of a third world war existed, but 16 17

Ibid., p. 160. Ibid., p. 296.

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he also argued: “The democratic forces of the people of the world have surpassed the reactionary forces and are forging ahead; they must and certainly can overcome the danger of war. Therefore, the question in the relations between the US, Britain and France and the Soviet Union is not a question of compromise or break, but a question of compromising earlier or later.”18 Mao Zedong wrote once again on 29 August 1956 that: “We should do more in the future to unite and develop all forces of peace in the world and help them to grow stronger, to the benefit of a lasting peace in the world. In the interests of peace and reconstruction, we are ready to establish friendly relations with all other countries in the world, including the US.”19 Third, China must unswervingly rely on the socialist camp for strength. Mao Zedong knew full well that: “In the epoch in which imperialism exists, it is impossible for a genuine people’s revolution to win victory in any country without various forms of help from the international revolutionary forces. And even if victory was won, it could not be consolidated.”20 The CPC leadership held a firm position with regard to those who opposed the “leaning to one side” policy and advocated the middle road. In answering the question whether it was advisable to adopt the “leaning to one side” policy in 1956, Mao Zedong made it abundantly clear that it was not in the interest of the nation to take the middle road. He emphasized: “It may look good and independent, but it cannot be true independence. The US is not to be relied on... Can it be imagined that the imperialists will help feed our country full?”21

1.1.2.2. The “winning many intermediary countries” period Starting from the end of the 1950s, with the evolution of the Cold War and changing international situation, both the capitalist camp and the socialist camp experienced disintegration of varying degrees. The 18

Ibid., pp. 55–56. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 246. 20 Ibid., p. 94. 21 Ibid., p. 278. 19

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China–Soviet conflicts began to intensify with two countries locked in a big polemic between them. Their bilateral relations retrogressed in all areas. In place of the alliance relationship between them, the two countries counteracted each other’s efforts and exposed each other’s past misdeeds. At the same time, the movement for national independence and liberation in Asia, Africa and Latin America surged in full swing. More and more countries saw an outbreak of revolutions against colonialism and imperialism, which led them onto the road of independence. In the new circumstances, the “leaning to one side” policy was unfit for the changed international situation. China began to implement the policy of “winning a large number of countries” toward independent countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This brought about the second wave of establishing diplomatic relations. During this period, against the backdrop of dramatic changes taking place in the domestic and international environment, the CPC made some deviations in its assessment and judgment of the times. First, it overestimated the danger of war. Mao Zedong maintained the basic conclusion about the possibility of the outbreak of a world war that was made in the previous period. That is, a world war could be avoided and the outbreak of another world war would only benefit the revolutionary forces, not imperialism. However, preparations for a world war stepped up. On 19 August 1961, Mao Zedong mentioned two possibilities about a world war during his meeting with foreign guests from Brazil. He said: “If we tell people every day that war will not break out and everyone falls asleep, what can be done in case war breaks out one morning? We’d rather say that imperialists want to launch a war and the people should be prepared to deal with it. That is to say, prepare for the worst. If we are prepared, we may avert war. Imperialists oppose us, and it would be very dangerous if we all went to sleep.”22 In Mao Zedong’s mind, there had always been the idea of the need to prevent sudden attacks by imperialists. He even went as far as to ensure war preparedness at the expense of domestic economic development. This was particularly evident during the Cultural Revolution. The CPC report to its 9th National Party Congress pointed 22

Ibid., pp. 470–471.

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out: “On no account must we ignore the danger of US imperialism and Soviet revisionism launching a large-scale war of aggression. We must make full preparations, preparations against them launching a big war, a war at an early date, a conventional war and a large-scale nuclear war.”23 This was later summed up as a slogan: “Be united and make preparations for war.” Especially after the Sino–Soviet conflict broke out over the Zhenbao Island, the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong believed in greater urgency for a possible world war and Soviet invasion. Hence, to strengthen national defense and get prepared for war became one of the priorities for this period. China blindly “carried out construction near the mountains, dispersed and hidden” and identified a “three-line development” strategy, i.e. the first, second and third line economic development, which not only wasted a lot of human and material resources, but also seriously impeded the normal construction of the economy. Secondly, the CPC placed too much emphasis on support for the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America and its estimation of the world revolutionary situation was over optimistic. As a result, it adopted several unrealistic policies beyond China’s actual capabilities. On 20 May 1970, Mao Zedong issued a statement in support of the people of the three Indo–Chinese countries in their struggle against the US and for national salvation. He said: “A new upsurge in the struggle against US imperialism is now emerging throughout the world. . . . The danger of a new world war still exists, and the people of all countries must get prepared. But revolution is the main trend in the world today.”24 Wang Jiaxiang and others raised a dissenting voice about this. Then they were criticized by Mao Zedong as pursuing the revisionist line of “three appeasings and one reducing“.25 23

Report of the 9th CPC National Congress, April 1969. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 584. 25 Mao Zedong: To Appease Imperialism, Revisionism and Counter-Revolutionaries While Reducing Support for the Struggle Waged by People in Asia, Africa and Latin America, February 24, 1964. 24

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1.1.2.3. The “one-line” policy period Entering the 1970s, the rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union in the Cold War context underwent tremendous changes. The US, caught in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, gradually turned its offensive posture into a defensive one in its rivalry with the Soviet Union. In face of the aggressive Soviet Union, the strategic interests of the US and China began were drawn closer. China responded positively to the Nixon administration’s gesture for improving Sino–US relations. Gradually, the “one-line” diplomatic strategy took shape, which mainly meant uniting with the US to counter the Soviet hegemonism. In 1973, Mao Zedong told Dr. Henry Kissinger (then Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs) that as long as the two countries had the same goal, China would not harm the US and the US should not harm China so that the two countries could work together to counter Soviet hegemonism. He went on by expressing his hope that the US would enhance its cooperation with Europe and Japan to unite on the same front, with the US, Japan, China, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Europe coming together, standing on the same line to jointly respond to Soviet hegemonism — the “one-line” strategy.26 This period witnessed new breakthroughs in China’s diplomacy. China had its legitimate seat at the United Nations (UN) restored to it, and enjoyed an international status higher than ever before and a greatly improved international environment. The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US and the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan greatly encouraged Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China, ushering in the third wave of establishing diplomatic relations with China. By the end of 1979, the number of countries with which China had diplomatic relations reached 120 across the five continents. This period also saw significant change in the CPC’s concept of the times. As China gradually integrated itself into the international system and as the capitalist world adjusted to the post-World War II 26

Tang Jiaxuan: New China’s External Relations and Diplomacy, http://www. fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_chn/ziliao_611306/wjs_611318/2159_611322/t8737.shtml, accessed July 22, 2013.

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changes, the CPC shifted its thinking on the themes of the times from “war and revolution” to “peace and development”. First, Mao Zedong developed and improved the “intermediate zones” theory which he invented in the past and further proposed the “three worlds” theory. On 22 February 1974, Mao Zedong commented during his meeting with the visiting Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda: “I hold that the US and the Soviet Union belong to the First World. The middle elements, such as Japan, Europe, Australia and Canada, belong to the Second World. We are the Third World.”27 The division of the three worlds relatively watered down ideological factors, went beyond the traditional CPC designation of the contradiction between capitalist countries and socialist countries as the principal contradiction in the world, and instead identified the struggles of the world’s people against hegemonism and power politics and their desires for world peace as the principal contradiction in the world. Second, though the CPC began to rethink the war possibility issue, its basic assessment of the outbreak of a world war remained the same: it was necessary to make utmost efforts to prevent the outbreak of a war on one hand and to make every preparation for war in no time on the other. On 28 December 1977, Deng Xiaoping addressed the plenary session of the Central Military Commission: “I want to emphasize that we are in a race against time. Although the outbreak of war may be delayed, we cannot consider only this possibility but should also prepare for the possibility that some countries may want to fight a big war, and soon. For the hegemonists are desperate, and no one can tell for sure when or where some small incident they create may provoke a war.“28

1.1.3. Main Features and Trends From the 1920s to the 1970s, the CPC shifted its focus in the basic analysis of the features of the times, consistent with its assessment 27

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 600. 28 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, p. 77.

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of the international situation and the era in light of the CPC’s tasks and the reality of the Chinese revolution across different historical periods. Generally speaking, however, foreign exchanges conducted by the CPC in early years and foreign relations conducted by China after the founding of New China were significantly influenced by the CPC’s concept of “war and revolution”. The concept of the times during this period exhibited two main trends and characteristics. First, the CPC developed its concept of the times from externally inwards. If we study the history of diplomacy of New China from two angles — the nationalistic foreign policy and the revolutionary foreign policy29, we may then see, to some extent, a gradual regression from the revolutionary foreign policy to the nationalist foreign policy. In other words, in the diplomatic history of New China and in the history of the CPC contacts with foreign countries, both types of diplomacy were practiced and had never completely disappeared, but they did not receive the same emphasis in different historical stages. The Communist International was involved in the founding of the CPC from the very beginning with its substantial support and assistance. In 1922, the CPC adopted a resolution at its 2nd National Party Congress to formally join the Communist International as one of its branches. This meant that the CPC would accept the 20 conditions that the Communist International set for admission, and in particular would accept the leadership of the Communist International. Therefore, the CPC’s concept of the times, in its early years, was largely influenced by the Communist International and the Soviet Union. The CPC set the Chinese revolution against the bigger background of the international communist movement and based its revolution on the movement. The CPC made clear in the resolution for joining the Communist International adopted at the 2nd CPC National Congress: “The proletariat belongs to the world, so does the proletarian revolution. Moreover, to stage a revolution in a Far East country with infantile industries, it is all the more necessary to unite with the proletariat of the world in order to have adequate 29

Yang Kuisong: Revolutionary Thinking and Practice of New China’s Diplomacy, Journal of History, 2010, No. 2, p. 62.

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revolutionary strength.”30 The CPC looked at world issues or problems first from the perspective of the international communist cause, and not from national interests. Evidently influenced by the class analysis theory, the CPC believed that the world should be divided into two parts, i.e. the imperialist world and the proletarian world, with the Soviet Union being the natural representative and leader of the proletarian world. The CPC’s resolution on The World Situation and the Communist Party of China adopted at the 2nd CPC National Congress in July 1922 stated: “The Soviet Russia is the first workers’ and farmers’ country in the world. It is the motherland of the proletariat and the motherland of the toiling masses… The CPC will call on the Chinese workers to join the united front of the world’s workers in an effort to protect the proletarian motherland, the Soviet Russia, and to fight the capitalist attack. It will also encourage the oppressed masses in China to protect the Soviet Russia, because the Soviet Russia is also the vanguard in the struggle for the liberation of oppressed nations.”31 Such expressions could be found everywhere in the early CPC literature. However, it was difficult for the Communist International to get a thorough understanding of the special circumstances in China, because it was divorced from the practice of the Chinese revolution and it could not look at the Chinese revolution absolutely objectively under the strong influence of the Soviet Union. Consequently, the Communist International, while assisting and guiding the Chinese revolution, made many serious mistakes and inflicted a great loss on the Chinese. Some scholars have objectively pointed out that: “The CPC failed to develop its own independent foreign policy for a long time, in conducting international relations and in establishing an anti-Japanese united front, owing to the influence of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Instead, it closely followed the

30

Resolution of the CPC on Joining the Third International (July 1922), CCCPC Archives Bureau: Selected Documents of CPC Central Committee, Vol. I (1921–1925), Henan: CCCPC Party School Press, 1989 Edition, p. 67. 31 CCCPC Archives Bureau: The CPC Resolution on the World Situation and the Communist Party of China (July 2011), In Selected Documents of Central Committee of CPC, Vol. I (1921–1925), Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 1989 Edition, p. 59.

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Soviet Union or implemented the instructions of the Communist International, often landing itself into a passive position in the political struggle.”32 We could say that in the years immediately after its founding, the CPC did not have a clear idea about foreign policy. This was because the CPC had not seized the state power yet. Furthermore, it considered itself as belonging to the world proletarian camp and somehow rejected the concept of diplomacy in its traditional sense. With the deepening of its revolutionary practice, with maturity in thinking and theory, and with the development of its exploration on combining the specific revolutionary practices in China with the universal truth of Marxism, the CPC began to independently solve many problems facing the Chinese revolution more often. Especially after the outbreak of the Sino–Japanese War, the CPC tried to solicit international help and support as much as possible to form a united international front against the Japanese aggression. In this process, the CPC started to change its thinking and explore the idea of independence. It stopped following the footsteps of the Communist International and the Soviet Union closely and started to form its own independent judgment and policies. In May 1943, the Communist International announced its dissolution. In its resolution on the dissolution of the Communist International, the CPC Central Committee first expressed its acknowledgement and appreciation to the Communist International for its help and positive role in the Chinese revolution, and at the same time pointed out that the organizational form of the Communist International was no longer suitable to the development of the situation: “Because in the anti-fascist alliance for the liberation war, it was all the more necessary for communist parties in various countries to independently solve all problems in light of the special circumstances and historical conditions of their respective countries. The CPC has, for a long time, independently made its own political principles, policies, and guidelines for actions according to the needs of the Chinese nation and 32

Yan Yutian and Li Aixiang: The Anti-Japanese War Situation in China and International Political Relations, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 127.

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China’s actual situation.”33,34 The CPC experience in foreign relations in the Yan’an period of the 1940s not only provided the Party with some preliminary experience in diplomacy after the founding of New China, but also laid a solid foundation for China to formulate an independent foreign policy of peace. Although the New China pursued the “leaning to one side” foreign policy immediately after its founding, Mao Zedong repeatedly stressed the importance of maintaining independence and self-reliance. He said: “On what basis should our policy rest? It should rest on our own strength, and that means regeneration through one’s own efforts. We are not alone; all the countries and people in the world opposed to imperialism are our friends. Nevertheless, we stress regeneration through our own efforts. Relying on the forces we ourselves organize, we can defeat all Chinese and foreign reactionaries.”35 Even when implementing the “leaning to one side” policy, Mao Zedong was also soberly aware, saying that this policy is based on equality, as it is “wrong to uncritically copy from the experiences of the Soviet Union”.36 Second, the concept of the times went through a rational development process from a revolutionary passion to realism, or a shift from the philosophy of struggle to the philosophy of diplomacy. In essence, the “war and revolution” concept of the times was rooted in the antagonistic dichotomy of the class analysis and it focused on changing the status quo, while diplomacy, more often than not, referred to

33

CCCPC Archives Bureau: The Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Proposition of the Executive Committee of the Bureau of the Communist Countries on the Dissolution of the Communist International (May 26, 1943), In Selected Documents of CPC Central Committee , Vol. XIV (1943–1944), Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 1992 Edition, pp. 39–40. 34 International Department Central Committee of CPC: The Principles of the Partyto-party Relations of the CPC, http://www.idcpc.org.cn/english/inlrelations/ principles.htm, accessed June 24, 2013. 35 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, p. 51. 36 Ibid., p. 278.

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strategies and compromises, and its emphasis was put on analyzing and judging the real balance of power. During this historical period, the philosophy of struggle more or less prevailed, which was reflected in diplomacy primarily as an overly optimistic revolutionary passion. As early as in 1940, Mao Zedong pointed out: “The world today is in a new era of wars and revolutions, an era in which capitalism is unquestionably dying and socialism is unquestionably prospering.”37 After the end of World War II, especially after the founding of New China, the CPC’s assessment of the international situation became more positive. In 1957, Mao Zedong made the well-known statement that “the East wind prevails over the West wind”.38 He said, “It is my opinion that the international situation has now reached a new turning point... I believe it is characteristic of the situation today that the East wind is prevailing over the West wind. That is to say, the forces of socialism have become overwhelmingly superior to the forces of imperialism.”39 This spirit of revolutionary optimism was also reflected in its fearless approach toward war. Mao Zedong repeatedly stressed that China did not want war, but it was not afraid of war either: “Should a war break out, we are by no means afraid of fighting back. We shall not be frightened even if half the people are lost in action. This would be an extreme instance, of course.”40 Although this method of looking at things from the long-term perspective and based on fundamental interests conforms to the broader trends within humans’ developmental history, this approach could lead to unrealistic adventurist policies reminiscent of the “great leap forward” that is beyond one’s capabilities and gives inadequate consideration to historical constraints. The second manifestation of the philosophy of struggle was to classify people by ideologies and distinguish friend from foe by the camps they belonged to. Starting from the anti-Japanese war period, 37

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. II, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1975 Edition, p. 355. 38 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Literature Research Office (1994), p. 291. Op. cit. 39 Ibid., p. 347. 40 Ibid., p. 347.

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the CPC made it one of its core diplomatic tasks to form the broadest possible united international front. But the name of the united front itself suggested a kind of philosophy of struggle. It was designed out of the necessity for the class struggle. It means peace in form, but war in nature.41 Fundamentally speaking, there were two key issues about the united front — the issue of leadership and that of conversion between friend and foe. After all, the united front was established on the basis of distinguishing friends and foes. The necessity to distinguish friends from foes was clearly in the mind of Mao Zedong. To Mao Zedong, “unity” did not mean that one should keep the same distance from all those to be united with, but selectively become closer to certain “friends”. He believed China should first strengthen its solidarity with the Soviet Union, so as to strengthen its solidarity with all socialist countries: “This is our fundamental policy, this is where our basic interests lie. Then, we must strengthen and develop our solidarity with Asian and African countries and all the peace-loving countries and peoples. United with these two forces, we shall not stand alone. As for the imperialist countries, we should unite with their people and strive to coexist peacefully with those countries, do business with them… but under no circumstances should we harbor any unrealistic notions about them.”42 Due to the influence of the philosophy of struggle, the CPC’s assessment of the international post-World War II situation was tinted with leftist thinking and China’s diplomacy during this period underwent a few detours. But even during this period, China started to see a transition in its diplomatic philosophy towards a rational and pragmatic one. For example, the CPC started to change its views on how to classify international forces in the late 1950s and stopped using the method of class analysis everywhere. In September 1958, Mao Zedong met with Brazilian journalists Mr. Mariudim and Mme. Dotere and

41

Yang Kuisong: Revolutionary Thinking and Practice of New China’s Diplomacy, Journal of History, 2010, No. 2, p. 65. 42 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC and the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, World Affairs Press, 1994 Edition, pp. 284–285.

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amended the views he expounded in his essay On New Democracy. He said that apart from the imperialist countries and socialist countries, there were many nationalist countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America holding a neutral position or the third position for a fairly long period.43 The theoretical development from the idea of the intermediate zone to the Third World concept also showed that the CPC no longer viewed the world as categorically composed of two parts. This was also reflected in China’s support for the revolutions in developing countries. Mao Zedong frankly told Edgar Snow in 1965 that China could not possibly stop supporting revolution. He said: “We shall issue statements and hold meetings to express our support wherever there is revolution. Imperialists dislike this. We are fond of prattle and empty talk, but will send no troops.”44 This was an example to show the gap between ideological needs and foreign policy actions. Out of ideological considerations, China could not afford to change its past principles. However, in deciding on specific diplomatic moves, it had to take into account the actual capabilities and constraints that China had.

1.2. China’s Diplomacy in the Context of “Peace and Development” After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978, China entered a new era of reform and opening up, which offered its diplomacy an unprecedented opportunity for development. In view of the international developments and in light of the need to develop China’s economy, the second generation of the CPC leadership, headed by Deng Xiaoping, made timely adjustments to their views on the concept of the times and concluded that the themes of the times had then become “peace and development”. This big progress in cognition conformed to the trend of the development of the times, and was an important achievement in the CPC’s exploratory effort for building socialism with Chinese characteristics and also represented a major adjustment of strategic significance. 43 44

Ibid., pp. 335–337. Ibid., p. 558.

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1.2.1. Peace and Development as the Themes of the Times The CPC gradually identified peace and development as the world’s two major themes and it came to achieve this understanding with certainty over a period of time.

1.2.1.1. Breakthrough in understanding the peace issue From the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s to the start of the reform and opening-up policy in the early 1980s, the CPC started to gradually shift its focus to the domestic economic development. The second-generation CPC leadership, with Deng Xiaoping at the core, increasingly realized that China should extricate itself from the shackle of the past concept of “war and revolution” and should create a peaceful international environment as long as possible for China’s economic construction and development. It could not show the world the superiority of socialism or be truly invincible, unless it grew strong and became developed itself. Deng Xiaoping gradually deepened his understanding of the peace issue and he achieved a cognitional leap from subjective desire to objective assessment and scientific judgment. Owing to the influence of a bygone concept of the times at the beginning of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping could not make an accurate judgment on whether it was possible to avoid a war. Thus, he only stressed the need to have confidence in peace and to make efforts to avoid war. On 16 January 1980, Deng Xiaoping told the Cadres Conference convened by the CPC Central Committee: “We believe, of course, that the world war can be put off and peace maintained for a long time if the struggle against hegemonism is carried on effectively. This is possible, and it is precisely what we are working for.”45 On 21 August 1982, Deng Xiaoping told the visiting then UN SecretaryGeneral Javier Perez de Cuellar: “We cherish the hope for a peaceful international environment for at least 50 to 70 years.”46 With the development of the international situation, Deng Xiaoping made an 45

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 241. 46 Ibid., pp. 416–417.

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increasingly more accurate and profound judgment of the world. He believed that the factors to constrain wars and to safeguard world peace were growing. He became increasingly more optimistic about the international situation. Deng Xiaoping later reflected and said: “For many years, we emphasized the danger of war. Recently, however, there have been some changes in our views. We now think that although there is still the danger of war, the forces that can deter it are growing, and we find that encouraging.”47 He further elaborated that relatively longlasting peace is “possible” and that war can be “avoided”.48

1.2.1.2. The concept of peace and development With the breakthrough in understanding the issues of war and peace, Deng Xiaoping had a gradually more comprehensive idea about the concept of the times, and finally he proposed that peace and development were two major themes of the times. This major cognitional shift was first fermented and deliberated in 1984 and 1985. In May 1984, Deng Xiaoping told the visiting Brazilian President Figueiredo: “Among a host of problems in the present-day world, two especially stand out. One is the problem of peace. Now, there are nuclear weapons; if war broke out, they could inflict untold losses on mankind. To work for peace, one must oppose hegemony and power politics. The other is the North-South problem. It is very pressing at present. The developed countries are getting richer and richer while the developing countries are getting relatively poorer and poorer. If the North-South problem is not solved, it will hinder the development of the world economy.”49 In October that year, Deng Xiaoping further commented on this in his meeting with Burma’s President San Yu: “There are two outstanding issues in the world today. One is the question of peace, the other the relationship between the North and South. We find many other problems too, but 47

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 105. 48 Ibid., p. 233. 49 Ibid., p. 56.

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none of them has the same global and strategic significance as these two.”50 On 4 March 1985, Deng Xiaoping stressed once again, in his meeting with a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce of Japan, that the “two really great issues confronting the world today”, issues of global strategic significance, are: peace and economic development. The first involves East-West relations, while the second involves North-South relations. In short, countries in the East, West, North and South are all involved, but the North-South relations are most vital.51 By then, Deng Xiaoping had by and large formed a complete concept of “peace and development”.

1.2.1.3. Long-term adherence to the concept of peace and development Building on Deng Xiaoping’s scientific judgment, the 13th CPC National Congress went further and concluded peace and development as the “main themes of the contemporary world”. And the 14th CPC National Congress incorporated them into the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and identified these two main themes as the historical conditions for building socialism with Chinese characteristics. This conclusion about the prevailing features of the times withstood the test of time, with the end of the Cold War. It was precisely because the CPC upheld its judgment of the themes of the times that the reform could progress smoothly. What was particularly commendable was that the CPC did not change its basic views on peace and development even in the strict circumstances with sanctions and isolation imposed by the West on China after the political turmoil in 1989. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “We should continue to observe the international situation. True, there are some questions that we do not fully understand right now, but that does not mean the whole picture is black. We should not think that the situation has deteriorated seriously or that we are in a very unfavorable position. Things are not as bad as they seem. In this world, there are plenty of 50 51

Ibid., p. 96. Ibid., p. 105.

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complicated contradictions, and some deep-seated ones have just come to light. There are contradictions that we can use, conditions that are favorable to us, opportunities that we can take advantage of — the key is to seize them at the right moment.”52 Given the changing international structure in the initial period immediately after the end of the Cold War, China generally believed that the world was moving toward multi-polarization and based its foreign policy and policy propositions on this basic assessment of the situation then. The third-generation leadership, with Jiang Zemin at its core, inherited Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on the issue of peace and development. Jiang Zemin told the 14th CPC National Congress in 1992: “The world today is in a historical period of great change. The bipolar structure has come to an end, forces are disintegrating and their elements are being realigned and the world is moving in the direction of multi-polarization. The formation of a new structure will be a long and complex process.”53 Jiang Zemin informed the Enlarged Meeting of the CPC Central Military Commission in January 1993: “For a long period of time to come, it will be possible to secure a peaceful international environment and avert a new world war. At present, favorable factors in the international situation outweigh adverse ones.”54

1.2.2. Main Elements of the Peace and Development Concept The concept of peace and development is an organic whole and represents the essential characteristics of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng Xiaoping remarked, “The socialism we are building is a socialism that is adapted to our own conditions, a socialism that helps to constantly develop the productive forces and that favors peace.”55 52

Ibid., p. 351. CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 241. 54 Ibid., pp. 278 and 281. 55 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 328. 53

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Peace is both a necessary external condition for development and also the ultimate objective of the development. On the other hand, development serves as a guarantee and foundation for peace and is in itself a fundamental way to achieve peace.

1.2.2.1. China as an important force for world peace and stability First of all, Deng Xiaoping firmly believed that “superpower hegemony” was the “source of war”, and that only the two superpowers have the capacity to launch world war.56 It was on this understanding that China changed the “one-line” strategy of uniting with the US against the Soviet hegemonism. Deng Xiaoping stated: “We pursue a correct, independent diplomatic line and foreign policy, opposing hegemonism and safeguarding world peace. We side firmly with the forces that stand for peace and oppose those that stand for hegemonism and war. Thus, China’s development represents the development of the forces for peace and against war.”57 Hence, opposing hegemonism and power politics and maintaining and developing solidarity and cooperation with developing countries became the cornerstone of China’s foreign policy during this period. Secondly, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly stressed China’s desire for peace and its efforts to contribute to world peace. First, to maintain peace was what China needed and also what the world needed. But China first considered its own interests. This was a realistic approach. Deng Xiaoping admitted frankly: “In fact, China wants peace most. We are not uttering empty words when we talk about maintaining world peace, because it is consistent with our own needs and, of course, with the needs of the world, especially those from the Third World.”58 Second, Deng Xiaoping made consistent efforts to reverse the wrong impression of a “militant” China and to establish a new image of a peace-loving China. In meetings with foreign guests, Deng Xiaoping

56

Ibid., p. 104. Ibid., pp. 127–128. 58 Ibid., pp. 416–417. 57

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reiterated on many occasions that: “China seeks to preserve world peace and stability, not to destroy them. The stronger China grows, the better the chances are for preserving world peace.”59 Third, China did not just utter empty words about peace. It took specific measures to pursue peace. In 1985, China decided to cut its troops by one million. Deng Xiaoping explained this decision at the Enlarged Meeting of the CPC Central Military Commission: “We side firmly with the forces that stand for peace and oppose those that stand for hegemonism and war. Thus, China’s development represents the development of the forces for peace and against war. It is important for us to be seen as part of those forces, and indeed, that is the role we want to play.”60 Thirdly, China has insisted on solving international disputes by peaceful means. What China has pursued is an independent foreign policy of peace. Peace has been both the purpose of China’s foreign policy and also the means of its diplomacy. Especially since the 1980s, in line with the scientific judgment of the themes of the times in the world, China has held high the banner of peace and has actively participated in mediating international disputes. Deng Xiaoping constantly thought of new ways to resolve international conflicts through peaceful means. When meeting American scholars in February 1984, Deng Xiaoping remarked that there were many disputes in the world, and one must find ways to solve them. He suggested the concept of “one country, two systems” as a “sensible solution”. He has also considered the possibility of resolving certain territorial disputes by having the countries concerned jointly develop the disputed areas before discussing the question of sovereignty. As Deng Xiaoping puts it, “We must rack our brains to find ways to stabilize the world situation. I have stated on many occasions that we Chinese are no less concerned about international peace and stability than people in other countries.”61 The return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland were good proofs of the great success of the “one country, two systems” concept. 59

Ibid., p. 104. Ibid., p. 128. 61 Ibid., pp. 49–50. 60

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And the idea of “putting aside disputes and seeking common development” also played a positive role in stabilizing the regional situation. Finally, China has upheld independence and stuck to non-alignment. It is based on the conclusion that hegemonism and power politics are the main cause for war that China has always firmly opposed interference in the internal affairs of other countries and maintained independence. To maintain independence has always been the basic guiding principle of China’s foreign policy. Especially since the 1980s, China has reiterated its independent foreign policy and its decision not to enter into any alliance with any big power or group of countries, or to look at other countries through ideological glasses. In the early 1980s, the then Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua told the visiting UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar: “China does not affiliate itself to any superpower. China will not play the ‘US card’ against the Soviet Union or the ‘Soviet card’ against the US.”62 To maintain independence in the process of integration into the international system is the fundamental prerequisite for China, a developing country, to safeguard its sovereignty, dignity and interests. China has not only firmly defended its own state sovereignty, but has also insisted on respecting the state sovereignty of other countries and the principle of non-interference in their internal affairs, which Western countries try to interfere with in developing countries, under various pretexts on the multilateral arena. Developing countries have been openly encouraging of China’s stand.

1.2.2.2. Foreign policy on economic development and economic growth Since the founding of New China, to serve domestic economic development has always been the main task of the Chinese diplomacy. However, the idea of preparation for the world war once prevailed, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, reflecting the historical conditions at that time. This idea disrupted and hindered China’s attempts to construct its economy to a large extent. Starting from the late 1970s, 62

Huanghuahuanyan lianheguomishu changyixing, huanghua tong peileisidekuiliyaer juxing huitan (Huang Hua Talks to Perez de Cuellar), People’s Daily, August 21, 1982.

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the CPC began to reflect on this, finally concluding that China must make up its mind and concentrate on economic development: “Unless a large-scale war breaks out, we must always consistently pursue economic development and do everything for this, regardless of any interference. Even if a large-scale war does break out, we must, after the end of the war, continue to focus on development and rebuilding the country. The entire Party and all our people must have this determination without hesitation and we must persist in doing so ‘stubbornly’. We should never waver.”63 First, development is of overriding importance. China must focus on economic development, which is the fundamental starting point for diplomacy. In his opening statement to the 12th CPC National Congress held in September 1982, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “To accelerate socialist modernization, to strive for China’s reunification and particularly for the return of Taiwan to the motherland, to oppose hegemonism and to safeguard world peace — these are the three major tasks of our people in this decade. Economic development is at the core of these tasks; it is the basis for the solution of our external and internal problems.”64 Since the introduction of reform and opening up, China has made tremendous achievements in its development. One of the key reasons for the success is that China has always put economic development above everything else and has upgraded the importance of development as having a vital bearing on the life or death of the Party and the state. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping pointed out during his inspection tour of southern China that in order to seize opportunities to promote China’s all-round development, it is crucial to expand the economy. He further commented: “The economies of some of our neighboring countries and regions are growing faster than ours. If our economy stagnates or develops only slowly, the people will make comparisons and ask why.”65 Jiang Zemin made this 63

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 249. 64 Ibid., p. 3. 65 Ibid., p. 375.

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clear in his report to the 16th CPC National Congress that: “In China, a large developing country with a backward economy and culture, where our Party is leading the people in the modernization drive, a good solution to the problem of development has a direct bearing on popular sentiment and the success of our cause.”66 On the other hand, development is not just a Chinese issue. Only when the entire developing world has developed, including China, can world peace be guaranteed. In this vein, China has regarded its development as a contribution to humanity and a condition for world peace.67 Secondly, China must seize the right opportunity to pursue development, which means two things. First, it means recognizing favorable conditions. The changing international situation has offered rare opportunities for China’s development. As Deng Xiaoping puts it, “Now, there is an opportunity and this is an opportunity hard to come by! We Chinese people have had such opportunities several times, but we have missed a few. That is unfortunate! You must take the opportunities available. You must work hard, build on the enthusiasm of the masses and concentrate on development.”68 Second, it means urgently and readily seizing the opportunity. Situations change rapidly. If you do not seize the opportunity when it comes, it will be lost for good. If China fails to seize the right opportunities, it would trail other countries far behind. In the early 1990s, Deng Xiaoping warned: “Great changes are taking place in the world, and this gives us an opportunity. People are talking about the ‘Asia–Pacific century’. Where do we stand? In the past, China lagged behind the developed countries but was more advanced than the poor ones. This is no longer always the case. Some countries in Southeast Asia are full of enthusiasm for 66

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 538. 67 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Deng Xiaoping’s Conversation with Brazilian President Jose Sarney (July 5, 1988), In Deng Xiaoping’s Chronicle (1975–1997),Vol. II, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2004 Edition, p. 1240. 68 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Deng Xiaoping’s Conversation with the Comrades in Leading Positions of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of CPC and Nanjing Military Command (February 19, 1994), Deng Xiaoping’s Chronicle (1975–1997), Vol. II, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2004 Edition, p. 1369.

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development and may move ahead of us. China is developing too, but compared with them we have a huge population, and the world market is already dominated by other countries. So we find ourselves under pressure — we can consider it friendly pressure. But if we do not seize this opportunity to improve the economy, other countries will leap ahead of us, leaving us far behind.”69 Jiang Zemin also commented: “We must solve problems that have appeared on our way forward through development… We must take initiative and have a sense of urgency. We must seize the opportunity, not lose it. We must forge ahead in a pioneering spirit, and not follow the beaten track. We must accelerate development and grow stronger.”70

1.2.2.3. Advocate a new international political and economic order Based on its understanding of the peace and development era, China has strongly advocated a reform of the existing international system and has formed its concept of the international system and order. As early as 1974, Deng Xiaoping elaborated China’s views on the new international economic order when addressing the UN. In late 1980s, the issue of peace had not been resolved while the development issue became more serious. In face of this international situation, Deng Xiaoping began to revisit China’s proposal for establishing a new international order. When meeting with the visiting Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in December 1988, Deng Xiaoping proposed: “We should therefore regard the problem of development as one that concerns all mankind and study and solve it on that level. Only then will we recognize that this is the responsibility not just of the developing countries but also of the developed countries... Two things have to be done at

69

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 369. 70 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Jiang Zemin on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Thematic Excerpts), Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2002 Edition, pp. 91–92. This is extracted from a speech on October 8, 2000, at the Conveners’ Meeting for the 5th Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee.

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the same time. One is to establish a new international political order; the other is to establish a new international economic order.”71 To establish a new international political and economic order on the one hand and to address the peace and development issues on the other are mutually complementary and reinforcing. Just as peace and development are inseparable, political and economic issues are closely interrelated. Developed countries tend to use both political and economic means in dealing with developing countries. Therefore, in order to fundamentally improve the position of developing countries, it is imperative to reform the irrational international political and economic order. A new international economic order should be established in order to solve the North-South issue while a new international political order should be established on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. This cognition has its roots from China’s own historical experience and also originated from Deng Xiaoping’s correct understanding of the dialectical relationship between peace and development. One scholar, Liu Jianhui, sums it up well: “The fundamental way for the human society to achieve peace and development is to establish a new international political and economic order. This new order must be established on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence — an important part of the CPC’s international strategy and diplomatic thinking in the new era and also a new revision of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in the context of new circumstances.”72 With the development of economic globalization and political multi-polarization in the 1990s, the CPC developed Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on the international order further. The CPC started to regard the establishment of a new international political order and a new international economic order as an inseparable whole, instead of two separate matters. It clearly stated in its report to the 14th National Party Congress that it advocates the establishment of a peaceful, stable, just

71

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 282. 72 Liu Jianhui: From “War and Revolution” to “Peace and Development”: The Evolution of the CPC’s Understanding of the Characteristics of the Times in the 1960s, CPC History Studies, 1995, No. 3, p. 77.

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and rational new international order on the basis of the five principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.73 At the same time, China had an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the international order. With the emergence of the new concept of security and respect for the diversity of the world, the concept of the new international order has expanded in scope, from the economic and political fields to additional fields, such as cultural and security areas, which has improved China’s understanding of the new international order greatly.74

1.2.3. Significance and Achievements Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China’s development has attracted worldwide attention and its diplomacy has scored remarkable achievements. All this could not have been accomplished, without the CPC’s scientific judgment and an accurate grasp of the themes of the times. The advancement, establishment and development of the peace and development concept have bore testimony to a steady improvement of the CPC’s art of leadership in diplomacy. This peace and development concept has already become an important component of the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics and also an important part of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the reform and opening up, guided by the peace and development concept, China’s diplomatic work has helped create a favorable environment for its economic development and has helped to safeguard its sovereignty, security and national interests. Furthermore, China has, through diplomacy, helped to effectively maintain international stability and security and promote world development and world peace. In this aspect, China has made its unique contribution to solutions of global problems.

73

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 243. 74 Yu Jinghua: The Evolution of China’s View on New International Order since Reform and Opening Up, Contemporary World and Socialism, 2009, No. 1, p. 92.

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1.2.3.1. The foundation for concentrated domestic development and a smooth reform and opening up Diplomacy should serve domestic development, which has been a long-held principle of China’s foreign affairs. As early as the founding of New China, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other state leaders repeatedly emphasized that China was a weak and backward country and therefore China should do everything possible to achieve peace and develop its economy. However, the domestic economic development had often been affected or hindered by its preparation for war. This was more evident in the 1960s and 1970s when the leftist tendency prevailed. In the late 1970s, the Chinese communists, with Deng Xiaoping at the center of the leadership, began to fundamentally change their view of the times and gradually established the guiding ideology as one of “peace and development”. All this ushered in a new situation — reform and opening up. The two were complementary and mutually reinforcing. It was a process of gradually combining the CPC’s subjective cognition of the themes of the times with the objective development of the international situation. As China continued to open up further to the outside world, China has gained a more comprehensive and indepth knowledge of the outside world and had a more accurate grasp of the themes of the times. Furthermore, as China rapidly increased its economic strength, its development could exert an increasingly greater impact on the world and China had greater confidence in handling international affairs and more faith in peaceful developments. With the concept of peace and development established, China’s diplomacy has a clearer direction. That is to say, diplomacy should serve to protect reform and opening up. This means both creating a peaceful and stable external environment for its domestic economic development and vigorously expanding channels for international exchanges so as to facilitate exchanges between China and other countries in the political, economic, and cultural areas. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has, by and large, formed an allround, multi-layered and wide-ranging opening-up framework, with greater and better openness and external exchanges, both official and non-governmental, in terms of the number, the level and the fields.

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1.2.3.2. Enhanced international status for China and its greater integration into the international system The identification of peace and development as the themes of the times represents a fundamental shift in China’s views on the international system and accelerated its integration into the international system. Its overall assessment of international peace has helped China to give up the old antagonistic thinking and eliminate the negative influence of classifying countries along the ideological line. This has also enabled China to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries on an equal footing and on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Thus, China has changed its role from the reformer of the international system to its defender. Guided by peace, China has gradually established an image of being a responsible big country and has gradually expanded its influence in the world. In pursuit of development, China’s foreign policy has helped its domestic development and also promoted its reform. Its perception of the main themes has facilitated changes in mentality, concepts and the institutional system, and accelerated its convergence with and integration into the world, resulting in a growing momentum in China’s engagement with the world. Taking China’s accession to the WTO as an example, the benefits of its accession to the WTO have been manifested not only in increased visible economic interests, but also in the implementation of a sound legal system for the market economy in China. In order to adapt to WTO rules, China has launched the largestscale “institutional and legal reform”. It has introduced implementation rules that serve the interests of both WTO and China. Having seized this opportunity to amend its laws and adjust its systems on a large scale, China’s efforts have not only won appraisal from the WTO and its members, but also resulted in huge progress in its legal system in all aspects.75 The establishment of the development theme has helped China to further converge with the world in terms of legal 75

The Largest “Reform of Laws” in Five Years after Joining the World Trade Organization, Xinhuanet, Beijing, December 10, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/ 2006-12/10/content_5465184.htm, accessed July 22, 2013.

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norms, concepts and other areas, and has helped China to develop faster and better.

1.2.3.3. Maintain international peace and security, defend national security and interests After identifying peace and development as the themes of the times, China has stiffened its determination to safeguard world peace and has more actively taken actions for this. As an important force for international peace and security, China has, since reform and opening up, made its own special contribution in promoting fair and reasonable solutions to major regional conflicts. China has always been an important force for world peace. After its return to the UN, China has assumed important responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security as a permanent Security Council member. In the 1980s, China struggled resolutely against the power politics and hegemonism, as it believed that they posed the biggest threat to world peace. Since the beginning of the 1990s, with the growth of its overall national strength, China has taken an increasingly more active part in the process of settling issues vital to global peace and security. Its participation has evolved from temporary decisions to institutionalized actions, from being passive to taking the initiative and from engaging regional issues to engaging global ones. China has sent more troops to peacekeeping missions than the other four permanent members of the Security Council. From 1990 to December 2010, the People’s Liberation Army of China dispatched 17,390 military personnel to 19 UN peace-keeping missions. Nine officers and men lost their lives on duty.76 Through active diplomatic activities, China has proved to the world its value: many of the major issues in the world cannot be settled through political solutions if China is excluded or circumvented.

76

China’s National Defense in 2010, White Paper, see the Information Office of the State Council’s website, http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2011-03/31/content_ 1835289.htm, accessed July 22, 2013.

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China has consistently resorted to peaceful means for its national reunification and solving of international disputes. It has safeguarded its national security and interests in a reasonable, rational and orderly manner. China has put up a firm fight against separatist forces for the independence of Taiwan, Tibet and “East Turkistan” in the international arena in order to defend its state sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity. China has tried to coordinate with neighboring countries over conflicts of interests and contradictions through various regional multilateral mechanisms, to ensure security and stability in its surrounding areas. It has been actively involved in negotiations for the formulation of international rules in an effort to safeguard China’s vital interests in the various fields, including politics, security, economy, trade, human rights, public health and the environment.

1.2.3.4. Support multipolarity and promote cooperation among big powers Guided by the peace and development concept, China has positively managed big-power relations and promoted the development of multipolarity. To manage relations among major powers has occupied a key position in China’s diplomacy. In the era of peace and development, stability in such relations and cooperation with major powers are of great importance to the future international system. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has adhered to an independent foreign policy of peace and has sought a balanced development of its relations with major powers. In face of the changing post-Cold War structure immediately after the end of the Cold War, multi-polarization gradually became the basic judgment and policy propositions on which China based its foreign policy. As far back as in 1990, Deng Xiaoping stated: “In the so-called multipolar world, China too will be a pole. We should not belittle our own importance: one way or another, China will be counted as a pole.”77 77

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 353.

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In the context of multi-polarization, China has taken advantage of the opportunity in which cooperation has prevailed in the relations among big powers, to enhance its political dialogue, economic cooperation and scientific and technical exchanges with major powers and it has vigorously helped to move big-power relations in a direction against unilateralism towards multi-polarity, world peace and common development of all countries. China has attached great importance not only to bilateral cooperation with big powers, but also to multilateral international cooperation. In the process of participating in international multilateral cooperation, China has coordinated positions among major powers and effectively promoted the growth of common interests between China and other major powers, which has significantly reduced conflicts of interests and frictions among big powers and created favorable conditions for a sound development of big-power relations.

1.2.3.5. Strengthen traditional friendship and pursue common development of all developing countries Developing countries are the basis of China’s diplomacy. Bearing in mind that China belongs to the developing world, China has identified peace and development as the main themes of the times. In this era, maintaining world peace and solving development-related problems are both an opportunity and a mission for China and other developing countries. Upon entering the peace and development era, the relations between China and other developing countries have witnessed a new development. Politically, China has, as always, supported the struggle of developing countries against hegemonism and power politics. China and other developing countries have assisted and cooperated with each other in their common pursuit for establishing a new international political and economic order, and have developed their relations further on the basis of their traditional friendship. China’s development has added to the collective weight of the developing world in the international political and economic arena and has enabled China to secure more development rights in the interests of

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developing countries. Economically, China and other developing countries have exchanged needed goods and complemented each other’s advantages. Developing countries have become the top priority for China’s “going abroad” strategy. In this mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation between China and other developing countries, China’s development has in turn offered opportunities to other developing countries. China has adhered to the principle of providing foreign aid without attaching any political conditions and has continued to provide assistance to developing countries to the best of its capabilities. In addition, China has made great achievements in its reform and opening up, which has greatly inspired many developing countries and provided them with useful experiences and lessons to draw from for their own economic reform and development.

1.3. New Connotations of the Concept of Peace and Development With the development of the international situation and the rapid growth of China’s aggregate strength after entering the new century, with its gradual integration into the international system, and with the rich experiences that China has accumulated in its diplomatic work, the CPC’s understanding of the themes of the times has improved significantly. Although the CPC has maintained its basic judgment and continued to implement Deng Xiaoping’s concept of peace and development as the themes of the times, its proposal for a harmonious world marked a new leap forward in the CPC’s understanding of the essence of the themes of the times, which has enriched and developed the theory of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and has provided a direction in which China will take on the historical challenges of the new era through its diplomacy.

1.3.1. Features of the International System in Transition At the beginning of the 21st century, with the accelerated development of globalization and increasingly evident trend toward multi-polarity,

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the international system entered a critical period of transition and exhibited many new features.

1.3.1.1. Accelerated growth of multi-polarity, and greater fluidity and uncertainty of the system under transformation After the end of the Cold War, the international system has undergone changes. Although its superpower status has not been challenged yet, the US has declined in strength. Especially after the Iraq War, the balance of power in the international system has moved toward greater equilibrium and diversification and the relations among big powers have become more dynamic and complex. As President Hu Jintao pointed out at the 11th National Conference of Diplomatic Envoys, there is an “increasingly bigger voice for democratization of international relations” and a “clearer picture of the future development of multi-polarization in the world”.78 Although multi-polarization represents the general trend and the global power transfer is under way, the transformation of the international system is bound to be a long-term and incremental process. In this process, the possibility of retrogressions or twists and turns has greatly increased. Although a world war is unlikely to break out, the Cold War mentality and geopolitical thinking still have their followers; traditional geopolitical contest and competition resurge from time to time; traditional security issues have not all been resolved; and regional hotspot issues are expected to remain unresolved for a long time to come. All these have greatly increased the fluidity, complexity, and vulnerability of the international situation. In the process of changing the global balance of power, traditional big powers will not easily reconcile themselves to losing influence and becoming on the defensive. And they are unlikely to make further concessions. Even worse, they might try to retrieve their lost ground on some of the

78

The 11th Conference of Diplomatic Envoys Held in Beijing, People’s Daily, July 21, 2009, p. 1.

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major issues. With regard to safeguarding world peace, the general mood is optimistic, but some of the specific issues have become more difficult to deal with.

1.3.1.2. Increasingly greater role by emerging countries, but their cooperation requires integration The rise of a group of emerging powers has become the most striking phenomenon in the international system. These emerging powers are slowly gaining the ability to influence the transformation of the international system. In particular, their efforts to solve some of the long-term and global issues cannot be ignored. The system crisis represented by the financial crisis has offered emerging powers an opportunity to play a bigger role in transforming the international system. Common interests between China and other emerging powers are growing. All emerging countries stand for reforming the current international system so as to increase their say in international affairs. As Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pointed out during her exclusive interview with a journalist from the Branch of Xinhua News Agency in Brazilia on the eve of the 3rd BRICS summit and the state visit by the Brazilian President to China, emerging economic powers are playing a very important role in international affairs today, in the changing international situation and in the midst of adjusting the economic order. The BRICS countries have become an important force in moving the world toward multi-polarity.79 However, cooperation among emerging countries is still relatively in its initial stages. They have to overcome their national differences and conflicts of interests. In addition, they have to counter the attempt of Western countries to divide them. Thus, there is still a long way to go in instituting a mechanism for their cooperation.

79

Brazil’s President — BRIC Countries as the Major Forces Moving the World toward Multi-polarity, Xinhua News Agency (Chinese News), April 11, 2011, http://www. hq.xinhuanet.com/focus/2011-04/11/content_22492907.htm, accessed June 24, 2013.

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1.3.1.3. Competition increased among big powers but cooperation remains the mainstream Cooperation is what all countries have subscribed to at present and major powers have found more shared interests between them. In the long run, the need for big powers to have stable relations amongst themselves will become the bottom line of their rivalry. In order to get support from fellow big powers in global affairs, big powers, the US in particular, will restrict their unilateral actions in managing their bilateral relations and will try to keep big-power conflicts at a low intensity level. The relations between China and other major powers have gone far beyond the bilateral scope and have been conducted more at the multilateral level. Therefore, such relations are increasingly of global strategic significance. China has continuously expanded its cooperation with other major powers in various fields. The financial, environmental, energy and other global issues as well as nontraditional security issues have continued to occupy an increasingly important position in big-power relations and some areas have even become the basis for big-power cooperation. However, there is a rising trend toward big-power competition. Traditional alliances are moving toward disintegration. Major countries have a greater desire to maintain independence. In the context of growing multi-polarization and with the decline of the US leadership, major powers are vying more fiercely with each other for an upper hand, especially for a leadership role in those international issues that would involve their fundamental interests. As a result, the geopolitical landscape surrounding big powers has changed tremendously and the competition between big powers has been further complicated by regional hotspot issues.

1.3.1.4. Innovation a key to growth when the world economy is in a low-growth period Since the beginning of the new century, the world economy has slowed down its growth, technological innovation has entered a period of stagnation in the world economy and the world economy is in a transition to a new industrial revolution. The new energy industry

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and the environmental protection industry, both aiming at developing a low-carbon economy, are most likely to become the leading industries to bring the world economy into a strong growth cycle once again. However, the prospect is not very clear yet. Innovation holds the key to competition with other countries. Developing countries and emerging market economies have enjoyed rapid economic development and have continuously increased their weight in the world economy. However, they are still in a weak position to compete with developed countries in the West. The outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008 dealt a severe blow to the world economy. Some of the deep-seated problems and structural issues could not all be resolved in the short term. To readjust and re-balance the world economy will be a relatively long process. The financial crisis has exposed serious flaws in the existing international financial and monetary system. Therefore, how to reform the international financial and monetary system will remain an important topic in the world economy for some time to come. Although developing countries represented by China have a bigger say now, the US dollar will continue to enjoy its supremacy for a considerable period of time.

1.3.1.5. Sub-division in regionalization emerging amid rapidly growing regionalism Along with a growing trend toward globalization, regionalism has also risen rapidly and regional integration has become the trend of the times. The European Union has continued to expand. Apart from that, Asia–Pacific, North America, Latin America, Africa and other regions have all seen a strong momentum of regional integration, and various regional cooperation organizations have played an increasingly important role, facilitating the signing of regional free trade agreements. At the same time, the trans-regional cooperation has also stepped up with a vigorous development of dialogue and coordination mechanisms. Meanwhile, however, there has been a tendency toward division in regionalization. On the one hand, in terms of global distribution,

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the development of regionalism is uneven in different continents. Especially in the Middle East and South Asia, regional hotspot issues have long remained unsolved, tension has continued, regional cooperation has been difficult to materialize and their place in the world economy has been increasingly marginalized. On the other hand, even in those regions where regional integration has developed relatively fast, a tendency toward disintegration or sub-division in regional cooperation has also appeared. For instance, in the Asia– Pacific region, the past ASEAN-led regional cooperation model has become more and more difficult to sustain. Many important countries have put forward new ideas. Australia, for example, has proposed to establish the “Asia–Pacific Community”. Japanese then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pushed for an “East Asian Community”. In essence, they are contending for leadership in the process of transforming the existing regional cooperation mechanisms. The US has stepped up its attention on Southeast Asia, actively participating in the regional cooperation mechanisms and trying to reform the Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and consolidate its dominance in the Asia–Pacific region through participation in the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP).

1.3.1.6. Greater urgency in addressing global challenges and increased deficits of global governance While promoting the development of human civilization, globalization has also produced visibly negative effects and has posed increasingly bigger challenges to the future development of mankind. Global issues such as economic development, environmental protection, health, food, and terrorism have increasingly posed serious threats to the international community. As a result, global governance has been gradually included in the international agenda and non-traditional security issues have increasingly threatened all countries. In the context of globalization, deficits in the so-called global governance have become evident. On the one hand, with the rise of global issues, the international community has given more attention to global governance. If we considered global governance more as an academic term or

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fashionable political concept in the past, this concept has now increasingly become a realistic issue that all governments must take seriously. Moreover, the legitimacy of global governance in the international discourse system has been more and more widely recognized and the concept has even been extended to domestic governance. International law has been greatly and adversely affected and traditional norms including state sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs and humanitarian intervention have also been challenged. On the other hand, there has been a serious inadequacy in terms of the will and capabilities of governments to participate in global governance. Western countries have significantly curtailed their capabilities and willingness to participate in global cooperation, due to a relative decline in strength. The emerging market economies, due to lack of experience and worries about the possibility of falling into the trap of developed countries, have also failed to give sufficient input to global governance. This deficit in the global governance is manifested in the disconnection between agenda topics and follow-up actions in the real international politics and also in the difficulty or often failure to turn global issues into global actions.

1.3.1.7. Multilateral cooperation gradually becoming mainstream with increased multilateralism The end of the Cold War has ushered in surging multilateralism, with new multilateral international organizations and mechanisms emerging one after another. The speed at which international organizations and mechanisms have been born since the 1990s is much faster than that in the previous 40 years. They include global organizations such as the WTO; a series of pan-regional mechanisms such as the European Union, the African Union, ASEAN and other core mechanisms; regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); and more cross-regional mechanisms such as the Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM), APEC and the China–Africa Forum. Multilateral diplomacy has increased significantly in quantity and improved considerably in quality, which has been embodied in the depth of multilateral activities and in the extensive influence that multilateral diplomacy has over all countries. Academics like Chu Shulong have

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argued that the contemporary multilateralism owes its rise to the development of the world’s multi-polarization, globalization and information technology. He further argued that such multilateralism is also enhanced by the end of the Cold War, which has made the world a truly single market, and by technological progress, which has enabled more and more countries, regions and individuals to participate in cross-border exchanges. The enormous increase in multilateral exchanges has inevitably led to changes and development in the people’s mindset, the state’s policies and guidelines, and the content and form of the international system.80 With the development of multi-polarization, multilateral cooperation has been gaining popularity. The Iraq war has mauled heavily on the US’s unilateral policies. With the relative decline of US strength, international multilateral mechanisms have carried increasingly more authority. In response to the global financial crisis, the G20 has played a significant role. To establish or restructure international multilateral mechanisms has become key topics in the transition of the international system.

1.3.1.8. Non-state actors more active and visibly more independent In the current era, the status of the state has been weakened and international affairs and domestic affairs have been increasingly interwoven. The state is no longer the only actor in the international system — non-state actors are playing an increasingly important role. The pluralism and diversification of international actors have become the current trend. International organizations, global and regional, are playing a more and more important role. Traditionally, these organizations used to be instruments and platforms for countries to conduct diplomacy. With an increase in multilateral activities, international organizations have developed, following their own logic and values; they have produced a positive impact on national diplomatic activities and on the 80

Chu Shulong: Multilateral Diplomacy: Scope, Background and China’s Response, World Economics and Politics, 2011, No. 10, p. 43.

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interaction between states. Therefore, they have played a more proactive role in promoting international multilateral activities. In the context of globalization, the state seems to be gradually withdrawing from traditional areas, with diminishing authority and shrinking activities. The decline of the state’s status has given nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) a bigger space for dynamic and proactive activities. Apart from actively participating in inter-governmental multilateral diplomatic activities, NGOs are also working for an international NGOs network. They have gained more leverage on the issue of global governance and have become initiators, sponsors, and promoters of many global initiatives.

1.3.2. The New Situation Facing China’s Diplomacy In the new situation, China’s diplomacy is confronted with unprecedented challenges and its task of maintaining peace and pursuing development has become increasingly daunting. The simultaneous progress in the transformation of the international system and China’s development has impacted China’s diplomacy mainly in two ways. First, as the transformation of the international system deepens, there will be an increase in turbulence-inducing uncertainty factors, such as twists and turns, complexities and vulnerabilities that are bound to appear in the transformation process. In particular, when these factors interact with China’s domestic problems, they could produce a pilingup effect. Second, since the reform and opening up, China has steadily deepened its interaction with the outside world and the international system. Hence there has been a increasingly marked two-way influence. As China grows stronger, China will be able to exert a more profound impact on the future direction of the international system. The world will change, as China changes. At the same time, changes in the world will, in turn, raise higher demand on and present new challenges to China’s diplomacy.

1.3.2.1. Challenge of re-identification and re-orientation First, China should look at international affairs and re-define its national interests from the strategic perspective and from the angle of

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the international system. It should take care of its national interests with international interests in mind and replace the term “China and the World” with that of “China in the world”. As China changes and attains greater international influence, the international system would have less influence on China while China’s internal efficiency would have visibly increased. It is important for the Chinese diplomacy to bring about a shift from “opening China to the world” to “opening the world to China”. China should replace the intersubjectivity relationship with that of mutual subjects and a relationship of interests with that of common progress. With an increase in its aggregate strength, China has become an important variable that can influence the transformation of the current international system. The relationship between China and the world is moving forward in a two-dimensional manner with China adapting itself to the world at the beginning and with the world starting to adapt to the speedy rise of China now. The outside world has fundamentally changed its expectations of China, which is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the international community has widely recognized China’s international status and an increasing number of countries have realized that no solution to international problems can be found without China’s participation. On the other hand, however, China has been under increasingly greater pressure from the outside world to fulfill more international obligations. The marginal advantage of China’s participation in the international system has been reduced while constraints and unfavorable factors have increased for China. There is a certain gap between China’s assessment of its own strength and the world’s expectation of China. How should it keep a low profile and at the same time play a due role, or balance what it is capable of doing against how much it should contribute to the international community? This is a difficult issue for China’s foreign policy to handle. Second, as China more actively participates in international multilateral cooperation, the coupling effect of domestic and diplomatic issues has become increasingly evident. China needs to integrate both domestic and external diplomatic resources, streamline and consolidate its relevant domestic mechanisms, and take up the challenge of giving consideration to both the overall domestic interests and the

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world situation. With the deepening of globalization and the greater openness in China, international factors appeared to have a greater influence on domestic issues in China. China’s diplomacy used to be driven mainly by internal factors and but is now driven by both internal and external factors. In the course of globalization, domestic issues will become one of the key components of international diplomacy, which will result in more complicated situations and make the methods of diplomacy more covert. It was stated in the report to the 17th CPC National Party Congress that: “We must take both the domestic and international situations into consideration.”81 Then President Hu Jintao also pointed out in his speech delivered at the conference marking the 30th anniversary of the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee that: “We must link upholding our independence with participation in economic globalization, taking both the domestic and international situations into account and contributing to the ideals of peace and human development.”82 With more frequent exchanges between China and the outside world, China has gradually moved from professional diplomacy to a larger form of diplomacy. There has been a growing trend toward plural and diversified actors participating in the diplomatic decisionmaking process. There has been a greater need of domestic coordination in foreign relations, which has become more difficult. As far as coordination within the government is concerned, ministries, state commissions and departments in the central government and local governments under the central government have asserted greater independence in handling their external contacts and have different interests to take care of. Society-wise, interest groups or organizations have started to exert their influence. With technological advancement in modern communications and media, people are enjoying greater freedom of speech and have more means to do so. Consequently, 81

Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, In Collected Documents of the 17th CPC National Congress, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, p. 45. 82 Hu Jintao: Speech at the Meeting Marking the 30th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2008, p. 27.

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public opinions are exerting greater pressure on the making of foreign policy decisions. When more and more Chinese enterprises and personnel “go abroad”, it is all the more urgent and necessary to consider both the international situation and domestic interests in a coordinated manner. On the one hand, China has expanded its overseas interests faster than the way in which China has built up its diplomatic capacity. How to protect China’s overseas interests has increasingly become an issue to be dealt with. On the other hand, increased overseas activities by Chinese enterprises and Chinese citizens have brought about opportunities for people-to-people diplomacy and public diplomacy, but at the same time they have also produced many negative effects, damaging China’s image and interests. How to regulate and manage such overseas activities is a major issue for the Chinese diplomacy to handle in coordinating the overall internal and external interests. Third, the existing diplomatic concepts and mechanisms have not developed as fast as China’s economy and the world situation. They are lagging behind. China needs to further emancipate its mind, creatively re-interpret many of the traditional concepts and upgrade its views on sovereignty, the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and Taiwan’s participation in international multilateral mechanisms so as to adapt itself to the changing situations in China and in the world. China’s integration into the international system has not been well harmonized and coordinated both in speed and rhythm. China has integrated into the international economic, political, cultural and social systems at different speeds, which is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, there is a gap between its hard power and soft power. Although China’s GDP has risen to the second place in the world, it has relatively scarce soft diplomatic resources. In terms of international organizational resources, China is not yet a big country for multilateral diplomacy. Very rarely do international organizations have their headquarters in China, except for the SCO. As far as its participation in multilateral diplomacy is concerned, China has inherited more than it has innovated, or it has been driven more by inertia than by its initiative. In other words, it has not displayed adequate

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initiative. In terms of the international public opinions, China has been in a disadvantageous position in competing for its weight and values in the international arena. In terms of non-governmental forces, the global civil societies are flourishing today and yet the Chinese NGOs are still weak. The cooperation and coordination between the government and NGOs have not yet been put on the agenda. In terms of human resources, China has a serious shortage of reserves of professionals specialized in international organizations, and the number of Chinese working in international organizations at the senior and medium levels is too small. Second, there is a gap between the policies and the reality. China has been pushed to the center stage of the world and China has been forced to step up its integration into the international system. However, for many diplomatic issues, there is no precedent to follow or convention to keep. China must accumulate its own experience while solving these problems, which has raised a very high requirement for the crises-handling capabilities of the Chinese diplomacy.

1.3.2.2. Dealing with challenges of the international system in transition First, in order to better serve the overall interests of its domestic development, China must shift its diplomacy from passively subscribing to international mechanisms to creatively utilizing them. It seems that there is no room for China to increase its participation in the international system. Therefore, China should improve the quality of its participation, not quantity, and it should offer views and programs on how to reform the international system and how to take up global challenges. The reform of the international system moves along a gradual process from tackling easy issues to more difficult ones. Now this reform has reached, relatively speaking, a crucial stage. Western countries will never give up their vested interests and their dominant position in the current international system. Therefore, China and other emerging countries have to find out a new road toward peaceful rise, a road that differs from the old way of re-distribution of interests through war.

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The international system is in the process of re-shaping its values. The challenge for China’s foreign policy is to propose and implement a set of humanitarian values that are consistent with the trend of the times. In the process of transforming the international system, all countries are trying to inject their own ideas into the new international value system. Western countries are vigorously advocating the so-called “diplomacy for democratic values” and are emphasizing the so-called Western concepts of democracy and human rights. This has made the moral standards and values a new focus for competition. Although China has made substantial progress in hard power, it is still at a relatively disadvantageous position in the competition for values and for international public opinions. How to come up with a set of typically Chinese values, add some Chinese elements to the international system, enhance the attraction of the Chinese model for other developing countries, and justify Chinese diplomacy by using Chinese rules and norms, are all issues for the Chinese foreign policy to address in the future, among others. Secondly, when the international system is in the transformation process, the division and reorganization of forces among different countries have become more complicated and volatile, and China needs to consolidate its strategic foundation for its diplomacy to rely on. With the growth of China’s strength and the rise of its international status, the relationship between China and various other forces in the international system has become a composite one, with multilateral and bilateral relations closely interwoven. On global issues, there is an increase in the structural contradictions between China and traditional big powers; there is a need to further institutionalize the regional cooperation between China and its neighboring countries and a need to avoid division in the relationship between China and other emerging economies; the traditional basis for cooperation between China and other developing countries has been somewhat weakened; and it needs to further deepen its relations with mediumdeveloped countries. With the growth of China’s strength, there has been a subtle change in the mentality of the international community about China. This is

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the case with both developed and developing countries. It is also true with China’s opponents and friends alike. No matter whether their assessment of China is accurate or ill-informed, China has to face this new situation. It takes time for the outside world to readjust its mentality and accept the fact that China has grown stronger and has enhanced its status. And such sentiments as envy, misgivings, precautions and even antagonism against China will exist for a fairly long time to come. All this requires China to take a more tolerant and open attitude in its diplomacy so as to avoid confrontation and achieve peaceful development and harmonious rise through accommodation and integration. Finally, in view of the recent fluidity in its surrounding areas, China should work hard to advance the regional integration process and create a peaceful and stable surrounding environment. Since the reform and opening up, China and its surrounding countries have built up a good momentum of development. Never before has the relationship between China and its neighboring countries been so good. However in recent years, there has been an increase in hidden factors endangering China’s peripheral security. First, the internal political instability in some of China’s neighboring countries such as Thailand and Myanmar has affected regional peace and stability. Second, some regional hotspot issues such as the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and the Afghan issue have remained unsettled for a long time, which have thus increased variables for change. Third, the competition and rivalry between big powers have intensified. Particularly, the US has increased its input in the Asia–Pacific region. Starting from 2010, the US has instigated conflicts between China and Vietnam by taking advantage of the South China Sea issue, estranged Japan from China by cashing in on the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, sowed discord between China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea by capitalizing the Cheonan incident. It has tried to stir up tensions in the relations between China and Burma, Nepal, India and Pakistan respectively. Fourth, the disputes between China and some of its neighboring countries on the marine territory, territorial waters and maritime rights have been somehow on the rise, which has affected the development of normal bilateral relations between China and the affected countries.

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The new situation has also raised new requirements for China’s diplomacy. It requires China to scientifically and accurately assess and handle the situations in its surrounding areas while continuing with a regional strategy of openness. How to give full play to the advantage of China’s development, turn its advantage in development into effective resources for China to use in promoting the common development of its neighboring countries and ensure that China has the leverage in regional cooperation? This is a pressing issue for China to tackle in its diplomacy.

1.3.3. The Concept of a Harmonious World — A New Leap Forward in CPC’s Cognition of the Themes of the Times Since the beginning of the new era, in face of the new development of the international situation and the new challenges of the times for its diplomacy, the CPC has guided China’s diplomatic practice with an open mind and a realistic approach, and with the peace and development concept. It has constantly enriched and developed the denotation and connotation of the peace and development concept and achieved a substantial improvement in its cognition and understanding. During the Jakarta Asian–African Summit in April 2005, former President Hu Jintao put forward the concept of “a harmonious world” for the first time and later expounded the concept of building a harmonious world in a more systematic manner when addressing the World Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the UN. The proposal to build a harmonious world is based on the CPC’s generalization and crystallization of the themes of peace and development in the new era. The propositions of a harmonious world have been advanced by China after summing up and generalizing experiences in multilateral diplomacy and they are also the strategic choice that China has made for its global diplomacy.

1.3.3.1. The harmonious world as a revival and improvement of CPC’s internationalist idealism in the new era It has always been the CPC’s goal to safeguard world peace and stability, promote human progress and advancement, and emancipate all

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mankind. Since its inception, the CPC has taken the destiny of mankind as its mission and pursued the revolutionary ideals of the proletariat, which has been decided by the nature of the Party. Revolutionary ideals may manifest differently across various historical periods. Realistic considerations used to prevail from time to time due to historical constraints. But the CPC has never given up the pursuit of internationalist ideals. Compared with its internationalist ideals in those years immediately after its founding, the concept of a harmonious world is built on the scientific assessment of the international situation and of China’s strength. Therefore, this concept has a solid foundation in reality. First of all, a harmonious world is a sublimation of peace and development. The accelerated globalization has greatly deepened human interdependence. As Hu Jintao pointed out, “In the long history of human progress, the fate of people all round the world has never been so close and interdependent as today. Our common goals unite us and common challenges combine us together.”83 This understanding has come about from Marxist teachings, but more importantly from the experience accumulated in China’s diplomatic practice since the reform and opening up. It is the latest achievement in the diplomatic theories and in applying Marxism to China. Second, the theory of a harmonious world reflects the grand, longterm global perspective of the CPC and its comprehensive thinking of human destiny and future. Out of the consideration of the fate of all mankind, the concept of a harmonious world goes beyond the narrow-minded state and national interests and beyond the power- and interests-based realist thinking. In a globalized world, it is meaningless to talk about the national interests of China alone. China cannot develop in isolation of the world development and China’s fate is closely linked with that of all mankind. Third, the proposal for a harmonious world reflects the foresight of the CPC. The reason why this concept is valuable is that it has 83

Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the Summit on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, Xinhua News Agency, September 15, 2005.

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identified the goal for mankind to work together to achieve and it has pointed out the direction for China’s diplomacy, as the task for mankind to realize the ideal of “universal peace and common development” is “arduous” and the road is “long”.84 The ideal of a harmonious world is not utopian. Rather, it is achievable. Specifically, it is politically important to uphold multilateralism, respect the authority of the UN and enhance coordination on an equal footing. In terms of security, it is necessary to institute a new security concept based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination, and put in place a fair and effective collective security mechanism in order to achieve universal and lasting peace. Economically, it is imperative to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation, institute a fair and rational international economic, trade and financial system to achieve universal development and common prosperity. Culturally, we must respect diversity of civilizations and carry forward the spirit of tolerance and accommodation.

1.3.3.2. The harmonious world as a holistic view, a revision of the state-centered concept and a return to CPC’s earlier world outlook The proposal for a harmonious world is a reflection of cognitional development of China’s diplomacy from traditional diplomacy to global diplomacy. This shift is not tangible, as it mainly reflects a change of the world outlook and methodology. This global diplomacy does not proceed from the Chinese perspective only, nor does it seek the Chinese national interests as the only goal. Instead, China has conscientiously coordinated its development with that of the world. It has no longer regarded its development as the driving force for the system development, but rather, as part of the system development. The proposal for a harmonious world demonstrates the deepening of the connotation of the Chinese concept of development, from the 84

Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the Summit on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, Xinhua News Agency, September 15, 2005.

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narrow-minded pursuit of its own development to that of the common development of the world. China has begun to play down the “small I” and highlight the “big I” of the international system and combine its own future more with that of the international system. This shift in concept and theory has guided China in looking at and handling world affairs beyond the traditional state-to-state relations and has enabled China to plan and manage its foreign relations in the new century from a broader and longer perspective. While conducting multilateral diplomacy as a state, China has taken more proactive measures to promote the institution of the international multilateral mechanism based on multilateralism, especially in China’s surrounding areas. In June 2006, Hu Jintao proposed to the SCO Shanghai summit that China should build the region into a “harmonious region with lasting peace and common prosperity”. This was the first time China formally proposed the concept of a “harmonious region”. In January 2007, Premier Wen Jiabao advocated in his speech at the 2nd East Asia Summit the building of a harmonious Asia together with other countries. In August 2007, the SCO Summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz adopted the Treaty on Long-term Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, in which the idea of “building a harmonious region” was established in a legal instrument for the first time. Under the guidance of the concept of building a harmonious region, the cooperation between China and neighboring countries has been institutionalized and a prototype of the multilateral mechanism network for a harmonious region is taking shape, which has effectively facilitated the development of regionalism in Asia. As far as the concept of a harmonious world is concerned, peace, development, and cooperation are closely knitted and interrelated. The CPC report to its 17th National Congress stressed that: “Peace and development remain the main themes of the present era, and pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become an irresistible trend of the times.”85 In an era of globalization, no single country can 85 Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, In Collected Documents of the 17th CPC National Congress, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, p. 44.

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successfully meet global challenges alone. It is out of the holistic world outlook that the role of cooperation has been particularly valued. The word “common” appears 32 times in Hu Jintao’s speech entitled Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity86, which fully testified to the importance of cooperation in a “harmonious world”. China is becoming an active advocator for international multilateralism. China wishes to see all parties gain the maximum benefits from common interests through mutually beneficial cooperation on an equal footing, for win-win or all-win results.

1.3.3.3. The concept of the harmonious world and pluralistic coexistence between civilizations In the late 1990s, the CPC started to realize the importance of cultural competition in international relations. Jiang Zemin pointed out in 2001: “Fierce competition in overall national strength in the world today includes not only competition in economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and national defense capabilities, but also competition in the area of culture. The in-depth development of the trends of world multi-polarization and economic globalization has caused all ideologies and cultures from around the world, whether past or present, foreign or local, progressive or backward, or positive or decadent, to agitate one another as they absorb or reject, fuse or confront, and permeate or resist one another. Developing countries, which are generally at a disadvantage, face serious challenges not only in economic development, but also in cultural development.”87 This point of view has been developed further in the concept of a harmonious world. Hu Jintao explained: “Diversity of civilizations is a basic feature of humanity and an important driving force behind human 86 Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the Summit on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, Xinhua News Agency, September 15, 2005. 87 Jiang Zemin: Literature and Art Are the Torch of a Nation’s Spirit (December 18, 2001), In Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, pp. 399–400.

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progress… The world’s civilizations may differ in age, but none is better or more superior than the other. Differences in history, culture, social system and mode of development should not become barriers to exchanges between countries, let alone excuses for confrontation.”88 With a growing economic strength, China has had an increasingly greater influence on world affairs. However, if its influence remains at the material level, it will not last. China should upgrade its strength and status and turn them into invisible cultural attraction and centripetal force. As it develops, China has entered a historical stage in which it can take the initiative to influence the world and at the same time it has become increasingly aware of and conscious about the need to contribute Chinese cultural values to the world. Its economic success has facilitated the revival of the Chinese culture and the recovery of its confidence in the Chinese culture. It has steadily enhanced a sense of responsibility for promoting its culture in the world. The Party and state leaders have paid more and more attention to cultural exchanges with foreign countries. The CPC proposed in its report to the 17th National Party Congress that CPC will also “strengthen international cultural exchanges to draw on the fine achievements of foreign cultures” and “enhance the influence of Chinese culture worldwide”.89 On 20 July 2009, President Hu Jintao told the 11th National Conference of the Chinese Diplomatic Envoys: “We should strengthen public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy, carry out all forms of cultural exchange activities and earnestly disseminate advanced Chinese culture.”90 Looking ahead to its future development, China will achieve a big leap forward in fulfilling its own value in the end. The Chinese development model should become one of the mainstream 88

Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the Summit on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, Xinhua News Agency, September 15, 2005. 89 Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, In Collected Documents of the 17th CPC National Congress, People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, p. 36. 90 Hu Jintao and Other Party and State Leaders Attending the 11th National Conference of Diplomatic Envoys, Xinhua News Agency, July 20, 2009.

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development models and the Chinese culture should have its place in the world. With the rise of its national strength, China has begun to offer public goods to the international community. However, if it stops at providing physical products, its influence will remain very limited and superficial. More importantly, if it could share its “soft” goods with the rest of the world, China will be able to win its place in the future competition for values in the international system. Professor Yang Jiemian has remarked: “China offered the world enormous material products in the past three decades and should provide more public goods to the world in the future… One of the tasks of China’s diplomacy is to propose topics of universal concern to the international community, and principles and concepts to address and resolve these issues. This is the only way for China, through its diplomacy, to reflect the public opinions of the international community, to take the initiative, and to succeed.”91 As the transformation of the international system enters the critical stage, globalization, which has brought about huge benefits to mankind, has also generated many global issues and has even challenged the very survival of mankind. The Western values, which dominated in the past, are now insufficient to meet this challenge. The new historical period calls for new values and new ways of thinking. The concept of a harmonious world has made it possible for China to realize its own values and has provided a broad space for the further development of the Chinese diplomacy.

91

Yang Jiemian: Beijing Olympic Games and China’s New Diplomatic Agenda in the Course of Globalization, China International Studies, 2008, No. 4, p. 16.

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CHAPTER TWO

The Concept of the International System and China’s Foreign Policy ZHANG Pei

The international system — a concept to describe the general development of the international relations — offers, in a systematic manner, ways and laws of interaction between different actors. In the past, there used to be several contemporary, mutually independent systems in the world. In recent times, a trend of integration and globalization of different systems has appeared. The international system, which originated in the West, has become one that encompasses the whole world. Countries, willy-nilly, are involved in this trend at the end of the day. By this token, China’s relations with the rest of the world in modern history are also its relations with the international system. Such relations have gone through five major changes: from a central country in the ancient international system to a semi-marginalized country in the early modern times, from a country seeking equality in the international community in World Wars I and II to an important member of the dividing international system in early years following the founding of New China, and from a country dissociated from the system in the late 1960s to one comprehensively involved in the system after China’s reform and opening up in China, becoming a central country in the system yet again. In short, the evolution of China’s relations with the international system has been a tortuous process. Since its inception, the CPC, with a broad global vision, has been vigorously exploring relations between China and the international system, deepening its understanding of the system, and constantly readjusting and revising China’s position and its relationship with the international

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system. In the process of the historical evolution of its relations with the system, China has changed its role from being a revolutionary, an active partaker and an outsider to a participant and finally, a builder. It is the timely innovation and development of its concept of the international system that has enabled the CPC to guide China’s diplomatic efforts onto an entirely new road leading to China’s rise and to a harmonious and smooth transformation of its relations with the international system. China has become a responsible participant, builder, and contributor in the international system, providing more and more public products to facilitate the evolution and development of the international system in terms of power structure, institutional buildup, and sharing of values.

2.1. The Concept of the International System and China’s Foreign Relations before the Founding of New China Most of the existing studies on the relations between China and the international system focus on the historical development after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). They mostly divide the historical development into three stages and describe China as playing three different roles in each stage: the Mao Zedong era, the Deng Xiaoping era and the post-Deng Xiaoping era, in which China played the respective roles of the “revolutionary” or the “challenger”, the “participant” or the “integrated”, and finally the “builder” or “defender”, in view of its role and position in the system. These studies, while providing a clear picture of the evolution of China’s relations with the international system after the founding of New China, contain two major drawbacks. First, they have hardly touched upon the CPC’s concept on the international system between its founding in 1921 and the founding of the PRC in 1949 or upon the interaction between the CPC and the international system. Admittedly, the CPC was not yet a ruling party during that period, it did not have a systematic concept on the international system, except for a simple analysis of the situation then, and its external contacts were at most semidiplomatic in nature. However, one cannot deny it was an important

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period in which the CPC seriously studied the international system and actively participated in the system. A country’s concept of the international system means its general views of the characters, developmental stages, and future trends of the international system in a given period and of its position in the system. It regulates and provides guidance to the country on how it should interact with the international system. It must be noted that ever since its founding, the CPC has made great efforts to have a macro and holistic analysis of the world situation which it has used to guide China’s revolution. In that period, the CPC set up its own revolutionary basis, its own army, a Soviet government and a department in charge of foreign affairs. It gained the preliminary experience in governance, closely observed the outside world and gained an in-depth knowledge of the world. Furthermore it had much contact with the Communist International especially during the anti-fascist world war and gained some experience in external contacts then. All this has laid a foundation for the formation of its concept on the international system and for China’s diplomacy after the founding of New China. Secondly, these studies on the relations between China and the international system were over-simplified in terms of the classification of stages and definition of China’s role. It might be easier to understand the major characters of the relations between China and the international system at a given time if we simply tag a country as a “revolutionary” or a “challenger”, a “participant” or the “integrated”, a “builder” or a “defender”. However, it overlooked the dynamic changing process both in China and in the system as a result of the impact of international and domestic factors, to say nothing about the great differences over the interpretation of the relations between China and the international system in theory. The evolution of the international system has been a zigzag process. Likewise, the interaction between China and the international system has also followed a complex process. Actually, China has played different roles in the international system not only across different periods, but also within the same period. Even when it plays the same role, it may perform the role differently at various levels or in various areas of the system. Therefore, this chapter aims to study and analyze, in some depth, the

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CPC’s concept and the complex interaction between China and the international system in the three different periods, namely, before the founding of the PRC in 1949, between 1949 and the start of reform and opening up, and after the reform and opening up, in an attempt to reveal the dynamic changing process.

2.1.1. The Concept of the International System, Its Evolution and China Being Semi-marginalized 2.1.1.1. Definition of the international system The international system is an important concept to describe international relations and the concept came up as early as in 1675 when the German jurist Samuel von Pufendorf defined the systems of states in his book On the Systems of States as sovereign states in their closely linked integrity.1,2,3 It was not until the mid-20th century that the “international system” became a key concept in the Western studies of international relations. The concept became rather prevalent in the 1960s. With the expansion of scientific behaviorism, “system analysis” became the main and most important methodology of study on the theory of the international system. System theory has since been the core of the international relations and it has “widely dominated the theoretical studies of international relations”.4 The main prevalent schools of Western theories on international relations like structural realism, neoliberal institutionalism, mainstream constructivism,

1

Martin Wight: Systems of States, London: Leicester University Press and London School of Economics, 1977, p. 21. 2 See also Hedley Bull: The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, 2nd Edition (translated into Chinese by Zhang Xiaoming), Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2003 Edition, p. 9. 3 See also Barry Buzan and Richard Little: International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (translated into Chinese by Liu Debin et al.), Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004 Edition, p. 25. 4 Robert Lieber: Theory and World Politics, London: Winthrop Publishers, 1972, p. 120, quoted from Ni Shixiong et al.: Contemporary Western International Relations Theory, Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2001 Edition, p. 327.

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including the English School and the theory of the world system, are all fundamentally theories of the international system.5 Despite a long history of studies on international relations, theoreticians on international relations have not arrived at a succinct and clear definition of the international system. Structural realism, represented by Stanley Hoffmann and Kenneth Waltz, emphasizes structure6,7; neoliberal institutionalism, represented by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, emphasizes institution and rules8; mainstream constructivism, represented by Alexander Wendt, focuses on concepts and culture9; the English School, represented by Hedley Bull, pays special attention to the international community10; and the theory of the international system, represented by Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein, highlights the role of economy.11 Chinese scholars have also come up with a number of different definitions for the international system. Some hold that the international system is “an integral whole of both contention and unity” formed through interaction among all actors of the international community. A basic condition for a system is that all components of the system are inseparably interrelated and interacted.12 Some scholars define the international system

5

For an overview of the theoretical research on the international system, see Yang Jiemian et al.: The Grand System Toward a Multipolar and Multi-Actor World, Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, pp. 72–108. 6 Stanley Hoffmann: The State of War: Essays on the Theory and Practice of International Politics, New York: Prager, 1965, p. 90. 7 Kenneth Walts: Theory of International Politics (translated into Chinese by Xin Qiang), Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2003 Edition. 8 Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye: Power and Mutual Interdependence (translated into Chinese by Men Honghua), Beijing: Peking University Press, 2002 Edition. 9 Alexander Wendt: Social Theory of International Politics (translated into Chinese by Qin Yaqing), Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2000 Edition. 10 Hedley Bull: The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics), 2nd Edition (translated into Chinese by Zhang Xiaoming), Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2003 Edition. 11 Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein: The Modern World-System, Vol. I (translated into Chinese by You Laiyi et al.), Beijing: Higher Education Press, 1998 Edition. 12 Liu Jinzhi, Liang Shoude and Yang Huaisheng: Dictionary of International Politics, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1994 Edition, p. 24.

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as a stable and systematic mechanism and power structure of the international community in a given historical period in which sovereign states, conglomeration of states, international organizations and other international actors organize and interact with one another according to a series of principles, norms and tools and based on their strength and their interests.13 Some other scholars believe that the international system, in the final analysis, is an international political system composed of sovereign nation states, an abstract entity governed by the international law and international institutions and a fixed composition of relations formed through interaction by different actors (mainly state-actors).14,15 Notwithstanding the different emphases when defining the international system, scholars and theoreticians have some obvious similarities in defining the system. That is, they pay more attention to the general trend of international relations from a macro perspective and stress the wholeness, interrelatedness, stratification, stability, and institutionalization. Therefore, the concept of international relations can be defined as an abstract and overview of the general status of the international relations, an integral whole formed through interaction by different actors of the international community in a given period and a stable posture in which all actors move in a direction, interact according to rules and mechanisms, and share common values.16 What we should focus on is that the concept of the international system is often confused with the concepts of “international structure” (or “world structure”), “international order” and “international community”. And indiscriminate usage of these concepts is commonplace in the theoretical and political circles. Theoretically, 13

Huang Renwei: Transformation of the International System and China’s Road of Peaceful Development. In School of World Economy and Politics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (ed.): The International System and China’s Soft Power, Beijing: Shishi Press, 2006 Edition, p. 3. 14 Liu Ming et al.: International System: Historical Evolution and Theoretical Interpretation, Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 2006 Edition, p. 7. 15 Yang Jiemian: China and US Strategies and Measures in Response to the Transitional International System, International Studies, No. 3, 2007, p. 23. 16 Yang Jiemian et al.: The Grand System Toward a Multipolar and Multi-Actor World, Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 81.

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these concepts are different. The “international structure” (or the “world structure”) is a purely Chinese term, popular among Chinese politicians and theoreticians, and also one of the most studied and most debated about topic for the longest period in the study of international relations in China.17 It stresses a relatively stable structure and status of interaction between countries or groups of countries on the basis of power balance. This concept is similar to the realist power politics and system structure but with distinctive Chinese characteristics. The “international order” refers to the code of behavior agreed upon by main state actors through peaceful or non-peaceful means and measures to implement, revise, and safeguard the code of behavior. The two indispensable factors of the international order are the universally acknowledged code of behavior and operational mechanism to safeguard the principles of the international order.18 It emphasizes more on rules, norms and institutional arrangements. The concept of the “international community” was first put forth and developed by scholars of the English School. It emphasizes that the common interests and values19,20 and a “common identity”21 are the necessary conditions of the international community. The international community is a higher stage at which the international system has developed — it is the necessary result and the end point of the development and progress of the international system; and it carries more distinctive values and political connotations. Therefore, this term should be used with

17

National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences: Status and Trend of Studies on Various Disciplines of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Beijing: Xuexi Publishing House, 1997 Edition, p. 381. 18 Yang Jiemian: Analysis of the Operational Mechanism of the International Order. In China’s Institute of Contemporary International Relations (ed.), On the New International Political Order, Beijing: Shishi Publishing House, 1992 Edition, p. 388. 19 Hedley Bull: The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, 2nd Edition, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2003 Edition, pp. 10–11. 20 Hedley Bull and Adam Watson (eds.): The Expansion of International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984, p. 1. 21 Barry Buzan: From International System to International Society: Structural Realism and Regime Theory Meet the English School, International Organization, 1993, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 327–352.

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caution, and only when all necessary preconditions are met.22 In spite of all these obvious distinctions, in actual utilization, especially in the Chinese context, concepts like “international structure” (or world structure), “international order” and “international community” are used to provide a macroscopic and general description of the international relations, similar to “international system”. Though it was only recently that the concept of “international system” began to appear frequently in the intellectual and political circle in China, it does not mean that China has only recently developed theories on international relations and the international system. Actually, the CPC has, since its founding, attached great importance to making an in-depth analysis of the world situation from a macroscopic and holistic perspective, which it taps upon in providing guidance on China’s revolution, development, CPC’s external relations and China’s diplomacy. In short, CPC has already put in place the Chinese view and theory on the international system, albeit describing it in a different language.

2.1.1.2. Formation of the global international system and the semi-marginalization of China An international system is built upon frequent and regular interaction between actors of international relations. It is a result of the gradual historical evolution from the regional, partial and intermittent engagement and mutual influence in ancient times to frequent exchanges and interaction in the modern international system of nation states, and to a global international system where relations between nations are intertwined and interdependent. The international system has undergone a tortuous process to develop into what it is today. According to Barry Buzan, human society has been evolving in an international system that stretches back 5,000 years. A unitary, complete, and global international system was finally established by the mid-19th century.23 22

Liu Ming: Comparison and Assessment of the Concepts of the International Community and International System, Contemporary International Relations, 2003, No. 12, p. 61. 23 Barry Buzan and Richard Little: International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (translated into Chinese by Liu Debin et al.), Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004 Edition, p. 101 and p. 215.

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The global international system was built with the development of the capitalist mode of production and colonialist expansion of Western powers. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels emphasized: “The discovery of America, and the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie.”24 The bourgeoisie, with its expansionist nature, through colonization, transfer of capital and export of products, opened the world market, broke down the old pattern of local self-sufficient economy and national self-seclusion, making the world an integral whole of inter-contacts and interdependence. In the meantime, the Westphalian system of modern nation states originating from Europe expanded to the rest of the globe, gradually incorporating the formerly isolated or parallel systems into it. It started from America, expanded to Africa and finally to East Asia in the 19th century. A global international system has finally been in place. The evolution of the modern international system and its expansion from Europe to the rest of the world have determined that it was a fairly imbalanced system in which Western powers were at the dominant center and other European countries became basic units enjoying the so-called equal sovereignty, while countries in other parts of the world gradually joined the global system through “integration” or “marginalization”25 and were at the bottom with a subordinate status. The institutional principles to sustain this system included the series of agreements and treaties, overt or covert, reached by the dominant countries of the system through wars, conventions, and secret diplomacy. This system upheld such principles as power politics, hegemony, and equilibrium. This was indeed a power-dominant system where a stronger nation/ country or bloc of nations/countries dominated weaker nations/ countries in the political, economic and cultural areas. This was a

24

Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1972 Edition, p. 252. 25 “Integration” refers to the process in which countries and regions outside the system are integrated into the international system. “Marginalization” refers to the process in which the international system admits new countries and regions into the system. See Wang Zhengyi: Theory on the World System and China, Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2000 Edition, p. 126.

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system dominated by a single civilization center and a single regional system.26 The evolution of the international system and its unequal nature determined the different types of contact and connections between countries and the system; the different status and identities of these countries in the system, and also the different attitudes and behaviors that these countries would adopt in the system. According to the Western theories of international relations, there were two types of countries in the system, namely, “status quo powers” and “revisionist powers”. The “status quo powers” referred to those that were satisfied with their status in the system and the distribution of power and were against any change in the power relations.27 The “revisionist powers” on the other hand were discontent with their status and the distribution of power in the system. They challenged the status quo and sought to have the power redistributed.28,29 American scholar Jeffery W. Legro has described three categories of countries based on the ways in which they had contacts and relations with the international system. They were: “participating countries” that accepted the internationally-dominated principles, rules and norms, that were “content with the status quo”, willing to live within the system, and hence, “conservative”; “revisionist countries” that tried to revise the system, including those that were “discontent with the status quo”, were

26

Barry Buzan and Richard Little: International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (translated into Chinese by Liu Debin et al.), Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004 Edition, p. 212. 27 Hans J. Morgenthau: Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978 (5th Edition), p. 46. 28 With regard to a systematic description of “status quo power” and “revisionist power” in Western theories on international relations, see Alastair Iain Johnston: Is China a Status Quo Power? International Security, 2003, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 8–10. 29 British scholar Barry Buzan made an even more detailed distinction between different types of “revisionist powers”: the “revolutionary revisionist”, “orthodox revisionist” and “reformist revisionist”. See Barry Buzan: China in International Society: Is ‘Peaceful Rise’ Possible? The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2010, Vol. 3, pp. 17–18.

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China’s Outlook on the International Order.

Era

Dominant Orthodoxy

End of the Qing Dynasty (1800–1860) End of Qing Dynasty through to the formation of the PRC (1896–1939) Mao Zedong’s Era (1949–1976) Deng Xiaoping’s Era (1976–1996) Post-Deng Era (1997–present)

Separatist Participating Revisionist Participating Participating

Source: Jeffrey W. Legro: What China Will Want: The Future Intentions of a Rising Power, Perspectives on Politics, 2007, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 517; Zhu Feng and Robert Ross: The Rise of China: Theoretical and Policy Perspectives, Beijing: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 167.

“revolutionary” and “revisionist”, and those that tended to have conflicts with other countries due to the ways they conducted themselves; and the “separatist countries” that tried to dismantle the mainstream international norms and common practices, or those that tried to separate themselves from these norms and practices.30 Based on this analysis, Legro believed that China had changed from a “separatist country” to a “participating country” in its relations with the international system in modern times (see Table 2.1). The history of the sophisticated relationship between China and the international system started from China, a central dominating country in the ancient international system, being dragged into the international system as a semi-marginalized member of the system in modern times. China used to be a central country in the ancient system nation states. From the Qin and Han Dynasties (some 2,200 years before) to the Opium War of 1840, whether in terms of the landmass, population, size of economy or culture, China was the center of a unipolar system in the world.31 As a central or dominant country, 30

Jeffrey W. Legro: Purpose Transitions: China’s Rise and the American Response. In Zhu Feng and Robert Ross (eds.): The Rise of China: Theoretical and Policy Perspectives, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 166. 31 Ye Zicheng: Thinking beyond Multilateralism and Promoting Big Power Cooperation: Reflection on the History and Theory of China’s Multilateral Strategy. In Qin Yaqing

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China developed an international system in which its neighboring countries paid “tribute” to the Chinese imperial court. This system was centered on the mainland of China and radiated into the Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. It adopted a political model based on Confucian ethics, an agrarian economy that despised commercial activities and the Chinese literacy system and the printing technology. This system was introduced directly to the primitive and semiprimitive economies in China’s neighborhood. As a result, the East Asia world system took shape with the Chinese Empire at the center, supported by tribute-payment in exchange for titles of nobility conferred by the central imperial court. It featured a rather loose relationship between the dominating center and a subordinating periphery. In spite of severe challenges, this system could always be revitalized after declines and had generally, developed on its own up to the mid19th century. It showed great stability and continuity.32 This system claimed itself to be the world’s center and had no interest in anything out of its world. It had contacts and interaction with other systems through the Silk Road and the journey of the Chinese navigator Zheng He (or Cheng Ho, 1371–1435) down to the Western oceans, etc.; however, these contacts and interactions were occasional and at a low-level, and they failed to bring China any closer to the rest of the world. When the West started its outward expansion and colonial activities, the stability of the “tribute-payment” system was shattered and the process of China being marginalized or semi-colonized began. China could no longer continue its original course of development. It was gradually forced into a new world economic system with the Western capitalist countries at the center, and it became an affiliated colony.33 It was a sharp psychological cascade for China to fall from the center of the ancient world system to a semi-marginalized country in (ed.): The World in the Eyes of Chinese Scholars: The Volume on International Order, Beijing: New World Press, 2007 Edition, pp. 65–67. 32 Luo Rongqu: Reinterpretations of Modernization — East Asia and China’s Process of Modernization, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1997 Edition, pp. 67–68. 33 Luo Rongqu: A New Thesis on Modernization — East Asia and China’s Process of Modernization, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1993 Edition, p. 240.

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the modern international system. After the reconstruction of the international system, China was deprived of its big power status. China had yearned for resuming its status as a big country with major influence in international affairs. However, it went through many setbacks and could not find a proper position in the international system. This determined China’s concept about the international system, as well as China’s attitude toward it and actions within it. For a century, China had been trying to develop proper relations with the system.

2.1.2. CPC’s Perception of the International System and Its External Relations before the Founding of New China China was reduced to a semi-marginalized country in modern times. At the same time, it was also a process in which China strived unceasingly to become stronger and stand on its own feet. China sought to become an equal member of the international system and stand on its own feet in the world community. However, due to various reasons, China’s quest was not realized. In a certain sense, the modern history of China was a history of the Chinese nation seeking an equal member and its own national identity and status.34 Since its inception, the CPC has taken the responsibility of transforming the country and revitalizing the nation. It was in this process that the CPC formulated its own concept of the international system and provided guidance for China’s revolution using this concept, which resulted in a major change for the CPC’s role from a revolutionary of the system into an active participator in the system. During this period, major changes happened in the international system itself as well. Two major anti-system movements and two world wars took place. Hence, the international system was reorganized twice, which had a major impact on the relations between China and the system and on the CPC’s exploratory efforts with regard to its views on the international system, its identity, and its external relations. 34

Qin Yaqing et al.: The International System and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, p. 5.

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2.1.2.1. China as part of the world proletarian revolution and a revolutionary of the international system Since its founding, the CPC had defined nations in the world as either the oppressor or the oppressed, and saw itself as part of the oppressed world and China’s revolution as part of the world proletarian revolution. To achieve success in China’s revolution, it must unite all the proletariat of the world and overthrow the world capitalism and imperialism through armed struggle. It was the historical background at its founding and the prevailing situation China was in back then that made the CPC a revolutionary in the system. In modern times, China failed time and again in its quest for national independence and to be an equal member of the international system. Its hope to have its national dignity restored to it had time and again been dashed, from the Westernization Movement (initiated mainly by Qing bureaucrats in the latter half of the 19th century to introduce techniques of capitalist production) and the Reform Movement of 1898 to the Revolution of 1911. World War I gave China a rare opportunity. Shortly after World War I broke out, the Northern Warlord Government was indirectly involved in the war by dispatching Chinese laborers to the Allied Powers. On 14 August 1917, China formally joined the Allied Powers and declared war against Germany and Austria with the hope of getting rid of humiliation and winning independent and equal sovereignty. Both the Allied Powers and the US promised successively to the Chinese government that they would endorse a proper status and treatment of China commensurate with the size of the country. The Fourteen Points announced by then US President Woodrow Wilson gave China some hope, this included ”national self-determination”, opposition to “secret alliances between countries” and “equitable and lasting peace”. At the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, China, a victorious nation, had the chance to participate in the post-war international arrangements and became a founding member of the League of Nations. However, when China asked for recovering its rights and interests in its Shandong Province that were taken away by Germany, scrapping the TwentyOne Demands imposed on China by Japan, and abolishing all special

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interests and privileges of foreigners in China (e.g. consular jurisdiction and conventional tariffs), all its requests were turned down. On the contrary, China’s sovereignty had yet again been willfully trampled upon and its hope for independent sovereign and equal treatment was once again broken, which led to the outbreak of the large-scale and dynamic Patriotic Movement on 4 May 1919. Meanwhile, the first large-scale anti-system movement took place during the war — the October Revolution of 1917. The October Revolution led Russia to the socialist path, breaking away from capitalism, signifying a new experiment for the future development of the international system. The victory of the October Revolution and the spread of its impact kindled new hope among progressive Chinese intellectuals and encouraged them to explore ways to transform China, and win national liberation and independence. The October Revolution signified the “dawn of a new civilization in the world” and ushered in “a future world of red flags”.35 Solutions to social problems in China necessitated a large-scale transformation of China and of the world, because the problems in China were, after all, part of the world’s problems. The road of the Russian revolution was a “whole new one” in which “every other path had led to a dead end”.36 The founding of the CPC was an outcome of “May 4th Movement” and the subsequent workers’ movement in China. It was a product of the modern Chinese history and it should also be attributed to the guidance and support from the October Revolution. This historical background was bound to have a major impact on the CPC’s concept of the international system. In the CPC’s manifesto drafted before the formal founding of the Party, Chinese communists in those early days had already realized that the capitalist system must be rooted out if China were to build a new society and that it was imperative to use effective force to bring down the country of capitalists in order to remove the 35

Li Dazhao: The Victory of Bolshevism. In The Party History Research Center of the CCCPC (ed.), History of the Communist Party of China, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, p. 46. 36 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 1.

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capitalist system and put in place a proletarian dictatorship like the one in Russia. The proletarian dictatorship in Russia was not “accidental” but “a natural course” in the development of the human society.37 The Washington Conference and the Nine-Power Agreement created a new situation for China, subjecting China to the “open-door” policy of the united imperialist invasion. All this made the Chinese communists more clearly aware that in the imperialist era, the world was composed of the “oppressed nations” and the “oppressing nations”; that China’s revolution had become part of the world proletarian movement; and that China’s campaign against imperialism must also merge with the global revolutionary tide of the oppressed nations, and unite with the world proletarian movement of revolution. Only then can China bring down the common oppressor — the international capitalist imperialism. This is the only way for the toiling Chinese people to free themselves from the oppression of imperialism.38 At the 3rd CPC National Congress held in June 1923, the Party declared in an express language: “Our mission is to launch a national revolution to free the oppressed nation and then join the world revolution to liberate all oppressed nations and oppressed classes in the whole world.”39 This perception had a long-lasting and profound impact on CPC’s view of the world. At that time, the CPC’s external contacts had distinctive revolutionary features. It conducted external contacts mainly with the Soviet Union, joined the Communist International and accepted guidance and assistance from both the USSR and the Communist International. In its first party platform adopted at the 1st CPC National Congress, the Party made clear it would “associate” with the Communist 37

Manifesto of the Communist Party of China, (November, 1920), Database of the CPC’s National Congresses, People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/ 64168/64553/4427948.html, accessed May 23, 2013. 38 Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Declaration of the 2nd CPC National Congress (July 1922), People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/ 66627/66627/4489288.html, accessed August 19, 2013. 39 Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Declaration of the 3rd CPC National Congress (June 1923), People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/ 66627/66627/4489275.html, accessed August 19, 2013.

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International. The first CPC Resolution stipulated: the Central Committee of the CPC must report to the Communist International every month. At the 2nd CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee adopted the decision to formally join the Communist International, stating that it “recognizes all the 21 conditions for accession to the Communist International” and that the CPC would become a branch of the Communist International.40 Under the guidance and support of the Soviet Union and the Communist International, the CPC started a wave of workers’ movements in China, carried out the Great Revolutionary struggle and built the red army and revolutionary bases in an attempt to promote the world revolution with its domestic revolutionary struggle and to overthrow the rule of world imperialism so as to completely realize national self-determination and attain lasting peace in the world.

2.1.2.2. China as part of the world’s anti-fascist war and an active participator in the international system The outbreak of the war against Japanese aggression, especially the full-blown outbreak of World War II, fundamentally changed the relations between China and the world. China’s destiny and future had never before been so closely linked with that of the world. This led to a fundamental shift in the CPC’s concept of the international system. As China’s revolution became part of the world’s war against fascism, not just part of the world revolution, the CPC became an active participator in the international system. The 1929–1933 world economic crises trigged off a major political crisis in the capitalist world and the second major anti-system movement in the international system. Both Germany and Japan instituted the Fascist dictatorship at home, and embarked on the road of invasion and expansion abroad, becoming two major hotbeds of war in 40

Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: CPC’s Resolution on Joining the Communist International, People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/ 64186/66627/66627/4489295.html,accessed August 19, 2013.

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Europe and Asia respectively and causing a new systemic crisis of the international community. The Fascist grouping made up of Germany, Italy and Japan represented the main threat not only to the dominant countries of the system like the US, Britain and France, but also to all other countries and to world peace. In view of the new situation, the CPC made important adjustments to its view on the international system and its policy on external relations. As early as in 1935, as Japan stepped up its invasion of China and its occupation of the four provinces in Northeastern China, the Chinese Soviet government and the CPC issued the “Letter for All Chinese Compatriots on the War of Resistance and National Salvation” (or the well-known August 1st Declaration), calling for ceasefire in the civil war, unity between warring parties and building a national united front. The Declaration also proposed new foreign policy propositions, including the uniting of all peoples (including the vast majority of the working people in Japan, Korea and Taiwan) as “allies against imperialism, to unite all nations and countries that were sympathetic to the national liberation movement of China and to establish friendly relations with all nations and countries that maintained neutrality in good faith with regard to the Chinese people’s liberation war against Japanese invasion”.41 In December 1935, an extended CPC Politburo Meeting was held in Wayaobao, during which an in-depth analysis of the internal conflicts of the imperialist world was made. The meeting believed that the Japanese imperialists’ ambition to devour China alone unprecedentedly intensified the tension within the imperialist world. The US and Japanese imperialism were “irreconcilable” and a Pacific war is “inevitable”. China must thus forge the most extensive united front against the Japanese imperialism and reach necessary understanding and compromise with all countries, parties or even individuals who stand against the Japanese imperialism, its running dogs and traitors, and establish diplomatic relations or sign treaties of 41

CPCCC: Letter of the Soviet Government of China and the CPC Central Committee for All Compatriots on the War of Resistance Against Japan and National Salvation (August 1st Declaration, 1935). In Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee, Vol. X (1934–1935), People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66640/ 4489906.html, accessed May 23, 2013.

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alliance with these countries.42 In his conversation with the American journalist Edgar Snow, Mao Zedong made it even clearer that the fate and destiny of China was closely linked with those of the world. The Japanese invasion had threatened not only China, but also world peace, especially peace in the Pacific. The Japanese imperialism was not only China’s enemy, but also the enemy of all peace-loving countries; in particular, people of those countries that had a stake in the Pacific, namely, the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The continent and ocean policies of Japan were targeted at these countries as much as at China. There were two policy options for the world with regard to China: one was to help China to resist the aggression and become a sovereign state; the other was to abandon China and watch it become totally colonized. The first option would afford one many opportunities for cooperation with China, as China would win freedom, the Chinese people would become independent and China would have its own economic, cultural and political institutions. However, if one opted for the second option and watch China become fully colonized, the future of the Pacific would be dire indeed. This would not only threaten the independence of China but also threaten the people of the Pacific countries and the destruction of their culture. It would be the beginning of a series of horrible and stupid wars.43 The CPC might not have a clear knowledge about Western countries like the US and Britain and it was not alert about a possible “Munich Scheme” in the Far East, but when the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, the CPC gained a sober understanding of the international situation. The CPC Central Committee further pointed out in its Declaration on the Pacific War and its Instruction on the Pacific United Front against Japan that the Pacific War is an unjust war for plundering launched by the Japanese fascists to invade the US, Britain 42

CPCCC: Resolution of the Central Committee on the Current Political Situation and the Mission of the Party (Wayaobao Conference, December 25, 1935). In Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee, Vol. X (1934–1935), People’s Net, http:// cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66640/4489889.html, accessed May 23, 2013. 43 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, pp. 391–399.

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and other countries. The resistance put up by the US, Britain and other nations, however, is a just war for liberation and for safeguarding independence, freedom, and democracy.44 The war waged by the US, Britain and other Pacific nations against the Japanese invasion is a just war of liberation, and thus their victory is a celebration of democracy and freedom.45 As Zhou Enlai puts it, at the end of the day, there is a clear line between the camps of the world war and the anti-aggression united front has finally taken shape.46 The profound changes in the CPC’s understanding of the international structure brought about major changes in the interaction between the CPC and the international system. The Party stepped out of the circle of the Communist International and into the world. It called upon the world and promoted the establishment of a world anti-fascist united front, mobilized all possible forces, plunged into the war against Japanese invasion and the world war against fascism, and became an active participant in the international system. The CPC-led army implemented the policy of launching an allround people’s war from the very beginning. Through guerilla warfare, the establishment of bases and guerilla zones against Japanese invasion in the rear of the enemy, it widely mobilized, organized and armed the people in various ways, annihilated and checked a considerable number of the Japanese troops. A total of 125,000 times of the CPC-led people’s armed forces took part in this war for democracy and liberation, eliminating 1.714 million troops of the Japanese and the puppet armies, of whom 527,000 were Japanese invasion troops.47

44

Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Declaration of the CPC on the Pacific War (December 9, 1941), People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/ 64186/66644/4490518.html, accessed August 19, 2013. 45 Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Instructions of CPC Central Committee on the Pacific United Front Against Japan (December 9, 1941), People’s Net, http:// cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66644/4490517.html, accessed August 19, 2013. 46 Zhou Enlai: The Pacific War and the Situation of the World War (December 13, 1941), Xinhua Daily, December 14, 1941. 47 CPCCC Research Center of Party History: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, p. 668.

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It had already become the main force in China’s War of Resistance, judging by the number of Japanese and puppet forces it has engaged and the extent of its battle fronts, by its combat effectiveness, by the mass support it enjoys in its operations, and by its political quality, cohesion and unity.48 What is commendable is that the CPC not only made important contributions to the world’s anti-fascist war, but also made a fully positive assessment of the “Europe before Asia” strategy by the global anti-Fascist alliance on the basis of an objective and comprehensive analysis of the world’s anti-Fascist war, demonstrating the lofty internationalist vision of the CPC. On 2 July 1943, the CPC Central Committee directly rejected the idea of “Asia before Europe” in its Declaration to Commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the War of Resistance, pointing out that the consolidation of solidarity among the Soviet Union, Britain and the US and the launch of the decisive battle against the fascist Germany and Italy will not only signify the defeat of the fascist Germany and Italy but also the defeat of the Japanese fascists. Because Adolf Hitler was the head of the invading countries, the defeat of Hitler would be the defeat of all fascists. The time when the Western fascists were dealt with the final decisive blow by the Allies would be the time when all fascists are defeated and most nations are liberated in the world. By that time, fascists in the East would also be defeated and nations in the East would be liberated.49 Despite the harsh conditions of the war, the CPC still made enormous efforts to strengthen its relations with Western democratic countries in various forms so as to communicate to them its propositions, guiding principles and policies for building a new democratic China and an international united front, expand the CPC’s influence and win international cooperation. In his conversation with Edgar 48

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, p. 1039. 49 Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Declaration of the CPC Central Committee to Commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan, People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66645/4490738.html, accessed August 19, 2013.

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Snow, Mao Zedong said that in the world today, there were anti-war nations like the US, Britain and France; there were also colonial and semi-colonial countries and the socialist country of the Soviet Union. Together, these countries could form an international alliance against aggression, war and Fascism. Mao emphasized that those who would like to join this united front would be welcomed by China as friendly countries irrespective of their contributions to making this united front an effective weapon against invaders.50 At the later stage of the War of Resistance, groups of Chinese and foreign journalists and groups of US military observers visited Yan’an successively. The CPC Central Committee attached great importance to these visits and released the “Instructions on External Work”, which was circulated among all cadres who worked with the international united front or for foreign relations. The document contained specific and clear provisions for the nature of external work, as well as the central tasks and principles to be upheld. CPC said that the visits by foreign journalists and American military personnel marked the beginning of actual contacts with the outside world, and also the beginning of its work to build the international united front, and of China’s diplomatic work, though that was only semi-independent diplomacy. The central task of the international united front was to build a united front against Japanese aggression and to conduct cooperation for democracy. In terms of its relations with other countries, China had good relations with the US, the Soviet Union and Britain, in particular, it has the closest relations with the US. Cooperation with other countries might start with military collaboration, and gradually expand to the cultural area and finally to the political and economic fields. In terms of foreign policy, politically, the CPC welcomed envoys or diplomats from Allied countries to the border regions and major anti-Japanese bases, and their diplomatic missions in these regions and bases. Culturally, it welcomed cultural cooperation with Allied countries. Their news agencies or government press offices could set up branches in Yan’an, 50

Conversation with American Journalist Edgar Snow on Diplomacy, Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, pp. 391–399.

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or dispatch their special correspondents and journalists to Yan’an, where they would be accorded facilities for their interviews in all regions and bases under the CPC’s control. Religiously, foreign pastors or priests were allowed to conduct missionary activities in the border regions and major anti-Japanese bases and their churches and other religious facilities or properties should be returned to them. In terms of relief work, donations, in medical equipment or in cash, from the US, Britain, Canada and other countries were welcomed. Economically, international investments and technical cooperation were welcomed so long as they benefitted both sides. In terms of foreign policy principles, China would continue to enhance its national self-esteem and self-confidence without any anti-foreign sentiments on the one hand; and would draw upon the strength of others on the other hand, seeking cooperation with other countries and standing firm on the correct national positions, without fearing or fawning on foreign powers.51

2.1.2.3. New views on the international system and fluidity in external relations The victory of the world war against fascism led the relations between China and the outside world into a new historic stage. The tenacious struggle that China staged against Japanese aggression made China the major theater of the world’s anti-Fascist war in the East, making an indelible contribution to the victory of the world war against fascism, and improving China’s international standing. In reorganizing the post-war international system, China took part in the making of the post-war arrangements for the first time as a major nation, and became one of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. However, China did not enjoy a complete equal status as other Permanent Members did. The post-war arrangements of the Yalta System impaired China’s sovereignty to some extent. Therefore, it was 51

Instructions of the Central Committee on Foreign Affairs (August 18, 1944). In Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee, Vol. XIV (1943–1944), People’s Net, http:// cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66645/4490650.html, accessed May 23, 2013.

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essential for China to acquire an equal status and develop equalitybased relations with other major countries through the post-war reconstruction. But the CPC and the Kuomintang (KMT, also known as the Nationalist Party) contended and debated with each other on the fate and destiny of the country or on where China would go, which finally led to the Civil War. The interaction between this historical episode in China and the polarization of the post-war international system after World War II encouraged the CPC to make new explorations based on its comprehension of the international system and in its external relations. In the beginning, the CPC envisaged a peaceful process toward democracy in China through cooperation between the CPC and the KMT in the international context of Soviet–US cooperation. This was based on the Party’s assessment of the international situation after World War II. The victory of the war against Japanese invasion, the CPC believed, would usher in a new period of peaceful development for China and for the world at large. What China needed to do at that time was to strengthen solidarity, ensure peace, introduce democracy and improve people’s well-being at home so as to realize the reunification of the nation and build an independent, free and prosperous New China and at the same time work together with Britain, the US, the Soviet Union and all other allied countries for lasting peace in the world.52 The CPC was optimistic about the general post-World War II situation and believed that the general trend of the world situation was all bright after the war. World War III would not happen. CPC assumed that the capitalist and the socialist countries would reach compromises on a number of international matters, because compromises would be advantageous.53 Even in 1946, CPC leaders still believed that the forces of world reaction are definitely preparing a third world war, and that the

52

Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: Declaration of the CPC Central Committee on the Current Situation (August 25, 1945), People’s Net, http://cpc. people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66647/4490939.html, accessed August 19, 2013. 53 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, pp. 1161–1162.

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danger of war exists. But the democratic forces of the people of the world have surpassed the reactionary forces and are forging ahead; they must and certainly can overcome the danger of war. Therefore, the question in the relations between the US, Britain and France and the Soviet Union is not a question of compromises or breaks, but a question of compromising earlier or later.54 In view of this, Mao Zedong went in person to Chongqing for negotiations and had extensively contacted envoys and diplomats from the US, Britain, France, Canada and Western countries, informing them of the CPC’s propositions in order to gain international understanding and support. When the CPC and the KMT were in conflict, the CPC accepted the mediation of General George Marshall and once took the position of making the US neutral in this matter. The CPC gave up the illusion only after the US helped the KMT to launch an all-out civil war. The CPC then made a fresh analysis of the international situation, came up with the revolutionary theory of the “intermediate zone” and subsequently, the “leaning to one side” strategy. In August 1946, when meeting with the American journalist Anna Louise Strong, Mao Zedong mentioned the revolutionary theory of the “intermediate zone” for the first time: “The US and the Soviet Union are separated by a vast zone in the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa in which there are many capitalist, colonial and semicolonial countries.” The struggle of the people in the intermediate zone, in the colonial and semi-colonial countries and in the US would have pivotal importance to the world situation and become a key factor in preventing the outbreak of a third world war. And it was during this interview that Mao Zedong made the famous conclusion that the US and all reactionaries were “paper tigers”.55 When the Cold War broke out between the US and the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong put forward the concept of the “two camps” for the first time in the report describing the existing situation and tasks that he delivered at the Yangjiagou Conference organized by the CPC Central Committee in December 1947. He pointed out that the world had already been 54 55

Ibid., p. 1184. Ibid., p. 1194.

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divided into two parts, namely, the “imperialist and anti-democracy camp” led by the US and the “anti-imperialist” camp led by the Soviet Union. He elaborated: “This is the historic epoch in which world capitalism and imperialism are going to meet their doom and world socialism and people’s democracy are marching to victory.”56 In terms of external relations, the CPC shifted its foreign policy from trying to normalize relations with the West to the “leaning to one side” strategy. As early as in 1936, in his interview with the American journalist Edgar Snow, Mao Zedong envisaged the possible foreign policy that China would adopt after it gained independence. He said that after China became truly independent, foreigners would have more opportunities for legitimate trade in China; China would negotiate and sign mutually consented agreements of mutual assistance and mutual benefit with friendly countries; it would welcome foreign investment and recognize legitimate foreign debts and the property rights of foreign missionaries in China; and it would allow them to continue their missionary work and teaching at schools, own land, open up schools and engage in other undertakings.57 After the Three Major Campaigns were completed, China’s revolution was irreversibly bound to succeed. The CPC was already making plans for normal relations with other countries after the founding of New China. On 7 February 1948, the CPC Central Committee released the Instruction on the Policy for Treating Foreigners in China, which stipulated clearly that the People’s Liberation Army should protect the properties and personnel, both consuls and staff members of foreign consulates that had remained in their place when it arrived; and that their properties and documents should not be confiscated or damaged, nor should they be willfully checked. The Instruction also specifically provided for the protection of churches, schools, hospitals, nurseries and homes for the elderly established by foreigners, private factories, mines or other businesses built and run

56

Ibid., pp. 1259–1260. Conversation with American Journalist Edgar Snow on Diplomacy, Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 391.

57

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by foreigners, foreign banks or their branch institutions, and foreigners residing in China.58 On 30 April 1949, Mao Zedong drafted the Statement by the Spokesman of the General Headquarters of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on the Outrages by British Warships, which made it clear that the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission and the People’s Government of China would consider establishing diplomatic relations with other countries on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.59 However, toward the end of 1948, the CPC had formulated the “leaning to one side” strategy and joined the anti-imperialist front led by the Soviet Union. In November that year, Xinhua Daily carried a special article by Liu Shaoqi, On Nationalism and Internationalism, which expounded and proved the “utter hypocrisy and bankruptcy” of all those who intended to stand on the “intermediate front” or the so-called “third road” between the reactionary front of imperialism and the revolutionary front by the people who were against imperialism and their running dogs in different countries. He pointed out that in the fight between the two camps, nobody could remain neutral and that they had to take sides.60,61 In a 1949 essay On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship, Mao Zedong openly declared the CPC’s foreign policy of leaning to the Soviet Union. He said: “The forty years of experience with Sun Yat-sen and the twenty-eight years of experience with the Communist Party have taught us to lean to one side, and we are firmly convinced that in order to win victory and consolidate it, we must lean to one side. All Chinese without exception must lean either to the side of imperialism or to the side of socialism. Sitting on the fence will not 58

Database of the CPC’s National Congresses: The CPC’s Policy Toward Foreigners in China, People’s Net, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/66649/4496009. html, accessed August 19, 2013. 59 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, p. 1461. 60 Liu Shaoqi: On Nationalism and Internationalism, Xinhua Daily (Taihang Edition), November 7 and 8, 1948. 61 Tang Zhouyan: Mao Zedong’s Views on the United States, Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Publishing House, 2009 Edition, p. 203.

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do, nor is there a third road.”62 It was under the guidance of this strategy that China’s efforts to seek mutual recognition and establish diplomatic relations with Western nations were postponed and that China decided not to speed up these efforts for a fairly long period after the war.63 During this period, the CPC concept of the international system and its external relations were of a transitional nature, shifting from seeking understanding and support of Western countries, especially neutrality of the US, to declaring that the American imperialism and all reactionary forces were “paper tigers”; and from planning to normalize diplomatic relations with Western countries, to the preliminary formulation of the “leaning to one side” strategy. All these changes were closely related to the major changes in the international system and the warfare in China and were bound to have a major impact on the formulation of the New China’s concept on the international system and its foreign policy.

2.2. The CPC’s Outlook on the International System and Its Diplomatic Practice from 1949 to 1978 The founding of the PRC in 1949 put an end to China’s century-long trend of decline and marginalization, enabling the Chinese nation to stand proudly among others with a brand new look and bringing fundamental changes to China’s relations with the international system. That was not only a landmark from where China entered a new historical period, but as a matter of fact, it was a “turning point in the history of the world”.64 The CPC from then on switched its role from a revolutionary party to a ruling party, who was to stay in the rein of 62

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, p. 1473. 63 Ibid., p. 1435. 64 Stavros Leften Stavrianos: The World Since 1500: A Global History (translated into Chinese by Wu Xiangying and Laing Chimin), Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 1992, p. 803.

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the nation and lead the people in the socialist revolution and construction. The CPC’s perception of the international system would directly be translated into the guidelines for the diplomatic practice of New China. There is a surprisingly unanimous view among scholars at home and abroad on China’s position in the international system during this period of time — they all agree that China was more like a rebel, confronting the whole system and challenging the existing order with a militant attitude. Some argue that this was determined by the strategic culture of the nation, a tradition of “hard realpolitik” or predilection for aggressive behaviors inherited from the Ming Dynasty.65 It is true that China stayed out of almost all international organizations during this period, standing against the US and then the Soviet Union, and even went into wars and armed conflicts. Party documents and leaders’ speeches in those days were laden with such radical terms as “revolution”, “war”, “struggle” and so on.66,67 However, the abovementioned argument proffers an over-simplified and static analysis of a period of history that was in fact much more complicated and dynamic. It has neglected the changes and developments in the international system itself as well as in the world situation in the given period, and how they had shaped China’s perception and affected its actions. It has also neglected the changes and developments of the CPC’s views and practice with regard to foreign relations. As a matter of fact, from the founding of the PRC up to the end of the 1970s, there had always been two different views within the CPC on how to associate China with the rest of the world: one stood for the creation of a favorable environment internationally for the implementation of the development agenda at home by seeking peaceful coexistence 65

Alastair Iain Johnston: Cultural Realism and Strategy in Maoist China. In Peter J. Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, pp. 216–268. 66 An Wei and Li Dongyan: The World at the Crossroads: Famous Chinese Scholars Explore Central International Issues of the 21st Century, Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2000 Edition, pp. 257–258. 67 Qin Yaqing et al.: The International System and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, p. 85.

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with other nations while identifying with the Third World; the other stressed more on the importance of exporting the revolution to other peoples and resolutely battling against “imperialism, revisionism and reactionaries”68 by claiming to be the “world center of revolution”. These two contrasting views had prevailed in turn over the three decades which could be roughly divided into three sub-periods.

2.2.1. The “Leaning to One Side” Strategy and China as a Key Player and Promoter of the International System In its infant days, the PRC, with its social and political frailty and with so many challenges to take up, was in acute need to establish normal ties with other countries so as to gain a firm foothold in the world arena and to commence its socialist construction. However, that turned to be an unattainable ambition because of the fact that after World War II, the Yalta System was soon replaced by a bipolar system featured by an all-round confrontation of the two camps on the political, economic, ideological, cultural and social dimensions. In face of the world’s division, China had to pick a side. Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, once said: “One was either in the American-led bloc or the Soviet one. There was to be no middle way; in an age of Stalin and Joe McCarthy, it was imprudent to think that there could be. This was the new strategic reality, to which not merely the people of a divided Europe but also those in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere would have to adjust.”69 The well-known American sinologist Keneth Lieberthal points out in his book, Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform: “China in 1949 faced a bipolar world in which the Cold War had already taken shape. 68

Zhang Baijia: Conceptual Changes in the Development of China’s Diplomacy, from a Revolutionary and Nationalist Perspective to a Developmental and Global View, Foreign Affairs Review, 2009, No. 3, p. 2. 69 Paul Kennedy: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, US: Random House, 1987 Edition, p. 372. See also the Chinese Edition translated by Wang Baocun et al., Beijing: Qiushi Press, 1988, pp. 455–456.

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Neither the US nor the Soviet Union recognized the possibility of neutrality in this international system.”70 Under such circumstances, Chinese leaders decided to adopt the strategy of “leaning to one side” and aligned with the Soviet Union. The containment and blockade by the US pushed China further toward the socialist camp. It is evident that joining the socialist camp was the only way for China to go. On the one hand, it was due to the objective state of affairs, as the bipolar system with all-round confrontation between the two sides left China with little room for strategic wiggling. On the other hand, it was also a subjective choice. As the confrontation was of strong ideological nature between capitalism and socialism, China, who had committed herself to the socialist road, was for sure to side with the socialist camp. More importantly, the choice was highly agreeable to China’s national interests. By taking the “leaning to one side” strategy, China managed to have attained almost all its early diplomatic goals, including international recognition, consolidated national security, foreign aids, etc.71 China’s accession to the socialism camp dramatically altered the international landscape, not only of the Far East and but also of the whole world, adding much to the strength of the socialist side. Furthermore, as a member of the socialist camp, China also honored its international obligations by “assisting communist parties and the oppressed peoples in Asia in their struggle for liberation with all possible means” and regarded it as one of the best ways to consolidate the victory of the Chinese revolution internationally.72 Guided by this belief, the PRC, soon after its founding, took part in the wars in Korea and Vietnam against the US and France respectively; it also began to provide economic and technological assistance to some other countries despite its own tight budget and scarce 70

Kenneth Lieberthal: Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform (Chinese Edition translated by Hu Guocheng and Zhao Mei), Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2010. 71 Zhang Baijia: Conceptual Changes in the Development of China’s Diplomacy, from a Revolutionary and Nationalist Perspective to a Developmental and Global View, Foreign Affairs Review, 2009, No. 3, p. 2. 72 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Chronicling the Life of Liu Shaoqi (1889– 1969), Vol. II, Beijing: CCCPC Party Literature Press, 1996 Edition, p. 245.

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resources. Such assistance was gradually expanded to more countries, as China endeavored to render all-out support to socialist countries and to the liberation movements of colonial or semi-colonial nations. In this sense, China was in fact one of the major players in the bipolar international system after World War II and moreover, an important propeller in the making of the bipolar world.73 Going through the literature of the CPC and the Chinese leaders during this period of time, one could see that their observation and perception of the world were not always radical or militant, but have been constantly shifting and developing. Though riddled with such offensive rhetoric and slogans as “International Class Struggle”, “The East Wind Prevails over the West Wind”, or even “Denounce Yugoslavia to Reinforce Socialism”; “Combat the US to Defeat Imperialism”; and “Isolate Japan to Win Over Nationalist Forces”74, the documentations have provided plenty of evidence that China did make efforts for a peaceful world and a sound international environment. As mentioned earlier, the CPC had adopted an optimistic view of the general trend of the world since the early stage of the Liberation War and had maintained this view after 1949. Mao Zedong pointed out at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of the CPC in June 1950: “The threat of war from the imperialist camp still exists, and so does the possibility of a third world war. However, the forces fighting to check the danger of war and prevent the outbreak of a third world war are growing rapidly, and the level of political consciousness of most of the world’s people is rising. A new world war can be averted, provided the communist parties of the world continue to unite all possible forces for peace and democracy and help their further development.”75 73

Dai Bing and Sun Jian: On China’s Relationship with the International System, Contemporary International Relations, 2000, No. 12, p. 31. 74 Foundation for International and Strategic Studies: Sharing the Globe: International and Strategic Thinking of Chinese Leaders, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 1993 Edition, quoted from Zhang Baijia: Goals and Choices: Historical Experience and Inspirations of the Progress of China’s Foreign Relations, Contemporary International Relations, 2010, Special Edition, p. 35. 75 Mao Zedong: Fight for a Fundamental Turn for the Better in the Nation’s Financial and Economic Situation, June 6, 1950, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64186/ 66655/4492614.html, accessed August 19, 2013.

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Subsequently, in 1954, Mao stressed that China should ease international tensions so that countries of different systems may coexist in peace: “These are the watchwords of the Soviets and they are also ours.”76 At the 8th CPC National Congress in September 1956, both Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi referred to the world situation as easing up with signs of possibility to realize lasting peace, the former in his opening remarks, and the latter in his political report. During the same period, Mao mentioned that China would continue to work for a peaceful international environment and that China did want to see peace in the world, a belief which he emphasized repeatedly — when meeting with a Labor Party delegation from Britain in 1954, with guests from Latin America and guests from Chile in 1960, and on other similar occasions. At that time, China needed to have a peaceful international environment as it had shifted its focus of work to an all-round socialist development. Mao even advocated “learning from foreign countries” in his essay On the Ten Major Relationships. He said: “Our policy is to learn from the strong points of all nations and all countries, learn all that is genuinely good in the political, economic, scientific and technological fields and in literature and art, as well as the advanced sciences and technologies of capitalist countries and whatever is scientific in the management of their enterprises. But we must learn with an analytical and critical eye, not blindly, and we must not copy everything indiscriminately or transplant them mechanically.”77 Zhou Enlai shared this view as well: “The capitalist state system is something we cannot learn… but some of the Western parliamentary forms and methods, we can. This will enable us to view problems from different angles.”78 This world outlook was translated into a series of major diplomatic moves: China participated in the Geneva Conference and the Bandung Conference, initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful 76

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. VI, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999 Edition, p. 334. Op. cit. 77 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. VII, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999 Edition, pp. 41–43. Op. cit. 78 Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1984 Edition, p. 208. Op. cit.

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Coexistence and held the Sino–US ambassadorial talks. The proposal of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was an essential step that New China took in implementing an independent foreign policy. This set of principles, which were based on the new developments and new experiences in the post-war world situation, provided a conceptual public good, an original and brand new code of conduct for nations in the international system to engage one another. In light of these principles, China managed to improve its relations with its neighboring countries, expanded its diplomatic space and went beyond the “leaning to one side” strategic framework. China not only won the recognition of Western nations including Norway, Denmark, Israel, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, but also started trade relations with capitalist countries. By the middle of the 1950s, China had shaped up some basic ideas guiding its foreign affairs: 1) The core purpose of all diplomatic endeavors was to “ensure a favorable international environment” for its people to carry out “socialist construction”; 2) All countries and nations, whether big or small, should be regarded as equals and chauvinistic thinking and manners must be opposed and prevented; 3) The principle of non-interference should be upheld. Revolution must not be exported. Whether or not and how to make a revolution should be up to the people of the country concerned to decide; 4) China should try and engage people with different mindsets in countries of different ideologies, and make as many friends as possible, especially with those holding much authority, to seek common ground amidst differences.79 These basic ideas enabled the newly founded PRC to expand its diplomatic space in the adverse circumstances with the confrontation of the two power centers. Unfortunately, with the outbreak of the Polish crisis and the Hungarian incident, and later on with the severance of China–Soviet relations and with the changing political environment on the domestic front, this 79

Zhang Wentian: Several Issues Concerning China’s Foreign Policy of Peace (March 1956); Views on Several Issues in the Asia–Africa Situation (March 31, 1956); On Peaceful Coexistence (August 1956). In Selected Works of Zhang Wentian, Vol. IV, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 1995, pp. 191–193, 206–208, 239–241, quoted from The Party History Research Center of CCCPC: The History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), 2011 Edition, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, p. 645.

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trend of development came to a halt and China made serious deviations in its judgment of the world situation and consequently in its diplomatic practice.

2.2.2. The “Center of the World Revolution” and an Opponent of the International System As tension mounted in the world after the 1956 crisis in Poland and Hungary, the CPC leaders began to make misjudgments in their perception of the world situation. They started to speak about “international class struggles”. An editorial of the People’s Daily on 1 January 1959 described the international situation by saying that the imperialist world going from bad to worse whereas things are turning for the better for the socialist world with each passing day.80 Along with new developments in China’s security situation and the launching of the Cultural Revolution at home, this trend of misjudgment was exacerbated. In the early 1960s, China faced new challenges posed to its national security. On the one hand, the US tightened its strategic containment against China by adopting the Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan and intervening in the Vietnam War. On the other hand, serious problems also arose in the region, with increasing military clashes on the border with India. Moreover, the Sino–Soviet “honeymoon” that had lasted through the 1950s was over, and the two sides began to seriously diverge with each other over ideologies and national interests, which eventually led to the open polemic, which lasted for almost a year, when the two sides disputed over a series of major issues such as how to perceive the world and the times, war and peace, revolution and development, and how to handle relations among socialist countries and among communist parties. As a consequence, the CPC and the CPSU broke away from each other, the entire international communist movement was divided and the socialist camp fell apart. In face of this grave security situation, the CPC’s assessment of the world became increasingly negative. On 22 June 1964, Mao Zedong stated clearly in his written comment on a 80

New and Greater Victory, People’s Daily Editorial, January 1, 1959.

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document that China must be prepared for war, and get armed for a big fight that may come sooner than expected, which may possibly be a nuclear war; it must thus race against time to gain a strategic head start. Preparing for war then became the main preoccupation of the Chinese leaders, which rendered an inestimable impact on China’s political and diplomatic agenda.81 After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, the CPC’s perception of the world shifted even more to the extreme end. It was stated at the 11th Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee held in August 1966 that China had entered into a “new era of world revolution”, that the general trend of the world is one in which imperialism is going to end in a “total collapse” while socialism is heading for “worldwide triumph”.82 Soon after that, slogans like “Down with Imperialism, Modern Revisionism and Reactionaries of All Countries” and “Build a World Free of Imperialism, Capitalism and Exploitation” were pronounced one after another. This “leftist” thinking seriously impacted China’s foreign affairs. With Chinese leaders determined to turn China into the “center of the world revolution”, the foreign ministry was instructed to distribute the “Red Book” as a free gift in diplomatic activities to “extend the influence of Chairman Mao’s thoughts and the influence of China in the world, and promote world revolution”. All these caused a series of diplomatic disputes or incidents, including the vile incidents in which the embassies of India, Burma and Indonesia were attacked and the office of the UK’s chargé d’afaires was set on fire. China’s external relations suffered severe retrogression, breaking off almost all political, economic and cultural links with the rest of the world. The country practically alienated itself from almost all international organizations, staying away from their conferences, and fell into disputes with nearly 30 out of the 40 odd countries with which China had diplomatic ties. Some of the disputes deteriorated so badly that the diplomatic relations were downgraded or even

81

The Party History Research Center of CCCPC: The History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, pp. 714–717. 82 The Communiqué of the 11th Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee (adopted on August 12, 1966), People’s Daily, August 14, 1966.

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severed.83 Setting itself as a foe to both the US and the Soviet Union, struggling against both imperialism and revisionism, China became embattled all around, drifting away from the international system, severely challenging its security and subsistence.

2.2.3. Strategic Changes and Improved Ties with the International System After China–Soviet relations deteriorated, the Soviet Union took a series of actions from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s in an attempt to effect a strategic encirclement of China by deploying over a million troops along the Chinese border, posing a grave threat to China’s security. This caused bloodshed on both sides over the Zhenbao Island territorial dispute (also known as Treasure Island). Meanwhile, some new moves were discerned in the US’s China policy after Richard Nixon assumed presidency. Having seen this, CPC leaders began to rethink and readjust the diplomatic strategies. In order to more accurately size up the situation facing the nation, Mao requested four marshals, namely Ye Jianying, Chen Yi, Xu Xiangqian and Nie Rongzhen, to carry out a careful analysis of the world situation and international strategies, whereas Zhou Enlai instructed the foreign ministry to follow the policy trend of the US more closely, understand their strategic intent and explore the possibility of engagement with the US. As summed up in reports submitted to the CPC Central Committee, namely, A Preliminary Estimate of the War Situation and Observations of the Current Situation, based on a comprehensive analysis of the postures of the three countries — China, US and USSR, the four marshals pointed out that the confrontations in the world were mainly among these three major powers, of which the US–Soviet antagonism was for real, ongoing, frequent and most acute, with US regarding China as a “potential rival” and not a true threat; the USSR, however, takes China as its chief enemy, posing greater threat to China’s security than the US. The marshals believed that although the Soviets had the intention 83

The Party History Research Center of CCCPC: The History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, pp. 880–881.

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of waging an aggressive war against China through a battle of quick decision, they had to hesitate over an all-round offensive, fearing that China and the US might join hands. Therefore, it was advisable for China to take advantage of the contradictions between the US and the Soviet Union and open up relations with the US. To this end, corresponding strategies were to be taken. These two reports were of great worth in that they made two strategically important assessments: 1) With regard to the then-prevailing view that a large-scale war of aggression against China was imminent, the reports argued that, it is not very likely that the American imperialists and the Soviet revisionists would launch all-round aggression against China either separately or jointly in the foreseeable future; 2) Through incisive analyses, the reports concluded that between the US and the USSR, the latter was the principal threat to China. These two arguments provided the basis for China’s readjustment in its diplomatic strategies.84 It should be noted that the study of the four marshals was initiated by Mao Zedong, who repeatedly urged them on in the process, which meant it was Mao’s idea in the first place to readjust Sino–US relations —– it was not a passive decision.85 Such in-depth analysis and studies of the world situation helped Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders to form a clear idea on adjusting the foreign strategy and proffered reliable justification for reassuming contact with the US. This resulted in the successive visits of Dr. Kissinger and President Nixon to China and the commencement of initial normalization of China–US relations, which led to a new situation in China’s foreign relations. The most prominent effect was the restoration of all legitimate rights in the UN to the PRC in October 1971 at the 26th session of the UN General Assembly, which was a landmark event in China’s relationship with the international system. In the wake of that came a boom of diplomatic relations with countries of all continents. By the beginning of the 1970s, China had established diplomatic

84

The Party History Research Center of CCCPC: The History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, pp. 884–886. 85 Li Shenming: China’s Peaceful Development and International Strategy, Beijing: The China Social Sciences Press, 2007 Edition, p. 9.

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ties with almost all developed countries in the capitalist world other than the US, and had also normalized diplomatic relations with Japan. In the first half of the 1970s, China came into diplomatic relations with over 40 Third World countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The first half of the 1970s witnessed radical advancement in China’s foreign affairs, which was manifested not only in its new relations with the US, Japan and many other nations, but also in the new development of the diplomatic philosophies of CPC leaders, including the “One Line” strategy, the concept of “two intermediate zones” and the “Three Worlds” theory. The “One Line” strategy meant to forge a united front against Soviet hegemony from the East to the West. The “two intermediate zones” referred to the two groups of nations in between the two superpowers, one composed of economically backward nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America; the other of imperialist nations and developed capitalist countries, especially those in Europe, both opposed to American control. There were also incidents in opposition to Soviet control in Eastern Europe. These ideas represented a groundbreaking evolution in Mao’s understanding of the international configuration and laid a foundation for the proposition of the “Three Worlds” theory. In his discourse of the three-worlds proposition, Mao made it explicit that China belonged to the Third World and must strengthen solidarity with other Third World nations and win over those in the Second World to jointly defy control and oppression of the superpowers. At the 6th Special Session of the UN General Assembly in 1974, the head of the Chinese delegation, Deng Xiaoping, comprehensively expounded on Mao’s “Three Worlds” theory and China’s foreign policies, stressing that China was a socialist, developing country belonging to the Third World. He stated that the Chinese government and the Chinese people stood firmly by all the oppressed peoples and nations in their fight against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism, and supported their struggles to secure and defend national independence and to develop their national economy, declaring that China was not and would never seek to be a superpower.86 86

Speech by Chairman of the PRC Delegation, Deng Xiaoping, at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly, People’s Daily, April 11, 1974.

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Deng’s speech at the UN General Assembly sent a message to the world about China’s view on the international system and opened up a new direction for China’s diplomacy development. Looking back, there were two main threads in the CPC’s perception of the international system and China’s diplomacy in the first three decades of the PRC. One was to view the world and the international situation from the war and revolution perspective, challenging and opposing the international system in its diplomatic activities. This thread was more dominant in the early days, reached its climax in the Cultural Revolution and faded out afterwards. The other, which was rather repressed especially during the Cultural Revolution, was to observe the world from the perspectives of war and peace, encouraging China to be a peaceful player in the existing system and to create a peaceful international environment. This thread gradually prevailed after the Cultural Revolution and heralded the subsequent reshaping of China’s diplomatic strategy. Fundamentally speaking, the intertwining and coexistence of the two threads were attributable partly to the complexity of the world situation and partly to the CPC’s revolutionary mentality inherited from war times. Deng Xiaoping once said: “For a fairly long period of time since the founding of the PRC, we have been isolated from the rest of the world. For many years this isolation was not attributable to us; on the contrary, the international anti-Chinese and anti-socialist forces confined us to a state of isolation. However, in the 1960s when opportunities to increase contact and cooperation with other countries presented themselves to us, we isolated ourselves.”87 China was thus deprived of important opportunities to develop its economy. Meanwhile, one should note that the shift from the war and revolution mentality to the pursuit of peaceful coexistence was compelled by the harsh reality and also actively initiated by the Chinese leaders themselves. As a result of the shift, the impact of the erroneous leftist trend in the Cultural Revolution on foreign affairs was checked in time, saving China more irreparable losses on the diplomatic front. Deng regarded this highly: “During the ‘Cultural 87

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, p. 232.

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Revolution’, great successes were achieved in our work in foreign affairs. Despite the domestic turmoil, internationally China’s status as a great nation was recognized and its stature rose. …All these are facts.”88 The transition in China’s perception of the international system and in its foreign strategy was evidently of great significance. It provided the precondition for the CPC to shift its focus to reform and opening up and also prepared China to get fully on board with the international system.

2.3. The CPC’s Outlook on the International System and Its Diplomatic Practice After 1978 The fundamental change in China’s relations with the international system came along with the introduction of reform and opening up in the late l970s. Thereafter, under the guidance of the CPC’s new and ever-evolving perception of the international system, China has gone through a progressive process in terms of its involvement with the international system, from selective participation to full-scale engagement and further on to joint construction, with its role changing from a participant to a defender and then to a builder. This brand new process has been seen as a smooth transition with the rise of China going along with the existing system in harmony. In this period, China’s interaction with the system evidently differed from previous periods. Firstly, the externally driven tactical involvement was replaced by internally driven strategic participation. Secondly, the engagement which was formerly confined only to the political dimension had been expanded to all dimensions. Thirdly, China’s position in the system rose from the previous subordinate or semi-subordinate member to a builder and contributor of the system. This is why China has remained firm in its resolution to stay in the international system despite the many incidents that caused tensions with the West, such as the sanctions imposed by Western countries on China in the wake of the 1989 political turmoil, the breakdown of the bipolar world pattern, the 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia and the China–US 88

Ibid., p. 305.

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air-collision crisis in 2001. China has gradually readjusted and improved its relations with Western countries. It formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 11 December 2001, which marked the beginning of China’s all-dimensioned participation in the international system in unprecedented scope and depth and laid the foundation for China to return to the center of the international system.

2.3.1. Historical Changes in the CPC’s Outlook — Toward Active Participation in the International System The period between 1978 and 2001, i.e. from China’s embarkation on reform and opening up to its accession to the WTO, witnessed the historical change of the CPC’s outlook on the international system as well as China’s stepped-up involvement in the system. At the central working conference and the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee at the end of 1978, the CPC made the strategic decision to shift the focus of the Party and the government to economic development and adopted the strategic policy of reform and opening up, realizing the most significant turn ever made in the history of the CPC since the founding of New China. The CPC thereby adopted a more realistic and in-depth perception of the international system, and has constantly readjusted its diplomatic arrangements in the process of opening up to the outside world, allowing China to fit in with the international system in a more profound and lasting manner. The conceptual change in this period can be seen in the following aspects. First of all, China acquired a new understanding of the theme of the times and an acute perspective of the world’s trends. The introduction of reform and opening up was actually based on China’s new understanding of the world situation. Back in 1977, Deng Xiaoping had told the Plenary Session of the Central Military Commission: “The international situation is also good. It is possible that we may gain some additional time free of war.”89 Again in 1980, he pointed out that 89

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, p. 27.

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any world war can be put off and peace maintained for a longer time if the struggle against hegemonism could be effectively maintained.90 Development is most closely related to the question of peace. Only with gratifying development of nations of the world, China included, can the danger of war be eliminated. To the mid-1980s, Deng made it more explicit that the two “really great issues” confronting the world today, issues of global strategic significance, are: first, peace, and second, economic development. The first involves East-West relations while the second involves North-South relations. He asserted that the issue of development is the crux of the problem.91 Peace and development became the basis on which the CPC observed the world and judged the situation since reform and opening up, and they were identified as the themes of the times. The CPC declared at its 13th National Congress: “We have readjusted the pattern of China’s foreign affairs and the Party’s external relations, focusing on the two major issues of peace and development. We have developed an independent foreign policy opposing hegemonism and working to preserve world peace.” It was stated in the report of the CPC’s 14th National Congress that peace and development “remain the two themes of the world today”, and again in the report of the 15th National Congress that peace and development have become the “main themes of the present era”. The current norm is to seek peace, cooperation and development.92 It was the new interpretation of the world situation that encouraged China to reduce the People’s Liberation Army troops by one million in 1985, demonstrating its determination to conduct diplomacy for peace. It was due to the same reason that China has kept expanding exchanges and interactions with the international community. Secondly, China continued its opening up and went along with the trend of economic globalization. Realizing that China had lagged 90

Ibid., p. 241. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 105. 92 The main contents of the reports to the various CPC National Congresses quoted here are derived from the Collected Historical Documents and Collected Contemporary Documents at the CPC News Net, except for those otherwise specified. For more details, see http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/209963/index.html. 91

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further behind developed countries in science and technology as well as in economic development, Deng Xiaoping stressed as early as in 1978 that in order for China to achieve the “four modernizations”, it must be adept at learning from other countries and obtain much foreign assistance and that bring in advanced technology and equipment from the rest of the world.93 As time went on, opening up became China’s long-term strategy for handling its relations with the outside world. The report of the 12th CPC National Congress made it more explicit that China’s future is closely bound up with that of the world as a whole and that CPC firmly believed in carrying out the policy of opening up to the outside world and expanding economic and technological exchanges with foreign countries in accordance with the principles of equality and mutual benefit. The 13th CPC National Congress report also stressed that China must adhere to the open policy, as economic relations between states today have become increasingly close, and no country can possibly advance behind closed doors. Likewise, the 14th CPC National Congress called on the whole Party to further emancipate the mind and quicken the pace of reform and opening up. At the 15th Congress, the report called for increasing the level of opening up to the outside world and identified opening up as a long-term basic state policy. It also articulated for the first time that following economic and scientific globalization, China must embrace the world with a more active attitude and develop an all-directional, multi-layered and wide-ranging opening pattern to boost its open economy, enhance its international competitiveness, optimize the economic structure and raise the quality of its national economy. A key point of the opening-up policy was to emphasize that China could not develop in isolation from the world. Only by participating in the economic globalization process could China realize its own development. This policy opened the gate for China to work with the rest of the world. Thirdly, China continued to develop friendly relations with other nations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and declared that China was part of the Third World and would never seek hegemony. As early as in 1974, Deng Xiaoping pointed this out 93

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, pp. 132–133.

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emphatically when speaking at the 6th Special Session of the UN General Assembly, stressing that China was both a socialist country and a developing country, and as part of the Third World, China would never seek to be a superpower, nor seek hegemony or leadership.94 He reiterated this position later on many occasions, which was elaborated in documents of successive CPC National Congresses. Thereby, the foreign policy of maintaining independence, opposing hegemonism, and preserving world peace was made clearer to the world. China no longer distinguished friends from foes on the basis of ideology or exported revolution. Instead, China adopted a nonalignment policy based on China’s own strategic interests, which has resulted in more balanced, all-encompassing foreign relations and gentler interactions with the international community. Lastly, China advocated a new international political and economic order and promoted multi-polarization of the world. In the 1970s, countries in the developing world called for transformation of the old structure of the international economic order by building a new order in which all nations should have the right to take part in the settlement of the world’s economic problems on an equal footing, to exercise sovereignty over their own natural resources and overall economic activities in their own country, and to set up joint organizations for countries that produce raw materials and primary products. These voices were echoed by China. Toward the end of the 1980s, as the international relations were going through rapid changes, China raised the notion of establishing a new international political and economic order. During his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in December 1988, Deng Xiaoping propounded: “Two things have to be done at the same time. One is to establish a new international political order; the other is to establish a new international economic order… and the new orders should be built on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.”95 And then in December 1990, he went on further by saying that China could not simply sit back in international 94

Quoted from Deng Xiaoping’s speech at the 6th Special Session of the UN General Assembly. 95 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, pp. 282–283.

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affairs: “We have to make our contribution. In what respect? I think we should help promote the establishment of a new international political and economic order.”96 Referring to the developments in the international situation, Deng argued that the world was moving toward multipolarity: “In the so-called multipolar world, China too will be a pole. We should not belittle our own importance: one way or another, China will be counted as a pole.”97 As for the transformation of the international pattern, it was argued in the report of the 12th CPC National Congress that: “The emergence of the Third World on the international arena after World War II is a primary event of our time.” The 14th Congress report also noted: “The world today is in a period of historic change. The bipolar structure has come to an end, forces are disintegrating and recombining, and the world is developing in the direction of multi-polarization… The nature of the new international order to be established is a question of universal concern to the international community today.” The report further discussed the principles, routes and applicable norms of international laws for the establishment of the new order. The report of the 15th Congress reiterated China’s commitment to promoting the establishment of a fair and rational international political and economic order, and at the same time, made a specific account on the world’s tendency toward multipolarization as follows: “The trend toward multi-polarity has further developed globally or regionally in the political, economic, and other fields. The world forces are experiencing a new division and realignment. Relations between the big powers are undergoing major and profound adjustments. Regional and intercontinental organizations of cooperation have never been so active before. The overall strength of the great number of developing countries is growing. The development of the trend toward multi-polarity contributes to world peace, stability, and prosperity.” In particular, the report indicated for the first time that China should take an active part in multilateral diplomatic activities and give full play to China’s role in the UN and other international organizations. 96 97

Ibid., p. 363. Ibid., p. 353.

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The historic reorientation in the CPC’s outlook on the international system enabled China to completely shake off the disturbances in foreign affairs caused by the “leftist” mistakes, relax its rigid relations with the international system and begin to embrace the world in all aspects. Guided by the new perception of the international system, China abandoned the either-friend-or-foe approach to major powers and consequently established diplomatic ties with the US, normalized relations with the Soviet Union, concluded the Peace and Friendship Treaty with Japan, and also realized rapid development in its relations with European nations. All these relations survived the whole string of major incidents including the 1989 political turmoil in China, the Western sanctions on China thereafter, the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its relations with big powers stabilized and continued to develop, from the externally driven cooperation to endogenously driven cooperation, and from business-led cooperation to mutually dependent and stabilizing symbiotic relations. Its strategic cooperation with these powers has constantly expanded with increasingly intensified cooperation in all areas. As a result of its good-neighborly diplomacy, China successively entered into diplomatic relations with Singapore, Brunei, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Israel, resumed its diplomatic ties with Indonesia, and also improved its relations with Vietnam and India, thus creating a non-threatening environment in its adjacent region. Meanwhile, China properly handled disputes over territorial waters and maintained stability in the South China Sea by following the principles of shelving disputes and going for joint development without compromising its claim to sovereignty. At the same time, China advanced its relations with other Third World countries. While maintaining and developing sound political relations, China endeavored to explore a new type of economic cooperation with developing countries featuring equality and mutual benefit, in diversified forms and for practical results and common development. In the multilateral dimension, China was actively engaged in regional and global affairs with the UN as the main platform, and devoted great efforts in multilateral diplomacy in its own region. For instance, China established

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the good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust with ASEAN in 1996 and joined the ASEAN 10+3 framework in 1997, which accelerated regional cooperation with East Asian countries. Apart from that, China initiated the five-nation summit mechanism together with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which turned into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in June 2001, the first ever inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city and with China as a founding member. Over this period, China participated in a variety of international organizations or institutions, both global and regional, and to an amazing extent — it not only became a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, but also joined the international arms control mechanism. According to statistics generated by Harvard professor Alastair Ian Johnson, China’s memberships in international organizations increased from almost none in the mid-1960s to nearly as many as those of the US and India in 1997, which indicated that China had become a full player in the world community.98 Furthermore, China began to assume the responsibilities as a big nation, which was best demonstrated during the financial crisis that swept across Southeast Asia in 1997.

2.3.2. Building a “Harmonious World” through the International System After 15 years of difficult negotiations, China finally acquired its membership of the World Trade Organization on December 11, 2001. That was a new milestone in China’s efforts to fit in with economic globalization, and it marked the beginning of China’s move toward the core of the international system, in which it began to assume the role of a builder and contributor. The following ten years thereafter found China rising rapidly with improved international status and increased political and economic influence. This was also a decade of tremendous development, transformation and readjustment in the 98

Alastair Iain Johnston: Reflections on China’s Participation in the International System, World Economics and Politics, 1999, No. 7, p. 7.

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world, with a collective emergence of developing countries and with developed countries at a low ebb. While traditional threats continued to linger, non-traditional ones became increasingly prominent, jeopardizing world peace as well as regional stability. The mighty momentum in China’s development in particular has attracted much attention in the world, with all sorts of allegations, from the “China threat”, to “China responsibility” and now to “China arrogance”. All these constitute the basis for CPC’s shaping of a new outlook on the international system. From the reports of the 16th and 17th CPC National Congresses, it is evident that the Party’s perception of the international system for the current stage is mainly embodied in the following policy positions: 1) Peace and development are the main themes of the era and China is firmly committed to following the road of peaceful development. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress stated: “Peace and development remain the themes of our era. To preserve peace and promote development is an irresistible trend of history… The purpose of China’s foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development.” The report of the 17th CPC National Congress reiterated that peace and development remain the main themes of the present era, thus the pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become an irresistible trend of the times; China will uphold its foreign policy purposes of maintaining world peace and promoting common development and will “unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development”. 2) The Party lays much stress on the common interests of mankind. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress emphasized the need to safeguard the common interests of all mankind. The report of the 17th CPC National Congress also advocated for the sharing of opportunities for development and taking up challenges together. 3) The CPC stands for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress called for efforts to promote the development of economic globalization in a direction conducive to common prosperity; likewise the report of the 17th CPC National Congress stressed that such efforts to advance economic

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globalization are to be made in the context of balanced development, shared benefits and win-win progress. 4) The CPC advocates the establishment of a new international political and economic order. The 16th CPC National Congress report called for the establishment of a fair and rational international political and economic order, following which the 17th CPC National Congress report also suggested a fairer and more equitable new international order, with an additional reference to environmental protection, appealing to the world that all countries should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation efforts to take good care of Planet Earth, the only home of human beings, highlighting the CPC’s interest in and concern about the environment. What merits our particular attention is that during this period, the CPC brought up the idea of building a harmonious world, its own concept or vision on the direction in which the international system should develop. In April 2005, in the speech at the Asia–Africa Summit in Jakarta, then President Hu Jintao called on Asian and African nations to encourage different civilizations to live together in amity, engage each other in dialogue on an equal footing, pursue common development and prosperity, and work together to build a harmonious world. In July the same year, during then President Hu’s visit to Russia, the concept of “harmonious world” was written in the China–Russia Joint Statement on the International Order of the 21st Century — the first time a consensus between these two nations were reached, attracting worldwide attention. Two months later, in September 2005, Hu delivered a speech at the UN headquarters entitled “Work Toward a Harmonious World of Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity”, in which he expounded comprehensively the profound implications of a harmonious world. In August 2006, Hu pointed out at a central conference on foreign affairs work that to push for the building of a harmonious world is an inevitable requirement and precondition for China’s pursuit of peaceful development. The notion of harmonious world has its roots deep in the profound human civilization and has drawn upon all philosophies emphasizing harmony. At the same time, it is a sublimated version of harmony that carries much richer and deeper connotations. It is

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argued that by putting forward the harmonious world concept, China has transcended the ideological confinement in its foreign strategies.99 We may also say that this concept is a universal ideology, a common aspiration of all human beings. This is a reflection of the CPC’s world vision in its advocacy. According to Professor Yang Jiemian, President of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, the proposal of the harmonious world concept signifies that China has cast aside its reactive style of foreign relations and has joined the international community in the building of a new international system and international order based on universally accepted principles.100 Professor Shi Yinhong has interpreted the concept as having even greater historic significance. He believes that the vision for a harmonious world is not a sheer fantasy or idealism, but rather an important tendency that reflects the change in the nature of world politics. Referring to President Hu Jintao’s Yale speech on the harmonious world, Professor Shi asserted that this speech or some other documents to this effect will be mentioned by future historians in the same breath as something like Woodrow Wilson’s Make the World Safe for Democracy or the Atlantic Charter, a historic manifesto of a rising world power envisaging what qualities a morally appropriate world would have (which the world has had in reality).101 The term “harmonious world” carries a rich message that includes such ideas as diversity, coexistence, respect, equity, reciprocity, coordination, tolerance, cooperation and win-win. It is not only about harmony between nations and between persons, but also about harmony between man and his inner self and between man and nature. The initiation of this concept symbolizes that China has become a constructor and contributor of the international system.

99

Cai Tuo: The Harmonious World Concept and the Transformation of China’s Foreign Strategy, Jilin University Journal (Social Sciences Edition), 2006, No. 5, p. 53. 100 Yang Jiemian: The Harmonious World Concept and China’s International Strategy, China International Studies, 2009, No. 5, p. 10. 101 Shi Yinhong: Strategic Thinking in Contemporary China’s Foreign Relations: Ideology, Strategy, Challenges and the “Chineseness”, World Economics and Politics, 2009, No. 9, pp. 20–23.

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Guided by the CPC’s ever-developing perception of the international system, China has scored tremendous achievements in its diplomacy at multiple levels, in a wide range of fields and across various dimensions in the international system. Globally, China has played a positive and constructive part in advocating the dominant role of the UN, promoting UN reforms, pushing for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as in its participation in UN peacekeeping missions and in the settlement of world hotspot issues. The harmonious world concept advocated by China provides a new vision for the future development of the international system. Regionally and at the area-based sub-systems level, China has initiated the SCO, and has actively supported and participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Conference on Interaction and ConfidenceBuilding Measures in Asia (CICA), and the Forum of China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). It has also endeavored to advance the SixParty Talks on the Korean nuclear issue, and to push for the establishment of a multi-layered and multilateral security system for the Asia–Pacific region. In the field of economic development, despite the adverse impact of the SARS pandemic, the devastating earthquake and the global financial crisis, China has managed to maintain a high economic growth rate and has become the second largest economy in the world, boasting the biggest foreign exchange reserve and serving as one of the most important drivers of the world economy. In terms of its relations with major powers, China has had strategic dialogue and consultation mechanisms with the US, EU, Japan and other emerging powers to increase communication for better mutual understanding and trust, as well as broader strategic consensus and greater common interests. Furthermore, China has taken on an increasingly dynamic role in maintaining international peace and security. Its active mediation role in the Korean and Iranian nuclear issues, the Myanmar and Middle East crises, and in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, has been well acknowledged by the international community. In the area of climate change, China has also exerted tremendous efforts and has promulgated the National Climate Change Program, setting the reduction of energy intensity as an obligatory target. The successful hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World

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Expo has helped China to enhance its public diplomacy as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and to present the world an image of an enlightened, democratic, open, progressive and responsible big nation. After the outbreak of the world financial crisis in particular, China has played an even greater role in the global economic governance reform and the good performance of China’s system model has attracted more and more attention. It is inevitable that China is now returning to the core of the international system. As was stated in the report of the 17th CPC National Congress: “China will continue to take an active part in multilateral affairs, assume our due international obligations, play a constructive role, and work to make the international order fairer and more equitable.” When addressing the opening ceremony of the second round of the China–US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in May 2010, Hu Jintao called on both China and the US to work with the rest of the international community to make the international system more just and equitable.102 State Councilor Dai Bingguo also asserted that the current international system is not perfect and should be reformed and improved to keep pace with the changing times so as to be fairer and more rational.103 These remarks clearly imply that what China wants to see is reform and improvement of the international system from within, through consultation and cooperation in the spirit of openness and tolerance, rather than to scrap the system and start anew. Looking at the CPC’s understanding of the international system vis-à-vis China’s interaction with the world over the past 90 years, it is clear that whenever China makes a correct assessment of the international system, adopts a proper outlook, takes an active part in the system and engages in healthy interactions with it, China can then prove its competence and raise its status in the system, thereby benefiting from its improved status. On the contrary, whenever China gets into an

102

Hu Jintao: Endeavor to Build a Positive, Cooperative and Comprehensive China–US Relationship for the 21st Century, May 24, 2010, http://news.163.com/10/0525/ 07/67H0B7SC000146BC.html, accessed August 19, 2013. 103 Dai Bingguo: Stick to the Path of Peaceful Development, http://www.fmprc.gov. cn/chn/gxh/tyb/zyxw/t774662.htm, accessed August 19, 2013.

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antagonistic state and has conflicts with the system due to its misjudgments, it would end up in a difficult position with its security and survival at stake. Therefore, in order to promote reform and improvement of the international system, China must first of all have a sober understanding of the development trends of the current system and take proper actions accordingly so as to ensure that its competence and status grow along with the system through reform. The international system today is undergoing transition, and has taken on some new features not seen in the past. First, the integrated development of the system as a whole is becoming a permanent feature. The current system is derived from the nation states system of the modern times, though the course of its evolution has been interrupted by three large-scale anti-system movements, namely the October Revolution of the Soviet Union, the fascist groups in Germany, Italy and Japan, and more recently the Socialist Bloc after World War II. These three movements, which were all vital in determining the system’s development and progress, all ended up in failure. This implies that any attempt to transform and improve the system should be carried out from within and by peaceful means, rather than from the outside or through confrontation. The peaceful transition of the Cold War structure proves the possibility for peaceful reform and transformation. Second, the evolution of the system is progressive in nature. The international system is a power structure, which cannot be and has never been a place for equality. Once in place, it becomes extremely stable and is not likely to change unless forced to by wars. But at the same time, it is never fully stable, being always affected by power imbalances, with the possibility of oppressed nations jointly challenging its legitimacy. This renders the system a certain resilience and progressiveness, allowing it to keep mending itself to adapt to changes in the balance of power. It also determines that such amendment or reform is bound to be a gradual and lengthy process, making it necessary for precise assessments on whether the changes are of a quantitative or qualitative nature, so as to respond to the changes appropriately. Third, the system appears to be moving toward greater balance. The international system, given its Western origin, has undoubtedly been dominated by Western nations. However, this Western domination

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has started to see fundamental changes since the end of the 20th century. The collective emergence of developing countries has shifted the development of the international system toward a more balanced power structure with more non-Western factors in the institutional frameworks or the cultural values underpinning the system. This requires us to bring forth more institutional public goods and cultural values acceptable to the system. Fourth, in parallel with its holistic development, the system is also evolving along with developments in the region across many domains and dimensions, with various forces forming different alignments by regions or functional domains, where they can intensify and deepen cooperation while increasing capabilities and gaining strength in the system as a whole. In this regard, more attention must be given to regional cooperation as well as cooperation in different functional domains. Fifth, the tendency toward socialization of the system is gaining momentum. While nation states remain the primary players in the international system, the impact of power decentralization cannot be denied. Non-governmental organizations, enterprises, interest groups and even individuals are getting increasingly involved in the international system and have become somewhat capable of setting agendas, adding to the complexity and diversity of the interactions in the system. This requires us to acclimatize ourselves to the situation and be better prepared for interactions with complex and pluralized players. China is moving back to the center of the world system, but the journey has just begun. Only by soberly assessing the features and laws of the changing international system, seizing opportunities, and taking appropriate coping measures to draw on its strengths and avoid pitfalls, can China keep walking down the journey and contribute its share to the constant progress and smooth transition of the international system.

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CHAPTER THREE

The Concept of National Interests LIU Zongyi

The national interests, a key concept of international relations, encompass the political interests, security interests, economic interests, cultural interests and other interests of a country. With the state sovereignty at the core, a country’s political interests embody the bulk of its national interests with national security being the most fundamental of the national interests. The concept of national interests reflects one’s fundamental perception of the composition of national interests, its importance, its purpose, its values and ways to realize these values. As an integral part of strategic thinking, the concept of national interests, once formed, will exert great impact on the making and implementation of national strategies. From a cognitive viewpoint, the concept of national interests is deeply influenced by the way of thinking, cultural traditions, values, ideologies and other characteristics of the subject. Different nations, countries and social classes have different concepts of national interests at different historical times. China is a socialist country ruled by the CPC. The tremendous influence of CPC’s concept of national interests on the making and implementation of China’s diplomatic strategies is evident. What concepts of national interests has the CPC held across different historical periods? How has the CPC adopted these concepts? In what ways have these concepts impacted China’s diplomacy in different periods? This chapter will describe how the CPC’s perception and realization of China’s national interests have developed and evolved from a vague, ambiguous and simple one to a clear, explicit and complex understanding in the past 90 years. In this process, an important aspect has been about striking a balance between patriotism and internationalism, 121

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i.e. how to balance between national interests and ideological interests. Based on its perception of the composition and goals of national interests, and its judgment on the ways to realize them, the CPC has developed its concept of national interests roughly in four stages. The first stage referred to the period from the inception of the CPC to the establishment of a united front against Japanese aggression in 1936. During this period, due to constraints on the Party’s ability to make independent policy decisions and the ideological influence, the CPC Central Committee in general believed that China’s national interests were consistent with those of the Communist International, and even with the Soviet Union, despite some different voices within the Party on some issues. Yet, this was changed by the Japanese militarist aggression against China. The second stage spanned from 1936 to the founding of the PRC in 1949. During this period, the CPC became increasingly independent and developed a more objective and flexible view of national interests and methods to realize them, which enabled it to defeat Japanese aggressors, eventually toppling the rule of the Kuomintang (KMT) reactionaries and establish the PRC. The third stage started from the founding of the PRC to the introduction of reform and opening up. It was a period heavily influenced by ideology. Consolidating and strengthening the socialist camp as well as gradually achieving the complete victory of the world proletarian revolution were part of China’s national interests according to the CPC, with the revolutionary struggle being the main means to realize its national interests. The Zhenbao Island Incident (also known as Treasure Island) in 1969 helped to gradually dilute ideological considerations in the Party’s concept of national interests. The fourth stage commenced from reform and opening up till now, during which the CPC has given top priority to the national interests in China’s diplomacy. The primary objective of its foreign policy has been to create a peaceful and stable international environment. Ideological thinking has given way to cooperation which has become the main means to achieve and safeguard China’s national interests. There have been three distinctive trends in the evolution of the CPC’s perception of national interests over the past nine decades. First, there has been a visible “inward-looking” trend in terms of what

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to pursue for national interests. Specifically speaking, the national interests have been defined based on China’s needs for political, economic and social development, resulting in the peaceful and defensive nature of China’s foreign policy. Even today when China has significantly increased its overseas interests, the CPC has remained committed to protecting its overseas interests through peaceful and cooperative means. Second, there has been an increasingly evident de-ideological trend in terms of values. At the same time, it has sought harmony between China’s own national interests and those of the whole mankind. It has valued international justice and opposed hegemony. Third, there have been marked steps toward peaceful means for the protection of national interests. In other words, the CPC has led China to a foreign policy of peace, a road of peaceful development and a pursuit of a “harmonious world”. The CPC concept of national interests will continue to evolve and change. First, with a growing trend toward pluralism in the Chinese society, the Party will have to identify and protect the national interests through plural thinking and expressions, taking into consideration increasingly diversified interests. China needs to prevent certain groups or organizations from pursuing their group interests to the detriment of the overall interests of the country. In this respect, it must establish a high-level foreign affairs coordinating mechanism. Garnering public support for its foreign policy has become an increasingly important task. Last but not least, with the development of globalization and accelerated integration of human society, the CPC should accommodate more inclusive principles and values in its concept of national interests, and should make more efforts in sharing with other countries and peoples its values, ideas and practices on law, democracy, human rights, good governance and transparency.

3.1. The Concept of National Interests Under the Influence of the Communist International (1921–1936) When the CPC was founded in 1921, China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, which enjoyed independence only in form, and was

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ruled by imperialism in reality, though indirectly, with its state sovereignty impaired. Economically, it was dragged into the world capitalist market and was reduced to a market of raw materials and commodities for capitalist countries. Its natural economy gradually disintegrated and people were driven into dire poverty by tangled warfare among warlords. Foreign concessions were everywhere, from coastal areas to the hinterland, where imperialists rode roughshod. Therefore, the CPC — the vanguard of the proletariat — regarded the political independence, state sovereignty, and territorial integrity as China’s overarching national interests. It identified the following as its major political platform at the 2nd CPC National Party Congress: to eliminate civil strife, overthrow warlords and build internal peace; to remove the oppression of the international imperialists and achieve full-fledged independence of the Chinese nation; and to unify China and build a truly democratic republic in China. Prior to the Zunyi Conference, the CPC maintained contacts only with the Soviet Union and mostly through the Communist International. To be exact, the CPC had no real diplomatic activities at this stage. Though keenly aware that the most important national interests of China involves its national independence and unification, the Party then did not have a clear and uniform idea about how to realize these interests. Given the ideological constraints, the CPC Central Committee believed that China’s national interests were consistent with those of the Communist International, and even with those of the Soviet Union, and that the national interests could not be realized, without overthrowing the rule of domestic reactionaries through violent revolution. However, all this was changed by Japanese imperialist aggression against China.

3.1.1. CPC’s Perplexity in Its Early Years In the early years of the CPC, the Communist International gave the CPC clear guidance in its revolutionary activities. Lenin and other Communist International leaders believed that all revolutionary activities and liberation movements in any oriental country should and must be carried out under the leadership of the international proletarian party of the communist International, and should be subjected to the fundamental interests of the world proletariat as part of

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the world revolution.1 The Chinese “nationalist revolutionary movement”, as part of the broader “world revolution”, was connected to the movement to overturn “world capitalism and build communism”.2 As a result, the early Chinese communists opposed not only “warlords”, “bureaucrats”, “landlords” or “capitalists”, but also more explicitly opposed international capitalism. They were convinced that only by overthrowing the international capitalist system, could China truly gain independence and liberate its people.3 In this period, the CPC tightly coupled China’s political independence, state sovereignty and territorial integrity with the international communist movement. However, sometimes policy adjustments or changes made by the Communist International were divorced from the actual progress or needs of a country’s revolution under its direction and guidance. More often than not, they were simply made to meet the needs of the domestic and foreign policy adjustments and changes in the Soviet Union. Yet if the CPC was to accomplish its mission in China, it should first and foremost rely on the proletariat and the vast majority of the people in China, integrate the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, and find a path to revolution suitable to China’s national circumstances, instead of relying on directions given by another country or a certain international center. Nonetheless, as the CPC already joined the Communist International, it had no choice but to implement all the resolutions adopted by its congresses and executive committee, which had invariably impacted the Chinese revolution, both positively and negatively.4 1

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, p. 36. 2 The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 154. 3 Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, p. 34. 4 The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I, (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 82.

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Judging from various resolutions adopted by the CPC at its 2nd Party Congress, the Chinese communists clearly accepted Lenin’s concept of national self-determination in the hope of solving the ownership of frontier areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups such as Mongolia. They envisaged the establishment of three autonomous states of Mongolia, Tibet and Uygur first, and then unifying them into a federal republic of China. However, this was not consistent with the Soviet Union’s intention to have an independent Outer Mongolia, thus Chen Duxiu had to reverse his position and support the independence of Outer Mongolia. It is hard to believe that Chen and other Party leaders had no nationalist ideas. When Mongolia announced its independence, they did not immediately support what the Soviet Union had done, because they still harbored an illusion that one day the Outer Mongolia would return to the federal republic of China with a high-degree of autonomy.5 The Soviet Union also wanted the CPC to stand on its side when China–Soviet diplomatic relations ran into problems. During the first KMT–CPC cooperation in 1924, the CPC voiced much criticism against the Beijing government for its foreign policy toward the Soviet Union in the China–Soviet diplomatic negotiations over the settlement of outstanding issues and got into heated debats with the nationalists inside the KMT Party. The CPC insisted that it was unnecessary for China to persistently demand Soviet troop withdrawal from Outer Mongolia and was convinced that the people of Outer Mongolia should enjoy their sacred right to national self-determination. Later, in the spring of 1929, after the collapse of the KMT–CPC cooperation, the Nanjing National Government began to implement the policy of “revolutionary diplomacy”, entering into negotiations with imperialist powers on the revision of the unequal treaties to rectify China’s unequal status in foreign relations as much as possible. With government support, Zhang Xueliang planned a series of operations to seize the Dongqing Railway (Northeast Railway) and took it over by force. 5

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 44–45.

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The Soviet Union immediately reacted. It went so far as to enlist CPC students and cadres who were in the Soviet Union for military courses and sent them to the Sino–Soviet border for military actions against Zhang Xueliang’s Northeastern Army. The representative of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International requested the CPC to waste no time in launching a publicity campaign “in support of the Soviet Union” and against the KMT running dogs of imperialism in accordance with the decision of the 6th Communist International Congress for an armed defense of the Soviet Union on the current situation. In particular, the representative asked the CPC to stage largescale demonstrations against the KMT in support of the Soviet Union on “August 1st Anti-Imperialism Day”. The 6th Communist International Congress explicitly stated that when Soviet interests were under threat, the proletariat of the country that posed a threat of war to the Soviet Union should “help bring about the defeat of its government in the war” without hesitation and should not be “intimidated by the bourgeoisie’s charge of treason” since only the Soviet Union was the true motherland of the proletariat. This was without doubt the position that the Chinese communists should adopted. On 22 July, the CPC Central Committee called a Politburo meeting during which it decided to publicly put forward the slogan of “armed defense of the Soviet Union”. It publically called for “turning the anti-Soviet war into a proSoviet war” in a host of announcements, declarations, and messages to comrades. Such moves of the CPC Central Committee pleased the Communist International, though within the CPC, views appeared to be divided on this matter.6

3.1.2. Gradual Changes in CPC’s Position in Face of Rising Sino–Japanese National Conflicts The Communist International was completely out of touch with the realities of the Chinese society in its instructions on the CPC’s revolutionary movement. Even in the wake of the September 18th

6

Ibid., pp. 206–208.

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incident when China was under the threat of Japanese militarist aggression and Sino–Japanese national conflicts became overriding contradictions in the Chinese society, some leaders of the Provisional CPC Central Committee still insisted that the KMT must be toppled first if China was to be rescued from Japanese aggression. When the Shanghai Incident took place on 28 January 1932, they even went so far as to believe that the October Revolution was to replay itself in China and that foreign aggression could have offered the best opportunity for the CPC to overthrow the KMT regime and realize its own revolutionary goals. They would never be persuaded to believe that the KMT and its reactionary military officers of landlord and bourgeoisie descent would ever fight the Japanese. They thought that the KMT’s “resistance against the Japanese invasion” was no more than “playing all sorts of tricks to deceive the masses”.7 It was not until January 1933 that, in consideration of the Soviet security interests, the Communist International put forward some policy propositions in the name of the CPC Central Committee amounting to a united front aimed at “defeating aggression and saving the country”. They included the Declaration of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Revolutionary Committee of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic on its Willingness to Jointly Resist Japanese Aggression in Northern China with All Other Armies Based on Three Preconditions, and the CPC’s letter to Party branches at all levels in Manchuria and all Party members — On the Situation in Manchuria and the Party’s Tasks. The CPC also publicly declared its plan to establish “a united front against imperialism”, which reflected the evolution of the Party’s perceptions and showed that the Party had begun to adjust policies and taken one step forward toward building a united national front against Japanese aggression.8 Prior to that, the Party had adopted isolationist policies

7

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 268–270. 8 The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 341.

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and objected to the formation of even temporary alliances with any possible allies against the common enemy.9 This was one of the reasons why the Central Red Army led by the CPC failed in its antiencirclement battle in 1934, which forced the CPC Central Committee and the Central Red Army to begin the Long March in 1935.

3.1.3. A Matured CPC after the Establishment of the National United Front Against Japanese Aggression The Communist International’s strategic shift had a direct bearing on the CPC’s proposition of a united national front against Japanese aggression.10 What the then Communist International or the Soviet Union considered about their China policy was to push China into fighting Japan and prevent the Soviet Union from being dragged into the war. With the Soviet interests outweighing those of others, the CPC Central Committee had to constantly change its position or even sacrifice its own interests to cater to the needs of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Starting from the spring of 1936, the Soviet policy decision toward China became increasingly clear: to persuade Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing government into fighting the Japanese.11 On 1 August 1935, the CPC permanent mission to the Communist International drafted the Message of the Chinese Soviet Government and the CPC Central Committee to all Compatriots on Resistance against Japanese Aggression and National Salvation (August 1st Declaration), which stated that the Chinese nation was at a critical juncture of life and death, and fighting the Japanese to save the country was the top priority of all the Chinese people. The declaration underlined the need to include the upper strata into the united front and build a broader united front. From August 25 to 27, the CPC’s permanent mission to the Communist International called a 9

Ibid., pp. 283–285. The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 411. 11 Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 338–339. 10

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meeting on the building of a united front against imperialism, at which it proposed that so long as Chiang Kai-shek could truly stop fighting the Red Army and turn instead against the Japanese imperialism, the possibility of including him in the united front could not be ruled out. The August 1st Declaration and this specific meeting highlighted the Sino–Japanese national conflicts, put forth the political proposition to fight the Japanese and save China, by and large reversed the leftist closed-door ideas and expanded the scope of the united national front against Japanese aggression. This showed that the CPC started to change its political tactics.12 In October 1935, the CPC Central Committee and the Central Red Army successfully arrived at the northern part of Shaanxi province and resumed its contacts with the Communist International. In the year without contact with the Communist International, the CPC Central Committee convened an enlarged politburo conference in Zunyi which ended the rule of Wang Ming’s leftist adventurism in the CPC Central Committee and set up a new central authority. This was the first CPC conference at which the CPC independently applied the fundamental tenets of Marxism-Leninism and determined its lines, policies and strategies. The conference marked a critical turning point in the history of the CPC as it saved the Party and the Red Army in an extremely crucial juncture. It signified that the CPC had grown from infantile to maturity. On December 25 the same year, the CPC Central Committee held a meeting in Wayaobao, north of Shaanxi province, at which it changed some of its policies in line with the Communist International’s new policy of the united front adopted at its 7th Congress. The CPC Central Committee made new appraisals of the regional and international situations as well as class relations. They believed that the blatant “annexation of the China proper” and provocation of the Northern China Incident by the Japanese imperialism had put the entire Chinese nation in danger of “national subjugation and extinction”, and served as a “wake-up call” to all Chinese. The Wayaobao Meeting unequivocally decided that the CPC should adopt 12

The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, pp. 411–412.

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a “flexible foreign policy”, free itself from its closed-door policy and build an extensive united national front against Japanese aggression, namely, to enter into the necessary understanding and concessions, and to establish state-to-state relations or sign alliance treaties with all countries, political parties, or even individuals that opposed Japanese imperialism and its running dogs and traitors.13 In December 1936, two generals, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, launched the Xi’an Incident. The CPC Central Committee worked for the peaceful resolution of the incident and subsequently built an united national front against Japanese invasion.14

3.2. Formation of the Concept of National Interests While Maintaining Independence and Self-determination (1936–1949) From the Long March to the founding of the PRC, the CPC’s perception of national interests underwent significant changes. It placed increasing importance on China’s own national interests, instead of defining itself merely as a branch of the Communist International. Of course, the reason why the CPC’s diplomacy could take off from Yan’an to the world was not just because the CPC, a defining political force in China, had started to develop a new type of external relations independently and ultimately led the nation to independence and liberation, but was more importantly because the Chinese communists had created a set of guiding principles on formulating foreign policies and on handling external relations in the process of understanding and handling external relations over the previous ten years, and in the process of fighting foreign aggression and interference. These guiding 13

Li Donglang: Diplomatic Activities of the Communist Party of China in the Yan’an Years, Journal of Humanities, 2002, No. 1, p. 416. 14 The peaceful settlement of Xi’an Incident was consistent with the Communist International instructions, but the Communist International instruction arrived in Yan’an after the CPC Central Committee published an open telegraph to the nation on a peaceful settlement of Xi’an Incident. CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 444.

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principles were not only of great significance in those days, but were also of enormous and far-reaching influence on China’s foreign policy thereafter. The principles had a three-fold significance: maintaining independence, relying mainly on China’s own strength while trying to get as much foreign assistance as possible and making use of contradictions between different parties and destroying enemies one by one.15 They reflected the CPC’s increasingly profound understanding of the national interests.

3.2.1. War of Resistance Against Japan and the Struggle to Protect China’s Revolutionary Interests (1936–1945) The biggest problem for China at this stage was the conflict between the Chinese nation and the Japanese imperialism. The Japanese imperialist invasion plunged the Chinese nation into a survival crisis. National survival and independence thus became the biggest national interests of China at that time; though conflicts between different classes and political groups in China continued “unabated, undiminished or un-removed”, they became “secondary and subordinate” to the principal conflict. Gradually extricating itself from the influence of the Communist International and the Soviet Union, the CPC began to independently implement the united-front policies against Japanese invasion and international fascism, and carry out external exchanges that served its own interests.16

3.2.1.1. Exploring relatively independent external exchanges The CPC’s relatively independent diplomatic exploration began with the all-out outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 marked the beginning of the Japanese militarism’s all-out invasion of China. In his essay entitled Policies, Measures and Perspectives for Resisting the Japanese Invasion 15

Niu Jun: From Yan’an to the World: Origin of the CPC’s Foreign Relations, Beijing: CPC History Press, 2008 Edition, pp. 341–342. 16 Feng Jianmei: Features of Diplomatic Activities of the Communist Party of China in the Yan’an Period, Theory Monthly, 2004, Vol. 9, pp. 48–50.

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published on July 23, Mao Zedong formally put forward an “anti-Japanese foreign policy”. He declared: “Accord the Japanese imperialists no advantages or facilities, but on the contrary confiscate their property, repudiate their loans, weed out their lackeys and expel their spies. Immediately conclude a military and political alliance with the Soviet Union and closely unite with the Soviet Union, the country which is most reliable, most powerful and most capable of helping China to resist Japan. Enlist the sympathy of Britain, the US and France for our resistance against Japan, and secure their help provided that it entails no loss of our territory or our sovereign rights. We should rely mainly on our own strength to defeat the Japanese aggressors; but foreign aid cannot be dispensed with, and an isolationist policy will only play into the enemy’s hands.” These words can be viewed as the CPC’s first open and comprehensive exposition of its diplomatic position. On 10 August 1937, the Political Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International called a special meeting to discuss the Chinese situation of resistance against Japan and the CPC tasks. Georgi Dimitrov, worried about the CPC’s capability to adapt itself to the new environment and new tasks, said that new blood familiar with the international situation should be sent to help the Central Committee of the CPC. Wang Ming was thus sent back to China to follow through on the Communist International’s new policy.17 However, Mao Zedong and Wang Ming were divided over how to implement the guiding policy of “resistance against Japan overriding everything else” proposed by the Soviet Union and the Communist International. In its political report to the Communist International based on the views of Zhang Wentian and Mao Zedong, the CPC Central Committee explicitly expressed its agreement with the Communist International’s principle of “resistance against Japan overriding everything else” on the one hand, and unequivocally highlighted the CPC’s leadership role on the other. It stated that utmost efforts must be made to solidify the CPC leadership in the War of 17

The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 514.

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Resistance against Japan and to enable the Party and the 8th Route Army to play a greater role in advancing and leading the military campaign. It also insisted that necessary criticism and struggle were important to urge and help the KMT to improve. The leadership of the Communist International gave explicit endorsement to this and believed that the political line of the CPC was correct. These communications of ideas and understandings between the Communist International and Mao Zedong quickly brought about the rise of Mao in the Party hierarchy. Georgi Dimitrov, leader of the Communist International, gave clear support to Mao in Mao’s political dispute with Wang Ming, saying that the CPC should “solve its problem of intra-party unity” under the leadership of Mao, which signified the Communist International’s open support for Mao to be the supreme leader of the CPC.18 In the subsequent 6th Plenary Session of the 6th CPC Central Committee from September to November 1938 on how to implement the directives of the Communist International, Mao’s leadership in the CPC was established; and ideas such as “long-term resistance against Japan through long-term cooperation” and “War of Resistance against Japan overriding everything else” were highlighted and emphasized. At the same time, the CPC Central Committee had also come to realize the extreme importance of making Marxism-Leninism applicable to China and to the Chinese nation. For the first time, the CPC Central Committee looked into and analyzed some of the Communist International directives and even boldly questioned them at the plenary session. The CPC started to independently analyze problems and put things in perspective. Hence, Mao Zedong came up with the proposition that “distant water could not quench a fire nearby”. He predicted that the Chinese resistance against Japanese invasion would be a long-term war and would depend on the developments in the international situation. Victory was impossible in the short run, and China should not expect to see a worldwide 18

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 368–369.

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anti-Fascist united front established right away nor large-scale foreign assistance. He stressed the principle of “relying on one’s own strength while trying to get as much foreign assistance as possible” as the only viable way for the War of Resistance against Japanese invasion, and got China prepared for a protracted war. Mao was convinced that if China were to win the war against Japanese invasion, two conditions had to be met: first, the CPC was to become a defining element in the war; second, international relations were to undergo profound changes with democratic countries such as Great Britain, France and the US joining the Soviet Union in fighting the fascist countries Germany, Italy and Japan. In his mind, such a scenario would materialize sooner or later, and it was the goal that the Chinese communists should pursue. Apparently, soon after Mao became the Party’s supreme leader, the Party began to distance itself from the Soviet Union and the Communist International.19 After Mao issued his essay On New Democracy, the Chinese communists knew for sure that the CPC had already led the Chinese proletariat, the peasantry, the intelligentsia and other sections of the petty bourgeoisie to become a “mighty independent political force”, which would inevitably become the “basic forces determining China’s fate” and “basic components of the state and governmental structure in the democratic republic of China”. The capitalist KMT would inevitably step down gradually from the stage of history, or at least from the “leading position”, and thus lose its say on the revolution and future destiny of China.20 The CPC Central Committee and Mao’s “overarching policy during the War of Resistance against Japanese invasion behind enemy lines” thus took form, bidding for time and preserving strength21 in preparation for a showdown with the KMT for the leadership of China. The Soviet Union, however, had different views with the CPC Central Committee over some of China’s internal problems. The

19

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 370–372. 20 Ibid., p. 394. 21 Ibid., p. 420.

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Soviet Union wanted to use the KMT government to contain the Japanese imperialism so as to avoid a premature war with Japan. With this in mind, the Soviet Union did not want to see the CPC openly fight with the KMT for leadership or fall apart with Chiang Kai-shek. In the fall of 1940, the CPC Central Committee and the Soviet Union had a squabble on this issue. In the wake of the Soviet–German war, the CPC Central Committee told the whole Party that under the circumstances then, be it imperialist or capitalist countries, all those that oppose fascist Germany, Italy and Japan and those that assist the Soviet Union and China are good, useful and just; while those which assist Germany, Italy and Japan and those that oppose the Soviet Union and China are bad, harmful and unjust. According to this standard, Great Britain’s war against Germany, the US assistance of the Soviet Union, China and Britain as well as the possible US war against Japan and Germany are all just causes, causes that are not of an imperialist nature, and they are all welcomed movements. All these forces should get united in opposition to the common enemies. This same standard should also apply to all political parties and social strata in China. That is, CPC welcomed all those in China who oppose Japan, Germany and Italy and assist the USSR; and oppose all those who are pro-Japan, Germany and Italy as well as those who are reactionaries. The CPC Central Committee endorsed the Anglo–American Atlantic Charter, as soon as it was issued, a clear signal of the CPC Central Committee’s pragmatism. On the other hand, the CPC Central Committee did not respond enthusiastically to the Soviet Union’s requests and instructions that China’s 8th Route Army should launch large-scale operations to contain possible Japanese military offensives. This showed a sharp contrast between Mao and previous leaders of the CPC Central Committee. Apparently, Mao did not view the existence of the Soviet Union as the precondition of the existence and success of the Chinese revolution, even less did he regard the USSR as his only mother country.22 When 22

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the Chinese Communist Party’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 417–421.

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Mao was asked by British journalist Guenther Stein during their conversation in July 1944 whether the Communists were “Chinese first” or “communist first”, Mao replied: “Without a Chinese nation there could be no CPC.”23 The squabble with the Communist International in the fall of 1940, the Southern Anhui Incident and the conflict with the Soviet Union over its support to the Soviet Union during the Soviet–German war all made Mao determined to revisit the issue of what line the CPC should adopt, and to readjust the CPC Central Committee’s relations with the Communist International and the Soviet Communist Party. Hence, the Yan’an Rectification Movement was launched to thoroughly remove Wang Ming’s leftist opportunist errors and stress the importance of independent thinking. The dissolution of the Communist International in 1943 gave the CPC even greater room to independently choose a more “Chinese” revolutionary path in light of the needs of its own revolutionary struggle, which was more suitable to the national characteristics and circumstances in China.

3.2.1.2. Safeguard China’s revolutionary interests After its inception in 1939, the South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, under the leadership of Zhou Enlai and others, held high the banner of the united national front against Japan, implemented the principles of resistance, solidarity and progress, and made substantive achievements in its work on all fronts in the extremely complicated situation of the KMT-ruled areas. Leaders and staff of the South Bureau often met with foreign diplomats, personnel of foreign assistance organizations and foreign journalists, befriended them, briefed them on the CPC’s contribution to the War of Resistance against Japan with a large number of compelling facts and written materials, and exposed to them the KMT’s die-hard scheme of an anti-communist civil war so as to win over the international public opinions in support of China’s united resistance against Japanese invasion and to expand 23

CCCPC Party Research Literature Office: Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1996 Edition, p. 191.

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and develop the international anti-Fascist united front.24 The CPC made an effort to enlist the sympathy of the public opinions and of the US government, from General Joseph Stilwell to 40 other young US diplomats posted in China who had a high regard for the CPC. General Stilwell once asked the KMT to share its weaponry with the CPC-led armies. During the Cairo Conference of Great Britain, the US and China in December 1943, President Roosevelt even expressed his wish to Chiang Kai-shek that the KMT and the CPC would form a coalition government. Between July and August 1944, the US military command of the China–Burma–India Theater sent 18 military observers to Yan’an in two groups for a better knowledge of the CPC and the anti-Japanese bases behind the enemy lines. These US observers were warmly received by the CPC leadership. To better serve the need of expanding external relations, the CPC Central Committee issued a directive on diplomatic work on 18 August 1944, in which it expounded on the nature, mandate and principled position of the Party’s diplomacy. The directive instructed that visits by foreigners should not be treated as ordinary routine work, but rather, as an opportunity for conducting international work toward a united front and as the beginning steps of its diplomacy. The CPC’s foreign policy then was aimed at uniting forces for resistance against Japan, winning democracy and expanding its influence under the guidance of the international united front. In the meantime, its foreign policy was still “semi-independent”. Many of its diplomatic activities had to be approved by the KMT government in Chongqing. Given the KMT’s reluctance to see the CPC conduct diplomacy on its own, CPC worked hard to break through all sorts of prohibitions and restrictions imposed by the KMT in order to have diplomatic exchanges with allied countries. The document of the directive underscored that the CPC must conduct diplomacy firmly in China’s national interests, free from all erroneous mindsets of anti-foreigners, xenophobia or worshipping everything foreign. On the one hand, China should 24

The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the Communist Party of China, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, pp. 600–602.

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enhance national esteem and self-confidence, and on the other hand, it should learn from others and be skillful at working with others.25 The CPC became skillful in applying strategies and tactics by then. Unfettered by ideological constraints, it made all its policies on the basis of serving its own interests. The CPC was convinced that all that were in line with the interests or met the requirements of the CPC-led Chinese revolution were good, and otherwise, they were bad. In view of the cooperation between Great Britain and the US on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other, the exhibited interest of American diplomats in China’s democracy process and their strong dissatisfaction over the military and political incompetence of the KMT, the CPC Central Committee had a strong sense that it might be able to obtain recognition and assistance from the American and British governments, just like the Yugoslavian Communists in Europe who obtained British assistance.26 Nevertheless, after securing military bases in the Pacific Theater from which it could attack Japan directly, the US no longer valued China’s role in countering Japan. It gradually based its China policy on its possible post-war relations with the Soviet Union and on ideological considerations. The US became increasingly clear in its inclination toward the KMT or the CPC. For the sake of its post-war strategy of controlling the world and controlling China in place of Japan, the American administration believed it necessary to consolidate the rule of Chiang Kai-shek and help him “unify” China. At this time, the US on the surface supported the KMT–CPC cooperation and dispatched Patrick Hurley to mediate between KMT and CPC, but what it really wanted to see was that Chiang could tolerate a bit more democracy and accommodate a coalition government with the CPC and other political parties so that the CPC could hand over its army and the

25

The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 644. 26 Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 440–458.

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KMT–CPC conflict could be settled politically.27 The US’s ambition to interfere in China’s internal affairs thus gradually came to light. Patrick Hurley, the American Ambassador to China, openly accused the CPC of being the obstacle to China’s unification. By contrast, the Soviet Union announced the abolishment of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and provided support to the CPC and its armed forces in the hope that post-war China would not fall into the embrace of the US. As a result, the CPC Central Committee became more determined to rely on the Soviet Union. As of today, some scholars in Taiwan are still critical about the conduct of the CPC during the War of Resistance against Japanese invasion. Their criticism mainly centers on the CPC’s “lack of effective attacks against invaders in spite of guerrilla movements” in order to preserve its strength and on its efforts to eliminate its dissidents behind the enemy lines. There is also criticism of the CPC’s “concession” of the national interests. For instance, the Chinese communists explicitly welcomed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact signed between the Soviet Union and Japan on 13 April 1941, which was a de facto recognition of the puppet “Manchukuo” and which outraged the Chongqing Nationalist Government. Likewise, the CPC also expressly acknowledged the Sino–Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance which provided for the independence of the Outer Mongolia and the lease of Lvshun Port to the detriment of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Treaty was forced onto the KMT by the Soviet Union who took advantage of the opportunity of deploying troops to Northeast China. If China under the rule of KMT were truly a country free from party politics, then the CPC’s attitude could hardly be considered as “patriotic”. However, if we put ourselves in the shoes of the Chinese communists at that time and believe that only a China under communist rule truly represented the national interests, then it would be much easier to understand the CPC’s attitude. And indeed, the communists proved that they were not unpatriotic. When they were about to establish the PRC, they immediately told the Soviet 27

The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. I (1921–1949), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2002 Edition, p. 645.

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government unequivocally that the Outer Mongolia be returned to China. Though unsuccessful in getting back the Outer Mongolia, the CPC soon managed to take back through diplomatic efforts the Lvshun Military Port leased out by the KMT and Dongqing Railway (Haerbin–Dalian Railway), which was then placed under the joint management of China and the Soviet Union. After that, despite subscribing to the same ideology, the Chinese communists and the Soviet communists had frequent frictions and disputes with each other, which ultimately led to a total rupture of their relations. It goes without saying that complicated factors were at play for the rupture, yet a major reason was the CPC’s patriotism and belief that only by so doing could they safeguard China’s national interests.28

3.2.2. Struggle for Victory — The Chinese Revolution (1945–1949) At this stage, the most important national interests, in the eyes of the CPC, were to win the victory of the Chinese Revolution. The outbreak of the US–Soviet Cold War provided a heaven-sent opportunity for the CPC to fight for state power. The CPC decided on an independent foreign policy, freed itself from the constraints of the Soviet Union and the US, won the revolutionary war and laid a foundation for the “leaning to one side” diplomatic strategy after the PRC was established.

3.2.2.1. Identification of an independent foreign policy The CPC’s policies evolved through a complicated process after winning the war against Japanese aggression. The sudden end to the War of Resistance against Japan took Mao and the CPC Central Committee by a big surprise, because they originally thought that they would have two more years to get themselves prepared for a showdown with the KMT. Stalin made Mao go to Chongqing for peace 28

Yang Kuisong: Why Did the Communist Party of China Agree to a Long-term Stationing of Soviet Troops in Outer Mongolia in 1924? http://book.ifeng.com/shuzhai/detail_2010_12/26/3705038_5.shtml, iFeng, December 26, 2012, accessed May 23, 2013.

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negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek in the hope that the CPC would take the “French Path” and the Soviet interests in the Far East and Northeast China would be protected. After the signing of the Double Tenth Agreement (or the Summary of Conversations between the Representatives of the KMT and the CPC, concluded on 10 October 1945), the CPC leadership apparently overestimated the US influence over the KMT government. For quite some time, they believed that international pressure, American pressure in particular, would force Chiang and his KMT government to stop the civil war and begin the democratic reform. In early 1946, Mao even openly declared that the US–Soviet reconciliation was the initial “driving force” for the emergence of peace and democracy in China and George Marshall “deserved much of the credit”. However, from April to November 1946, with the outbreak of the US–Soviet Cold War and new developments in the domestic situation, the CPC leadership soon realized that no matter how the international landscape might change, it was already impossible for foreign elements to have any fundamental influence on the destiny of China. The CPC leaders asserted that the US–Soviet fight in the world would not sway the domestic situation in China in any decisive manner. Mao pointed out that “all reactionaries are paper tigers”, thus Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters, the US reactionaries, are all “paper tigers” too, and the US was incapable of an armed intervention in the Chinese revolution. As a result, the foreign policies of the CPC experienced another profound change. From then on, the CPC Central Committee would readjust its revolutionary strategies mainly based on the power balance between the KMT and the CPC and would try to seize the state power through war. The shift in the CPC’s foreign policy had a huge and crucial impact on China’s diplomacy thereafter. For a period after the War of Resistance against Japan ended, the CPC tended to change its strategies and tactics in response to the changes in the US–Soviet relationship, regarded the US–Soviet contention as the main contradiction in the world and made the protection of the Soviet strategic interests an important part of its own strategies. It even came to view its own struggle with the KMT as part of the US–Soviet struggle. All this rendered it incapable of independently working out its strategies and tactics.

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Now, Mao finally broke away from the almost innate psychological shackles of the CPC, and for the first time shook off the theoretical yoke of the post-war big powers system. He identified an independent strategy toward the US without giving top priority to the Soviet attitude and interests.29 In reality, after the end of the War of Resistance against Japan, both the CPC and the KMT tried hard to make the best use of foreign elements in the domestic political contest through their respective foreign policies. The fundamental difference between the CPC leadership and Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT was that the CPC soon realized that the foreign elements were fairly limited in their intention and ability to interfere in China’s internal affairs. The CPC could succeed in its revolution by relying on its own strength. No doubt, this “relying on one’s own” idea would make way into the CPC’s diplomatic decision-making when the CPC leadership finally played the leading role on the political stage of China.30 When the Chinese revolution developed to this stage, the CPC would no longer allow others to interfere. However, until the Chinese People’s Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, the Soviet Union had not stopped urging the CPC to engage in peace talks with the KMT, much to the resentment of Mao Zedong. Nonetheless, Mao’s discontent over the Soviet attitude on China’s civil war did not mean that the CPC did not need the recognition and support of Moscow. After Yan’an was taken over by the KMT in March of 1947, Mao had intended to pay a secret visit to Moscow to report to and ask for instructions from Stalin so as to obtain the endorsement and guidance of this top leader of the world’s communist movement. While insisting on conducting the revolution in his own way, Mao still respectfully regarded Stalin as the “big boss” and tried to gain Soviet recognition, assistance and support for the CPC. Apart from the practical needs and interests of the Chinese revolution, an extremely important reason

29

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 515–517. 30 Niu Jun: The Inward-looking Feature of China’s Diplomacy from 1945 to 1955, International Politics Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 26–38.

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for Mao to do so was that Mao had always believed himself to be a communist and that all his revolutionary theories, concepts, experience and methods, fundamentally speaking, originated from the Soviet Union.31 By 1948, Stalin also came to realize that he had gravely underestimated the CPC. So from that year on, Soviet support to the CPC became semi-open. Stalin explicitly stated that the Soviet should not “stint on efforts or money” in helping the Chinese communists. The generous assistance by the Soviet Union to the CPC bases in Northeast China and its active participation in the Chinese revolution naturally gave the Soviet greater say on the CPC’s policies. Meanwhile, the US policy toward China went awry. In early December of 1948, the CPC Central Committee received a report from the Hong Kong Bureau of its Xinhua News Agency, saying that an American journalist, who was believed to be close to General George Marshal and the US State Department, had frequent contacts with democratic activists in Hong Kong. According to him, the pivot of the US policy toward China was that “an effective opposition party” should be created in the new Chinese regime; the US would not recognize the new government in China, unless there was an opposition party that was acceptable to the US; and that the US should be permitted to station its troops in Qingdao. The CPC leadership reacted strongly to this. It became an issue of great concern to counter this US plot for quite some time. Considering the political turmoil in some of the Eastern European countries in this period and the fact that some domestic political forces were still attempting to take advantage of the US’s interference, it was not difficult to understand why the CPC leadership was highly vigilante against the US. Against this backdrop, the 7th CPC Central Committee officially decided on the principle of “non-recognition” at its 2nd Plenary Session on 5 March 1949: “As for the question of the recognition of our country by the imperialist countries, we should not be in a hurry to solve it now and need not be

31

Yang Kuisong: Revolution in the Intermediate Zone: Understanding the CPC’s Road to Success in the International Context, Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 2010 Edition, pp. 520–525.

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in a hurry to solve it even for a fairly long period after countrywide victory.”32

3.2.2.2. The “leaning to one side” foreign strategy Another important principle that the 7th CPC Central Committee identified at its 2nd plenary session was “leaning to one side”. It was a deep-rooted theoretical belief of the Chinese communists to stay in the Soviet camp in the international structure of the US–Soviet standoff. When a rift appeared between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, the CPC Central Committee issued an internal instruction, stating that the Chinese people must forge a solid brotherly alliance with the Soviet Union if they are to gain complete victory in the Chinese revolution; any blindfolded anti-Soviet sentiment or residual anti-Soviet feelings must be cleared and forestalled. In a long article entitled On Internationalism and Nationalism published in the name of Liu Shaoqi, Liu sharply criticized the Yugoslavian communists of their capitalist and nationalist position, and extolled the significance of combining proletarian internationalism with patriotism. Liu, in his article, distinguished “patriotism” from “treason”, and “revolution” from “counter-revolution” by whether one sided with the Soviet camp or not.33 It was the visit to Xibaipo by Stalin’s special envoy Anastas Mikoyan that prompted Mao to make, at the 2nd plenary session of the 7th CPC Central Committee, the critical announcement of entering into alliance with the Soviet Union. This secret visit was vital in terms of coordinating relations between the CPC Central Committee and the Soviet Union. What the CPC Central Committee wanted mostly was to have the understanding of the USSR on China’s domestic policies, including the nature of the new regime in China, its economic development plan, the line struggle within the CPC and the political unification of China. It is hard to imagine that had the Soviet Union not supported these major domestic policies of the CPC Central Committee,

32

Niu Jun: The Inward-looking Feature of China’s Diplomacy from 1945 to 1955, International Politics Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 26–38. 33 Ibid.

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Mao would still have announced joyfully at the 2nd Plenary Session that the CPC should “stand with the USSR — China’s ally”.34 Between June and August 1949, Liu Shaoqi visited Moscow, which exerted a paramount impact on the diplomacy of New China. The newly declassified archives show that Liu persuaded the Soviet leadership into promising its support to all the CPC’s major policies concerning the founding of New China and into providing financial, technical and military assistance necessary for China’s national unification and economic development. In addition, the USSR and Eastern European countries would recognize the New China as soon as its new government was put in place. In return, the CPC promised to coordinate with the Soviet foreign policy in international affairs, a price which the CPC leadership believed to be affordable at least at that time. Liu also had a preliminary exchange of views with the USSR on how to deal with the China–Soviet Treaty of Friendly Alliance signed between the USSR and the KMT. Liu’s visit laid a foundation for the new type of state-to-state relations between the two countries.35 In sum, during the War of Liberation in China, the CPC’s concept of national interests began to shift its focus from national security interests, namely independent and inseparable state sovereignty and territorial integrity, to national political interests, namely promotion of domestic political stability, gaining international recognition and a higher international status after the founding of New China.

3.3. The Concept of National Interests Under Ideological Influence (1949–1979) With the founding of the PRC, the CPC changed its role from a revolutionary party into a ruling party. The new CPC identity, the CPC’s perception on the themes of the times and the real environment in which the New China existed, the understanding of the supreme CPC 34

Ibid. The CPC Central Committee Party History Research Center: History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2011 Edition, pp. 24–25. 35

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leader Mao Zedong about ideology and class struggle, the way in which Mao put this understanding into practice, his unique way of thinking and his nationalist mindset — all these worked together in the shaping of the CPC’s concept of national interests in this period. In the CPC’s concept of national interests in this period, ideology and national interests were closely interrelated and yet extremely complicatedly interacted with each other. They were closely interrelated because the ideology itself, part of the national interests, served the national interests, which, in turn, safeguarded ideology. The interaction between the two was complicated, because the two sometimes were consistent with each other or overlapped each other, but in other times they might contradict each other, in that ideology played a dominant role sometimes and national interests might overweigh ideology in some other times. During the “leaning to one side” strategic period, ideology and national interests were consistent. Therefore, emphasis on ideology effectively safeguarded national interests. During the “two-line” strategic period in the 1960s, the over-emphasis on ideology and over-estimation of the possibility of a “world war” and “world revolution” led to some extreme diplomatic actions. The export of revolution negatively impacted China’s peaceful image in some of the Third World countries.36 After the Zhenbao Island Incident in 1969, the CPC began to put national interests at the center of China’s diplomacy. However, the ideological considerations did not assert themselves as prominently as before in the concept of national interests and shifted from targeting both the US and the USSR to the Soviet Union only. Overall, throughout the period under Mao Zedong’s leadership, China’s foreign policy strategy evolved through a difficult process from uniting the Soviet Union against the US to fighting both imperialism and revisionism, and then to uniting the US against the Soviet Union. This was a process heavily influenced by ideological considerations. Especially in identifying and predicting external threats, too much emphasis was often put on the differences in ideologies and 36

Niu Jun: China’s Diplomacy: 60 Years of Experience and Enlightenment, Foreign Affairs Review, 2009, Vol. 3, pp. 9–13.

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social systems, without a profound understanding of the overall national interests or an objective prediction on the development of the conflicts of interests between the two sides. As a result, China’s national interests were damaged to a certain extent. Practice had proved that too much emphasis on ideology would only exacerbate tensions between countries, to the detriment of China’s national interests. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge the efforts made by Chinese leaders during this period to maintain independence and safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity. They successfully defended state sovereignty and independence by means of struggle. It was precisely because China had the courage to confront the two big powers of the US and the Soviet Union simultaneously that China was able to gradually become an independent force in the world in the context of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, and lay a solid foundation for the restoration of China’s big power status and for its higher international reputation in the 1970s.

3.3.1. The Strategic Period of “Leaning to One Side” World War II weakened old imperialist countries such as the Great Britain and France, encouraged nationalism in Third World countries, and saw outstanding performance of the socialist Soviet Union. All these led to surging revolutionary waves after World War II, including the movements for national independence in Third World countries and the proletarian revolutions led by the Communist Party. But the weakened imperialist countries would not voluntarily give up their vested interests in the Third World and generated extreme hostility toward the rise of socialism. Thus, in Third World countries in the Asian–African continent, the war between imperialism on the one hand and nationalism and socialism on the other became inevitable. In this regard, the Indochina War, the Algerian war and other such wars were best examples of the themes of war and revolution in the 1950s. In this era of war and revolution, a secure international environment was of paramount importance to the newly formed China and hence maintaining international security became the top priority of its diplomacy. At the same time, importance was also given to obtaining as

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much foreign aid as possible for China’s imminent economic development and modernization drive, second only to maintaining international security in its diplomatic mandates. In addition, it was of special significance to obtain international recognition of and respect for China, a big country of thousands of years of civilization that had experienced humiliation for centuries.37 Security interests, economic interests and diplomatic interests were what the CPC considered most in the process of formulating the “leaning to one side” foreign policy in which ideological considerations only played a catalytic role. Once the national security was generally guaranteed, the CPC tried to implement a foreign policy of peace, which failed to last long, due to changes in the domestic and international environments.

3.3.1.1. Ideology and national interests in the “leaning to one side” diplomatic strategy The CPC leader Mao Zedong attached great importance to the role of ideology in diplomacy. He introduced ideology into diplomatic work in handling foreign affairs immediately after the founding of New China. In reply to the letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) on 14 June 1963, the CPC Central Committee wrote: “Workers of all countries, unite; workers of the world, unite with the oppressed peoples and oppressed nations; oppose imperialism and reaction in all countries; strive for world peace, national liberation, people’s democracy and socialism; consolidate and expand the socialist camp; bring the proletarian world revolution step by step to complete victory; and establish a new world without imperialism, without capitalism and without the exploitation of man by man.” This paragraph gives us an overview of Mao Zedong’s diplomatic thinking at the time. On the eve of the founding of the PRC, Mao accepted the existence of two camps in the world. In 1949, he made it clear that in light of the experiences accumulated in these forty years and these twenty-eight years, all Chinese without 37

Li You-kun: Mao Zedong’s Diplomacy in Light of the National Interests, Journal of Henan University (Social Sciences Edition), 2010, Vol. 2, pp. 61–66.

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exception must lean “either to the side of imperialism or to the side of socialism”. Sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a “third road”. The three major foreign policies of New China, namely, “leaning to one side”, “putting the house in order before inviting guests”, and “starting anew”, clearly showed the position of the New China. That is, China firmly stood on the side of the socialist camp and would resolutely eliminate all imperialist influence in China. They reflected China’s determination to make a clean break with the imperialist camp.38 Mao Zedong also brought ideology into New China’s quest for international recognition. Socialist countries including the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries needed only to send a telegraph of diplomatic recognition of New China. But with regard to imperialist countries, Mao said that there was no hurry to establish diplomatic relations with them. He explained: “The imperialists, who have always been hostile to the Chinese people, will definitely not be in a hurry to treat us as equals. As long as the imperialist countries do not change their hostile attitude, we shall not grant them legal status in China.” Furthermore, Mao set up conditions for capitalist countries to establish diplomatic relations with China. He said that capitalist countries must negotiate to establish diplomatic relations with China.39 During this period, emphasis on the role of ideology in diplomacy was considered as consistent with the defense of China’s national interests. After World War II, the US-led camp and the Soviet-led camp were in fierce confrontation with each other. In this context, it was extremely difficult for China, the largest Asian county with great strategic importance, to take a middle road, from whichever perspective, geopolitical or historical. Since the Chiang Kai-shek period, the US had always put China at the core of its Far Eastern policy. Only after it “lost” China, did the US have no other choice but to adopt the policy of “supporting Japan” to counter the socialist China. In addition, immediately before and after independence, the most 38

Li Caiyi: Ideology and National Interests in Mao Zedong’s Diplomatic Thoughts, Party History Research and Teaching, 2003, Vol. 6, pp. 29–35. 39 Ibid.

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pressing issue for New China to consider was the imminent direct security pressure from the US, not the establishment of normal relations with it. In the process of the Chinese revolution, historically it was the Soviet Union which had consistently supported the CPC and its revolution while the US had clung to the policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the communists. Still, on the eve of the founding of New China, the CPC Central Committee had tried to establish normal relations with the US and Britain. Mao Zedong gave a clear instruction: “We can consider establishing diplomatic relations with the US and Britain if they sever relations with the KMT.” The CPC took the initiative to explain to the US Ambassador that the “leaning to one side” was a political term, and it must not be misunderstood as meaning that China would depend on others, nor would it affect China’s cooperation with the US. But the US refused to give up its policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the communists and even went so far as enforcing a blockade of the mainland in support of Chiang Kai-shek in June 1949, which stiffened the New China’s determination for “leaning to one side”. Even some American scholars believed that it was the US refusal to give up the policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the communists that had pushed Mao Zedong to the Soviet bloc and deprived the US of an opportunity for reconciliation with New China.40 Even if China took the middle road, its cost-effectiveness would not be better than the “leaning to one side” (or the Soviet side) strategy. In terms of the security and development interests, if China had taken the middle road, China might get economic aid and diplomatic recognition from US-led Western countries, face reduced security threat from the US and might be in a better position to defend its territorial security. However, if China had taken the middle road, the Soviet worry about China becoming another “Yugoslavia” would have become a reality and China would have lost political and economic support from the Soviet Union. This would probably have largely offset the political and economic support from the US. More 40

Li You-kun: Mao Zedong’s Diplomacy in Light of the National Interests, Journal of Henan University (Social Sciences Edition), 2010, Vol. 2, pp. 61–66.

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importantly, China would be put under more direct and stronger security pressure than Yugoslavia from the Soviet Union, due to its unique strategic position and to the geopolitical reality in which China shared with the Soviet Union — a common border of thousands of kilometers long.41 Therefore, for the sake of maintaining national security and development, the two strategies, i.e. the “leaning to one side” strategy and taking the middle road, would more or less have the same result for China. In terms of security, the “leaning to one side” policy could yield more strategic benefits while the strategic cost of the middle road policy was too great for China to bear, not to mention its possible damage to China’s national dignity and reputation. That is why even the mainstream view in the US academia is that the “leaning to one side” policy was a more realistic choice in light of the reality then and was more rational. Deng Xiaoping later also said that the sooner China implemented the “leaning to one side” policy in its action, the more advantageous the position it would find itself in.42 But at the same time, this foreign policy strategy of “leaning to one side” also produced an “expansionist attraction”, or its attention to international affairs and its intervention in affairs outside of China. It came in part from the inner impulse of the development of the Chinese revolutionary movement, as it was eager to have the victory of the Chinese revolution immeasurably impact the world, or at least its surrounding areas. On the other hand, the external relations that New China had developed and the changes that had taken place in China’s neighborhood also significantly contributed to the emergence and strengthening of this “expansionist attraction”. In a sense, China’s diplomacy developed from Sino–Soviet alliance in 1950 up to 1954 through a process from “inward-looking”, to driven by “expansionist attraction” and finally to resisting the “expansionist attraction”. In March 1950, Liu Shaoqi drafted an instruction on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, which typically reflected this inner impulse. He said that after the victory of the Chinese revolution, it is an 41 42

Ibid. Ibid.

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“inescapable international responsibility” of the CPC and the Chinese people to assist the communist parties of the oppressed nations in Asia and their peoples by all possible means in their struggle for liberation and it is also one of the most important means to consolidate the victory of the Chinese revolution in the international context. Guided by this idea, soon after it was founded, the New China provided assistance and support to the communist parties in North Korea and Vietnam. It let the People’s Liberation Army soldiers of Korean origin return to North Korea in January 1950 and began to provide the Communist Party of Vietnam with military supplies and military advisers in April 1950.43 The fundamental purpose of China’s external strategy to consolidate the victory of the Chinese revolution was necessitated by its national interests and was also driven by ideological considerations. The decision to resist US aggression and aid Korea that China made independently was also out of the considerations of its own national interests and ideological factors. If all of Korea were occupied by the Americans and the Korean revolutionary forces suffered a fundamental defeat, the US aggressors would grow more rampant, which would run counter to the interests of the whole of the East. But Mao decided to resist US aggression and aid Korea more for the sake of the Chinese national interests. He said: “If we do not send our troops and let the enemy press forward to the banks of the Yalu River, the arrogance of the domestic and international reactionaries will be inflated, causing disadvantages to all concerned, first of all to northeast China, with the entire northeast border-guard forces pinned down and electrical power of southern Manchuria brought under enemy control.” The fact that Mao Zedong carried forward patriotism and internationalism to the full showed how well Mao combined ideology with national interests. In addition, China gave diplomatic recognition to Vietnam prior to the Soviet Union. Though the Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong pursued the “leaning to one side” foreign policy for the sake of maintaining 43

Niu Jun: The Inward-looking Nature of China’s Diplomacy from 1945 to 1955, International Politics Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 26–38.

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China’s security interests and political interests, Mao Zedong and other Chinese communists never lost independence in pursuing China’s foreign policy or in maintaining China’s political independence. China did not blindly follow the Soviet Union in terms of foreign policy. Liu Shaoqi proposed to Stalin a three-point approach to the China–Soviet Treaty of Friendly Alliance signed between the USSR and the KMT during his visit to Moscow in July 1949. They were (1) to keep the Treaty as it was and the New China would acknowledge the Treaty; (2) to conclude a new treaty in place of the old Treaty; and (3) to exchange letters by the governments of the two countries in which to indicate that the status quo would be maintained temporarily. Liu gently but firmly told Stalin that China was very unhappy about the stationing of Soviet troops in Lvshun Port, the independence of the Outer Mongolia and the removal of equipments of factories and mines by the Soviet Union from Northeast China. Stalin’s attitude was not clear at that time. Instructed by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai went to Moscow in 1950 and negotiated with the Soviet Union on a new treaty. He stood rock firm in safeguarding China’s national interests, which had “surprised” the Soviet representatives from time to time and prompted them to ask Zhou “whether China and the Soviet Union were still in alliance”? 44 The Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong expressed their strong displeasure over the two spheres of influence in Northeast China and Xinjiang respectively and four joint ventures established by the Soviet Stalin for they had impaired China’s sovereignty.

3.3.1.2. Foreign policy of peace With China’s national security and international status generally guaranteed, the CPC started to somehow revisit its perception of national interests in 1952 and gradually came up with a new foreign policy in 1954, i.e. the “united-front policy for peace”. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence typically summed up this new foreign policy and their emergence should be mainly attributed to the 44

Ibid.

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development of China’s domestic situation. At that time, the CPC Central Committee believed that since the tasks of regime consolidation and economic recovery were by and large completed, it was time for economic development and the socialist transformation movement. For this purpose, it was necessary to create and maintain a peaceful and stable surrounding environment for a long time to come. The late 1950s witnessed marked changes in China’s foreign policy, with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence gradually replacing the “leaning to one side” policy. To expand the trend toward “peace and neutrality” as well as zones of “peace and neutrality” were the two most important objectives of the “united-front policy for peace”, which was first implemented in China’s surrounding areas. This was the key background against which China accepted the Korean War Armistice in the summer of 1953 and China insisted on ending the war in Indochina through peaceful negotiations at the 1954 Geneva Conference. At the Geneva Conference, Zhou Enlai not only firmly opposed the US interventionist policy and the French attempt to maintain its colonial interests, but also did not go along with the rigid Soviet negotiating positions. Zhou Enlai also persuaded Vietnam into giving up the notion that the three Indo-china countries formed an “integral whole”, withdrawing its troops from the Laos and Cambodia, and refraining from raising impractical demands concerning the “provisional military demarcation line”. The manner in which Zhou Enlai handled relations with allies at the Geneva Conference clearly showed that China had learned a lesson from the Korean War, that is, China would not be dragged by its allies into another war with the US. With local wars in its vicinity ended, China began to pursue a good-neighborly and friendly diplomacy in Asia in full swing. In order to improve relations with neighboring non-socialist countries, China successively introduced policies to solve border issues with its adjacent countries, the dual nationality of Chinese residing abroad with some Southeast Asian countries, and non-inference with regard to the internal affairs of non-socialist countries in Asia, etc. With the implementation of these policies, China rapidly expanded its

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influence in Asia and reached the climax at the 1955 Bandung Conference in this regard.45 At that time, the economic interests that China sought to take care of were mainly to attract advanced foreign technology and foreign investment for China’s economic development. At the same time, China also tried to break the US economic embargo on China. To this end, China supported the national liberation movements in countries around the world. In face of the US economic embargo, Mao Zedong and other Chinese communists proposed to rely mainly on one’s own efforts while seeking external aid as a secondary source of support and to take full advantage of the contradictions among imperialist countries. In the early days of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong proposed to trade with all countries in the world and especially to develop economic relations with capitalist countries through non-government channels. The China–Ceylon Trade Agreement of 1952 (Rubber-Rice Pact) broke the US embargo on strategic materials to China. China also took the advantage of the British interests in Hong Kong to drive a wedge between the US and Britain on their embargo positions. The embargo imposed by the US on China eventually failed.

3.3.2. The Strategic Period of “Fighting with Two Fists” With “great turbulence, great division and great realignment” in the world situation in the 1960s, the international pattern of confrontation between the socialist camp and the imperialist camp gradually gave way to rivalry for hegemony between the two superpowers. Putting things in perspective in terms of this international structure, the confrontation between China and the US and China’s break with the Soviet Union could all be explained by the fact that China was a rising big power and was gradually becoming a pole in the international community. But Chinese leaders were in total disregard of any possibility of maintaining world peace for a fairly long period of time. Proceeding from an ideological and struggle mentality, they believed 45

Ibid.

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that the world was at that time in the historic epoch in which “capitalism and imperialism are going down to their doom and socialism and communism are marching to victory”. During the Cultural Revolution, they even went so far as to say that the world has entered a “new historic era of Mao Zedong Thought” and proposed to diplomatically encircle the “world cities” of capitalism from the “vast rural areas” of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These were also important reasons why China was in serious confrontation with the Soviet Union and the US at the same time. The conflicts between China and the Soviet Union in ideology and in national interests led the two countries to the brink of war. Chinese leaders, without giving up principles, made efforts to cautiously avoid any more direct confrontation with the US, which left some room for improving their relations at a later stage. But it was mainly out of considerations for the need to counter the two superpowers at this stage that China assisted Third World countries regardless of costs.

3.3.2.1. Sino–Soviet conflicts in ideology and national interests China is a big country with thousands of years of civilization. It has been the aspiration of the entire nation to achieve national rejuvenation and an independent position on the international arena. This was true even in the most difficult times. Zhou Enlai summed this up nicely: “We should stick to a basic position in our diplomatic practice, namely, a position of independence for the Chinese nation, of selfdetermination and self-reliance and opposing any other country’s interference in China’s internal affairs.” His remarks explained how the leaders of New China thought about the conditions for implementing the “leaning to one side” strategy. At the very beginning of putting in practice the “leaning to one side” policy, Mao Zedong strongly requested the abolition of all the old unequal treaties and the two countries of China and the Soviet Union signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance based on mutual respect and equality. This “leaning to one side” policy ended when the first generation CPC leaders led by Mao Zedong firmly rejected the

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Soviet proposal of “jointly building” a long-wave radio station and submarine fleet, a proposal that impaired China’s sovereignty. This process actually reflected the conflict between China aspiring to realize the dream of a big country for maintaining independence and for national rejuvenation on the one hand and the Soviet Union attempting to put China onto its strategic track as it did to other smaller countries in Eastern Europe on the other. In this sense, the Sino–Soviet rupture or confrontation was unavoidable. Through the baptism of the Korean War and the war to resist the US in support of Vietnam, the participation in the Asian–African Conference and other major events in the 1950s, China’s international status had visibly enhanced and it undoubtedly started to act like a big power. In these circumstances, if the Soviet Union applied strong pressure to China, in particular, to forcefully drag China into its strategic orbit with its military superiority, it could only place Sino–Soviet relations onto the confrontational track further and further away up to the edge of a military conflict.46 The Sino–Soviet conflict started with ideology. Following the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Mao Zedong firmly supported the Soviet Union in the wake of the Polish and Hungarian incidents and in face of the West-staged anti-communist wave. Mao criticized Khrushchev for completely negating Stalin, but he tried to safeguard the Soviet image and the unity and solidarity of the socialist camp outside the socialist camp. At the Moscow Meeting of Representatives of Communist and Workers’ Parties in 1957, Mao Zedong used his persuasion power and worked with some East European countries that had complaints against the Soviet Union with a view to solidarity. He extorted that worldwide victory had yet to be won. There would be grave struggles ahead and the danger of war was still there. He spoke highly of the Moscow Meeting, saying that the Moscow Meeting showed the “solidarity of the socialist countries”, led by the Soviet Union. It showed the solidarity of the communists and workers’ parties the world over. Mao remarked: “The socialist camp must have 46

Li You-kun: Mao Zedong’s Diplomacy in Light of the National Interests, Journal of Henan University (Social Sciences Edition), 2010, Vol. 2, pp. 61–66.

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a leader, and that leader is the Soviet Union. The communist parties and the workers’ parties in the world must also have a head, the CPSU is the head. The solidarity of the international communist movement and the launch of the two satellites of the Soviet Union, these two things mark a new turning point in the balance of power between the two major camps.” He thus concluded that the situation at that point was characterized by the fact that the “East wind prevails over the West wind”. In other words, the forces of socialism were overwhelmingly superior to the forces of imperialism.47 Mao Zedong did not agree with the general line of the international communist movement of “peaceful coexistence, peaceful competition and peaceful transition” as adopted at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. The ideological conflict between China and the Soviet Union was mainly reflected on how to handle East–West relations, how to assess the world revolution and war, and how to build socialism in the two countries. The CPC and the CPSU were engaged in a heated debate over the general line of the international communist movement for “peaceful coexistence, peaceful competition and peaceful transition” at the Moscow Meeting in 1957. The Moscow Declaration that the 1957 Moscow Meeting finally adopted was a compromise document without bridging the differences on these issues. As a result, the Declaration mentioned both the possibility of a peaceful transition and the path of non-peaceful transition as well as the need to obtain a stable majority in parliament and the necessity to wage a wide range of mass struggle outside the parliament in order to thwart the resistance of the reactionary forces. Mao Zedong stood fast in defending the right of all nations to launch liberation movements, which was in conflict with the Soviet Union’s effort to ease East–West relations. Mao recognized that in Sino– Soviet relations, “Wrangling is inevitable. Let not one imagine that there is no wrangling between communist parties.” But when the Soviet Union sided with India in the Sino–Indian conflict and sought detente with the US in its diplomacy, Mao Zedong concluded that the Soviet Union had departed from Marxism–Leninism and pursued the 47

Li Caiyi: Ideology and National Interests in Mao Zedong’s Diplomatic Thoughts, Party History Research and Teaching, 2003, Vol. 6, pp. 29–35.

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line of “US–Soviet dominating the world through cooperation”. Therefore, the highest authority of the CPSU must have been usurped by a revisionist clique.48 Another important factor in the Sino–Soviet conflict was national interests. Mao Zedong expressed strong displeasure on the Soviet proposal to establish the long-wave radio station and the joint submarine fleet, regarding these proposals as detrimental to China’s state sovereignty. Mao gave a savage attack on the negative role that the Soviet Union played in the history of the Chinese revolution and on the Soviet great-nation chauvinism. Mao pointed out that the Soviet Union’s request that socialist countries should subject their diplomacy to its foreign policy and that China should abandon its nuclear weapons program and depend on the Soviet Union for a nuclear umbrella had undermined China’s national interests.

3.3.2.2. Sino–US confrontation The conflict over national interests was also the fundamental root cause for the confrontation between China and the US. Imperialist countries, including the US, had been the major cause of China’s century-old humiliation. The US policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the communists was aimed at dragging China into its postwar global hegemony track. All this had generated deep hostility among Chinese people against the US. Mao Zedong said at the preparatory meeting of the New Political Consultative Conference that China’s affairs must be decided and run by the Chinese people themselves, and no further interference, not even the slightest, will be tolerated from any imperialist country. It was an expression of hostility of New China against US Imperialism and it was also a manifestation of the “cleaning up the house before inviting guests” policy, which was part of the “leaning to one side” strategy. After the founding of New China, a series of incidents such as the US blockade, the Korean War, Vietnam War and the occupation of Taiwan had all further deepened China’s animosity toward the US. In these circumstances, 48

Ibid.

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whoever took office would find it very difficult to significantly improve Sino–US relations in the absence of profound changes in the global landscape. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, the US’s attempt to put China onto its post-war global hegemony track and the moves it took to blockade and contain the socialist China all ran counter to China’s desire for national rejuvenation and independence, which was the root cause of the tensed Sino–US relations over time, unless China gave up its aspiration for a big power status and for its national rejuvenation.

3.3.2.3. Developing relations with Third World countries Given the serious confrontation between China and both the US and the Soviet Union, it was not difficult to understand why China assisted Third World countries at any cost. The national strength of China was simply no match of that of either the Soviet Union or the US in the 1960s. The New China had no other way to counter the two superpowers, but to rely on the balance of power, or to achieve a “balance of power in the international context through change of allies and other means”. China was under tremendous political and security pressure from the US and the Soviet Union and was, in most cases, in greater need for alliance than small countries, not the other way round. Therefore, China had to provide small countries with as much assistance as possible so as to ensure that small countries stay in alliance for their gains. It is clear that China’s assistance to Third World countries regardless of the cost was mainly for the purpose of keeping the political alliance with Third World countries and for getting their political support. In a sense, it was a diplomatic measure that China had to take because it had no other choice. In reality, China’s assistance to Third World countries at all costs also brought great international prestige for China. That was an important reason why China was widely recognized as one of the major forces in the world in the 1970s. Delegates from Third World countries applauded and danced once it was announced that China’s seat in UN was restored to it, which demonstrated how Third World countries regarded China at the time. Among the 76 votes for the restoration of China’s seat in the

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UN, 26 were from African countries, which proved the importance of support from Third World countries to China’s aspiration for its big power status.

3.3.3. The Period of the “One-line” Strategy and the “Winning a Large Number of Intermediary Countries” Strategy After China and the Soviet Union were engaged in a border conflict, Mao Zedong and other CPC leaders had a strong sense of an imminent war threat and firmly embarked on the road of uniting the US against the Soviet Union once they ascertained that the US was ready to enter into strategic cooperation with China, which led to a revolutionary change in the Chinese diplomacy. It was a revolutionary change, not only because it completely changed the pattern of China’s diplomacy, but also because it was a strategic shift in that the national interests began to be placed in the center of the Chinese diplomacy.49 Nevertheless, ideology gave way to national interests only to a very limited extent. China was no longer swayed by ideological considerations in dealing with Western countries, but its ideological differences with the Soviet Union still remained.

3.3.3.1. Ideological considerations gradually giving way to the “one-line” strategy Chinese scholars generally agreed that the introduction of the “one-line” strategy helped break the ice of the Sino–US relations and gave impetus to the improvement of relations between China and Western countries, which led China out of the increasingly serious diplomatic dilemma that China was in. What was particularly important was that China was able to protect its national security from the serious Soviet threat and that China was freed from ideological shackles in handling its relations with other countries. But on the other

49

Niu Jun: The 1969 Sino–Soviet Border Conflict and Changes in China’s Foreign Policy Strategy, Contemporary China History Studies, 1999, Vol. 1, pp. 69–80.

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hand, a serious problem in China’s diplomacy at that time was to differentiate countries on the basis of their positions on the Soviet Union, which encouraged the US to seek hegemony and increased the difficulty in solving the Taiwan issue. More importantly, improved relations with Western countries were not fully reflected in the economic sphere. In addition, its conflicts with the Soviet Union led China into an incorrect interpretation of the international situation and encouraged the “leftist tendencies” in China’s domestic and foreign policies.50 Even so, from the perspective of national interests, the “one-line” foreign policy strategy was generally rational. Though the Soviet threat was over-estimated to some extent, it was nevertheless an indisputable fact that the Soviet Union adopted a highly centralized political and economic system, pursued hegemony in its relations with China and other socialist countries, had a tendency of resorting to force at will and posed the most serious threat to China’s national security or the number one enemy threatening China’s national security. It was an undeniable fact that the former Soviet Union massed one million troops along the Sino–Soviet border since the mid-1960s and provoked border incidents from time to time, which eventually led to the Sino–Soviet border conflict in 1969. Moreover, the former Soviet Union explored a variety of ways of possible military attacks against China, including a nuclear strike. The Soviet scheme was not materialized simply because of the firm opposition from the US for the sake of breaking the US–Soviet balance of power. Therefore, the first generation of the collective CPC leadership headed by Mao Zedong decided to forsake ideological differences and improve Sino–US relations, which, first and foremost, served to protect the most fundamental national security interests. This decision to improve relations with Western countries brought about the climax of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Western countries, which helped New China to gain international recognition and to have a foothold on the world stage. Furthermore, it contributed to the restoration of 50

Li You-kun: Mao Zedong’s Diplomacy in Light of the National Interests, Journal of Henan University (Social Sciences Edition), 2010, Vol. 2, pp. 61–66.

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China’s legitimate seat at the UN and to the formation of the triangular relationship among China, the US and the Soviet Union, which improved China’s international status and reputation largely. As Western scholars have commented, the international pattern in the period between 1971 and 1989 was therefore often described as that of the big strategic triangle composed of China, the US and the Soviet Union. Here, China’s role was possibly overestimated. But it showed that China became an important factor in determining the relations between the US and the Soviet Union.51 What was equally important was that improved political relations between China and the US laid a solid foundation for developing economic relations between China and the West, which was of great significance to the realization of China’s national interests. Deng Xiaoping believed that Mao Zedong “personally ushered in a new stage in Sino–American and Sino–Japanese relations”. By so doing, he created new conditions for the development of the worldwide struggle against hegemonism and for the future of world politics. Deng commented: “While conducting our modernization program in the present international environment, we cannot help recalling Comrade Mao’s contributions.”52 However, owing to its over-estimation of the Soviet threat and the prevailing “leftist” thinking in China, China made an inaccurate judgment on the international situation and put too much strategic emphasis on war preparation and the world revolution, which brought about great losses to its national interests. Among them, there were some most significant yet unnecessary losses. For example, China’s passive attitude toward the world peace movement, its remarks about the communist revolution in many Third World countries and its revolutionary rhetoric in the 1970s damaged China’s peaceful image. When commenting on ASEAN countries’ suspicion about China’s intention, even overseas Chinese scholars said that the “poor Chinese image” is partly due to “distorted international Cold

51 52

Ibid. Ibid.

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War politics” and partly due to ASEAN’s “misunderstanding” of some of the revolutionary rhetoric that China had coined.53 In the final analysis, the “one-line” strategy was successful in safeguarding China’s national security. It was even more so in face of the million-strong Soviet troops on the border. This strategy yielded satisfactory results in terms of gaining international reputation and international recognition for China. Due to an inaccurate judgment of the international situation, China’s goal to realize its development interests was delayed and its development interests were damaged to a certain extent. Despite this, the main body of China’s diplomacy was still widely considered as rational.54

3.3.3.2. Mao Zedong’s strategic thinking of the “Three Worlds” The implementation of the “one-line” policy and the “winning a large number of intermediary countries” strategy enabled China to rapidly develop its external relations. After observation and reflection over a period of time, Mao Zedong shared his strategic thinking with Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia, and mentioned the “Three Worlds” idea for the first time during the conversation in February 1974. Basically, according to this strategic idea, the world was divided into three worlds, namely, the US and the Soviet Union belonged to the First World; developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America the Third World; and developed countries between the two the Second World. China, being one of the Third World countries, should strengthen solidarity with the vast number of Third World countries, win over Second World countries and unite all forces against the control and oppression by the superpowers. In opposing hegemonism of both superpowers, i.e. the US and the Soviet Union, it was advisable to unite the one who posed lesser threat and focus on the more dangerous Soviet hegemonism. Mao Zedong’s strategic thinking of the “Three Worlds” ensured the stability of China’s foreign 53 54

Ibid. Ibid.

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policy in the later stage of the Cultural Revolution. Under the historical conditions at that time, this idea played an important role in guiding China’s diplomatic work, in firmly opposing superpower hegemony and the threat of war, in establishing and developing friendly relations and cooperation with Third World countries and other countries, as well as in the process of normalizing bilateral relations between China and the US.55

3.4. The Concept of National Interests in the Context of Reform and Opening Up (1979–Present) After the founding of the PRC, the CPC distinguished friends from foes by the social system and ideology they subscribed to, for quite a long period of time, which amounted to an almost alliance diplomatic strategy. Heavily influenced by the Cold War mentality, excessive emphasis was put on class struggle and on ideology. As a result, the deep-seated conflicts of national interests were overshadowed by superficial ideological differences and China’s foreign policy was very much tinted with ideological flavor, sometimes even subjecting the national interests to ideological needs. All this landed China in a very unfavorable surrounding and international environment for a long period of time and had seriously hampered China’s development. After the introduction of reform and opening up, the CPC inherited and developed the concept of national interests it embraced before reform and opening up. In terms of the basic position of the state sovereignty and national security in the overall national interests and in terms of unity between patriotism and internationalism, the CPC concept of national interests was consistent before and after the introduction of reform and opening up. What was different was mainly reflected in the sequence of different elements in the national interests, the fundamental objective of the foreign policy, the impact of ideology on diplomacy and the means to realize national interests. 55

CCCPC Party History Research Center: The History of the CPC, Vol. II (1949–1978), Beijing: CPC Party History Publishing House, 2011 Edition, pp. 896–898.

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3.4.1. As Seen by the Second Generation of CPC Central Collective Leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the Core56,57,58,59,60,61,62 After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the Chinese communists represented by Deng Xiaoping responded to changes in the domestic and international situations, forsook the Cold War mentality, started to analyze and consider issues from the height of international peace and internal development, and put forward that peace and development were the themes of the times. On the basis of summing up both positive and negative lessons learned in handling international relations after the founding of New China, they clearly identified the protection of national interests as the fundamental objective of the foreign policy, and ensured China a favorable position in the world and China’s survival and development in the international community. Deng Xiaoping was the first Chinese leader to explicitly propose basing China’s diplomacy on its national interests. Back in early 1981, Deng Xiaoping told the visiting Americans that the ideology the Chinese government follows was designed to destroy governments such as that of the US. He said that this concept came from neither the 1970s nor the 1980s, but rather was a viewpoint

56

CCCPC Party Research Literature Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition. 57 Hong Bing: National Interests, Beijing: Military Science Publishing House, 1999 Edition. 58 He Lasheng: On the Thoughts of Safeguarding National Interests of Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Strategy, Journal of Ideological and Theoretical Education, 2010, Vol. 3, pp. 15–20. 59 Li Zhifei: On Practice of Deng Xiaoping’s Concept of National Interests in Sino–US relations and Its Significance, Theory Monthly, 2007, Vol. 10, pp. 19–21. 60 Sun Jianshe: National Interests in Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Thinking, Contemporary World and Socialism, 2003, Vol. 1, 75–77. 61 Yan Xuetong: Deng Xiaoping’s View on National Interests, Contemporary International Relations, 1994, Vol. 7, pp. 28–32. 62 Liu Zhili: Theoretical Innovation in Deng Xiaoping’s Concept of National Interests and Its Contemporary Significance, Master Degree Thesis of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2003.

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prevalent prior to the 1960s. This showed the world that after reform and opening up, China no longer based its foreign relations on its ideology and social system. In the late 1980s, he made it clear that the national interests should be of the highest importance when handling international relations. In October 1989, he explicitly told the visiting former US President Richard Nixon: “In determining relations between two countries, each party should proceed from his country’s own strategic interests. I agree with that, but each country must at the same time respect the interests of the others. Each country, whether it is big or small, strong or weak, should treat others as equals, giving no thought to old scores or to differences in social systems and ideologies.” In pursuance of peace and development, the means to safeguard national interests also changed and the revolutionary struggle was no longer regarded as the primary means.

3.4.1.1. State sovereignty and national security as the most fundamental part of national interests Deng Xiaoping inherited Mao Zedong’s ideas about state sovereignty and security interests and he maintained that the top priority should always be given to national sovereignty and security, unswervingly placing these two aspects on top of all other aspects of the national interests. He solemnly declared to the world that China would base its diplomacy on maintaining independence; China would like to develop relations with all other countries; Chinese people value their friendship and cooperation with other countries and other peoples and value their hard-won independence and sovereign rights even more. Deng said: “No foreign country should expect China to be its vassal or to accept anything that is damaging to China’s own interests.” One of the important elements in the concept of the state sovereignty is a country’s independent jurisdiction of its territories free from external interference. Deng Xiaoping’s position and attitude on how to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao and on how to achieve the cross-strait reunification embodied his understanding of the state sovereignty, the fundamental national interests, and his approach toward state sovereignty. Knowing that the UK attempted to continue its governance of Hong Kong beyond 1997, Deng firmly told

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Margaret Thatcher in September 1982 that: “On the question of sovereignty, China has no room for maneuvers. To be frank, the question is not open to discussion… if we failed to recover Hong Kong in 15 years, the people would no longer have reason to trust us, and any Chinese government would have no alternative but to step down and voluntarily leave the political stage.” In addition, China handled its relations with the US on just grounds, to its advantage and with restraint, based on the principle of ensuring state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it forced the US to establish diplomatic relations with China on the premise of recognizing “one China”. The US has, in its official statements, stuck to the one-China stance. It appeared to stand for peaceful reunification across the Taiwan Strait and yet despicably set up obstacles wherever possible. Deng made it crystal clear that China stood for peaceful reunification, but would never undertake to renounce the use of force for the reunification of the country. He went further, saying that China wished to develop Sino–US relations, adding that however, if something forces a “regression” in relations, China will have no choice but to “face reality squarely”. These sonorous words fully reflected Deng Xiaoping’s firm decision to place the state sovereignty above all other elements among the national interests. When the Soviet leaders signaled their intention to improve relations with China in 1982, Deng Xiaoping thought it necessary to listen to what they said, but more importantly to watch what they did. So he proposed to the Soviet Union that it must take concrete steps to improve relations with China, in that it must, first of all, remove the “three obstacles” or dissolve the security threat posed by the Soviet Union against China over the years. These were the basic principles and main content that Deng Xiaoping set for Sino–Soviet negotiations on improving their relations. In 1989, the removal of the three major obstacles paved the way for the normalization of relations between the two countries.

3.4.1.2. Socialist modernization drive as the most important national interest Starting from the late 1970s, the international situation underwent gradual and yet profound changes. The US–Soviet-led international confrontation was easing off. With the establishment of Sino–US diplomatic

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relations and gradual improvement of Sino–Soviet relations, the external direct military threat against China largely diminished as well. In view of this changing situation, Deng Xiaoping readjusted his assessment, saying that there may well be no large-scale war for a “fairly long time to come” and that there is “hope of maintaining world peace”. It was on this understanding that Deng Xiaoping proposed to shift the focus of the country’s work to economic development after the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee. In 1979, he pointed out: “At the present time, socialist modernization is of supreme political importance for us, because it represents the most fundamental interest of our people.” He emphasized in 1980 in The Present Situation and the Tasks Before Us that the modernization drive involves many sectors, but economic development is the pivot. Any deviation from this pivotal task would endanger China’s material base. All other tasks must revolve around the pivot and must absolutely not interfere with or upset it — development is the absolute principle. Guided by Deng Xiaoping’s instructions, the CPC and the central government shifted their focus of work onto the socialist modernization, which was thereafter dynamically unfolded in full swing. Socialist modernization was an all-directional grand goal involving all sectors in which all sectors, organically and interdependently linked, played their respective roles and worked together to advance the process of the socialist modernization drive. Deng Xiaoping was soberly aware of the long-term and arduous nature of the socialist modernization drive, the most important national interests of China. Therefore, he concluded that to persistently continue the socialist modernization drive and achieve the projected goals, it was imperative to do the following: First, to build a social and political domestic environment of stability, unity and harmony; Second, to unswervingly focus on economic development without hesitation; Third, to work for a peaceful and stable international environment and a good surrounding environment; and fourth, to effectively strengthen the national defense and military development so that they would serve as a reliable and dependable security shield for China. Deng Xiaoping’s interpretation of the national interests was an important foundation for China’s foreign policy formulated under

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him. The ultimate goal of China’s independent foreign policy of peace was the realization of its most important national interests at the time. While identifying socialist modernization as the most important national interests of China, Deng Xiaoping clearly spelled out the goal of the foreign policy: “For the interest of our own country, the goal of our foreign policy is a peaceful environment for achieving the four modernizations.” He repeatedly reiterated this view thereafter. He made it even clearer in his conversation with the President of Brazil in May 1984, where he commented: “The aim of our foreign policy is world peace. Always bearing that aim in mind, we are wholeheartedly devoting ourselves to the modernization program to develop our country and to build socialism with Chinese characteristics.” It can be inferred that China’s independent foreign policy of peace is aimed at maintaining world peace internationally; and at creating a peaceful and favorable international environment for the socialist modernization drive as far as China’s own interests are concerned. China has adhered to independence in international affairs, pursued a truly non-aligned policy, opposed hegemonism and use of force or threat of force in resolving international disputes, and stood for peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts between countries. All these are aimed at regional stability and world peace. China does not believe in differentiating countries on the basis of their social systems and ideologies in foreign relations. Instead, China has developed relations with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence for the purpose of living with other countries in peace and harmony, and engaging in friendly cooperation for common development. It has implemented the opening-up policy and has opened itself to all countries in the world in order to: 1) speed up economic development; and 2) enhance friendship and cooperation with other countries to increase mutual understanding and expand common interests through exchanges with other countries. China has advocated and actively promoted the establishment of a just and reasonable new international order on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, for the purpose of reversing the growing development gap between the North and South countries and achieving a balanced and sustainable development for all countries on the basis of equality

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and mutual benefit as soon as possible. China has strengthened its unity and cooperation with other Third World countries in order to build up the international anti-hegemonic forces, promote democratization of international relations and safeguard world peace, which in turn will promote the establishment of a new international order and the development of Third World countries.

3.4.1.3. A flexible and pragmatic diplomatic strategy for national interests The biggest difference in the CPC’s concept of national interests before and after the introduction of reform and opening up was the way to achieve national interests. In Mao’s era, China advocated the philosophy of struggle in diplomacy. After the reform and opening up, things changed fundamentally. Believing that conflicts between nations were unavoidable, Deng Xiaoping did not think that all conflicts were irreconcilable or that force was the only viable way to resolve conflicts. Deng stressed that a better way to handle conflicts of interests between countries should be to find common ground. The two sides to a conflict of interests should try to identify their common interests and engage in friendly consultations so as to solve their conflict peacefully and enter into cooperation with each other. In any peaceful settlement, the two sides should try to accommodate, understand and take care of each other’s interests, treat each other as equals and seek mutual benefits. This was the only way to find a fair and reasonable solution, iron out differences over interests and solve disputes between nations peacefully. In consideration of all this, Deng Xiaoping expounded his views on a few specific issues. On Sino–Japanese relations, he suggested considering and developing Sino–Japanese relations from a long-term point of view because “cooperation benefits not just one side but both, the two countries and their people.” On how to resolve the contradictions in Sino–Indian relations, he pointed out in 1988 that it was actually very simple to solve the question about Sino–Indian relations and it could be solved as long as both sides respected each other’s interests and refrained from pursuing unilateral interests. As for Sino–US

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relations, he also emphasized that each country should proceed from its own long-term strategic interests, but at the same time respect the interests of the other. Deng firmly believed that each country, whether it is big or small, strong or weak, should respect others as equals, giving no thought to “old scores” or “differences in social systems and ideologies”. In the course toward normalization of Sino–Soviet relations, Deng Xiaoping insisted that the Soviet Union must remove the three major obstacles in the interest of China’s national security on the one hand and proposed to “put the past behind us and open up a new era” on the other. The “past” in Deng’s mind referred to not only the old scores in the history of Sino–Soviet relations, but also the main cause for the deterioration of Sino–Soviet relations, i.e. the unequal treatment accorded to China by the Soviet Union. Therefore, by “putting the past behind us and opening up a new era”, the Soviet Union must first correct its past errors, then the two countries could look forward and vigorously develop a good-neighborly relationship of friendship and mutual assistance on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Deng Xiaoping, a statesman with a penetrating mind, vigorously explored effective ways of settling international disputes in the new period. On the questions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, he initiated the idea of “one country, two systems”. He said: “One China, two systems... I think this is a sensible solution to many similar disputes in the world.” With regard to territorial disputes between China and some of its neighboring countries, Deng Xiaoping made tenacious efforts in an attempt to settle these territorial disputes on the conditions acceptable to all parties. Furthermore, he proposed to “put aside sovereignty and go in for joint development” as a first step in solving the disputes on sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and Nansha Islands. This was Deng Xiaoping’s bold vision and innovation on resolving territorial disputes. By “putting aside sovereignty”, he did not at all mean to give up all negotiations about sovereignty, but rather, to negotiate the sovereignty issue at a right time. What the model of “putting aside sovereignty and going in for joint development” first meant was that, when conditions were not ripe for resolving a territorial dispute, all parties involved in the dispute should base

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themselves on reality, respect the existing interests of the parties involved in the disputed area, do everything possible not to escalate conflicts between the parties while continuing their normal cooperation and waiting patiently for the best time to resolve their disputes, without going directly to tackling the ownership of the disputed territory right away.

3.4.1.4. China’s national interests consistent with the fundamental interests of the world Deng Xiaoping further developed Mao Zedong’s thinking on combining patriotism with internationalism but he was more realistic than Mao in this regard. First, Deng believed that the international contribution that China could make and had made should not be confined to political support and aid provision by China to other countries. The development and stability in China itself, as Deng believed, were also the greatest contribution that China made to the world. Deng Xiaoping said: “At present, we are still a relatively poor nation. It is impossible for us to undertake many international proletarian obligations, so our contributions remain small. However, once we have accomplished the four modernizations and the national economy has expanded, our contributions to mankind, and especially to the Third World, will be greater.” China is a force for peace, but it is still a minor one in terms of its ability to safeguard peace and deter war. Deng believed that when China is fully developed, that ability will be greatly enhanced; and when that time comes, China will surely play a bigger role in maintaining world peace and stability. Second, Deng Xiaoping believed that the Chinese interests were consistent with those of Third World countries, as China has always belonged to the Third World. China and many developing countries share a common language on many issues because they had very similar historical experiences and were faced with the same tasks. China would not have been able to protect its national interests without the support of Third World countries. Thanks to the cooperation and efforts that other developing countries had rendered to and made for

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China, China had its status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council restored to it in 1971. Deng Xiaoping told the visiting then President Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo of Brazil in 1984: “China belongs to the Third World today, and it will do so even when it becomes prosperous and powerful, because it shares a common destiny with all Third World countries.”

3.4.1.5. Establish a new international political and economic order in the interests of all countries Deng Xiaoping always maintained that the national interests of all countries were equal. One of the preconditions for realizing one’s national interests should be to recognize that other countries had their legitimate national interests. No country should try to achieve its own national interests at the cost of the interests of other countries. Deng Xiaoping advocated the establishment of a new international order as early as in 1974, in his speech at the UN General Assembly. In 1988, Deng once again raised the idea of establishing a new international order. He remarked: “The general world situation is changing, and every country is thinking about appropriate new policies to establish a new international order. Hegemonism, bloc politics and treaty organizations no longer work... Two things have to be done at the same time. One is to establish a new international political order; the other is to establish a new international economic order.” He went further, emphasizing that China should take Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as “norms for international relations”. The peaceful, stable, just and reasonable new international order to be established on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that Deng advocated should include the following strategic elements: to replace the unjust and unequal international economic relationship with a fair and reasonable international economic relationship based on equality and mutual benefit for the sake of common development and prosperity; to treat all countries, regardless of their size, wealth or strength, as equals and give all countries the right to participate in discussions and consultations on world affairs; to prohibit all countries from coercing smaller ones, bullying weak ones or oppressing

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poorer nations, not to allow one or two big powers or a few large countries to monopolize international affairs; to afford all countries the right to choose their own social systems, ideologies, economic modes and roads of development suited to their national conditions without interference by any other country in their internal affairs or a particular model imposed on them by others; to respect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and solve international disputes reasonably through negotiations, not through the use of force, armed invasion or means of war. A new international political and economic order based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as envisaged by Deng Xiaoping did not become a reality immediately. But it conformed to the trend of the times — peace and development — and reflected the interests of all countries, especially those of developing countries.

3.4.2. As Seen by the Third Generation of CPC Central Collective Leadership with Jiang Zemin at the Core63,64,65,66 After the end of the Cold War, the bipolar pattern crumbled, the US became the only superpower in the world, the Cold War mentality still lingered on in the world politics, and hegemonism and power politics remained the main source of threat to world peace and stability. At the same time, globalization continued to develop with great vitality; the world forces were undergoing a process of redivision and realignment with the international structure moving toward multipolarity; and peace and development remained the two main themes of the times. In response to the changes in the international situation and the needs 63

CCCPC Party Research Literature Office: Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vols. I, II and III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition. 64 Duan Liquan and Zhao Lixia: A Brief Analysis of Jiang Zemin’s Views on National Interests, Theory Horizon, 2007, Vol. 6, pp. 15–16. 65 He Kedong: New Contribution by Jiang Zemin to Deng Xiaoping’s Thought of International Strategy, Academic Forum, 2007, Vol. 9, pp. 27–30. 66 Pan Zhengxiang and Yang Yinghui: Jiang Zemin’s Views on National Interests, Hubei Social Sciences, 2007, Vol. 4, pp. 12–15.

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of China’s development, the Chinese communists represented by Jiang Zemin proposed and implemented a series of political, security and economic policies, including the Eight-Point Propositions proposed by Jiang Zemin, the “new security concept” and the “going abroad” strategy based on Deng Xiaoping’s concept of national interests and with a view to safeguard China’s sovereignty and security interests, and to create a more peaceful and stable international environment for China’s economic development. In addition, they vigorously advocated democratization of international relations, establishment of a new type of international economic cooperation and promotion of the diversification of the world’s civilizations. China’s peaceful development strategy was in the making.

3.4.2.1. State sovereignty and territorial integrity remaining the most basic national interests With the threat of hegemonism and power politics still there, state sovereignty and territorial integrity constitute the most basic national interests. Jiang Zemin solemnly reiterated at the UN Millennium Summit: “As long as boundaries exist between countries and people live in their respective countries, the highest interest of the government and people of every country will be to safeguard national independence and sovereignty. Without sovereignty, there can be no human rights to speak of.” State sovereignty outweighs human rights; and countries pursuing hegemony should not violate the interests of other countries in the name of protecting human rights. To safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity, Jiang Zemin put forward the Eight-Point Propositions on the development of cross-strait relations in firm compliance with the “one China” principle. China thwarted many attempts of a very small number of countries and the Taiwan separatist forces for Taiwan’s “independence”, and safeguarded and promoted the reunification of the motherland. Moreover, with the CPC’s guidance, China successfully resumed the exercise of sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macao in accordance with the principle of “one country, two systems” and thus the century-old dream of the Chinese nation was fulfilled.

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3.4.2.2. Create a peaceful international environment for economic development and reform and opening up in China Since reform and opening up, the domestic economic development has become the most important national interests in China. In order to create a peaceful international environment for domestic economic development and reform and opening up, the third generation of the CPC collective leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core advocated a new security concept predicated on mutual trust, based on mutual benefit, guaranteed by equality and sustained through collaboration. Jiang Zemin pointed out that security could not be guaranteed by an increase in arms, nor by military alliances — security should be based on mutual trust and common interests. The strategic relations of cooperation and partnership between China and Russia, the 21st century good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust between China and ASEAN and the 21st century Sino–Japanese good-neighborly friendship and cooperative relations, a constructive strategic partnership that China and the US have been trying to build, and in particular, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was jointly initiated by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have all represented new avenues for enhancing mutual trust and mutual benefit among countries and for maintaining regional and world peace.

3.4.2.3. Stand for democratization of international relations and oppose hegemonism and power politics After the end of the Cold War, hegemonism and power politics still present a threat and military clashes and local wars constantly break out over territory, ethnicity, religion and resources. This was detrimental not only to regional and world peace, but also to the integrity of sovereignty and the economic and social development in China. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Chinese communists represented by Jiang Zemin creatively put forward the proposition on democratization of international relations. In essence, it meant that the affairs of a country should be managed by the people of that country; international

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affairs should be handled by all countries through consultations on an equal footing; major issues concerning regional and world peace should be solved peacefully through consultations and negotiations in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the universally recognized basic norms guiding international relationship; and global challenges should be taken up by all countries through cooperation. Jiang further stressed that to achieve democratization of international relations, one must take a clear-cut stand against hegemonism and power politics, because he felt hegemonism and power politics had all along constituted the main obstacles to peace and development; and hegemonism and power politics remain the main source of threats to world peace and stability. Only if the people of all countries become united, and if all countries positively support the diversity of views in handling international affairs and promote the democratization of international relations and diversified development models, can we weaken hegemonism and power politics and prevent them from growing further.

3.4.2.4. Implement the “going abroad” strategy and establish new international economic relations for mutual benefits and common development After the end of the Cold War, economic globalization exhibited an irreversible growing momentum. The free movement and allocation of commodities, technologies, information — and in particular, capital — on a global scale have landed all countries, both developed and developing ones, in a very complicated situation in which all economies are intertwined and interlinked. This is the general background against which a country may seek to realize its own interests. Jiang Zemin remarked: “With economic factors gaining increasing importance in international relations, the competition in overall national strength on the basis of economic, scientific and technological strength is increasingly becoming the decisive factor in determining a country’s international standing… Putting the economy first has become the trend in the world. This is an inevitable development as time and history progress. At present, economic development is the top priority for all

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countries… Economic factors are indeed increasingly emerging as a key element in present-day international relations.” Economic globalization is a double-edged sword. It provides all countries with favorable conditions and opportunities for their economic development and also entails risks and security issues of different degrees for them. With the old international economic order not yet fundamentally changed, developed countries were the biggest beneficiaries of economic globalization while developing countries were in general at a disadvantage. In these circumstances, Jiang Zemin proposed the “going abroad” strategy and envisaged a new international economic relationship of mutual benefits and common development. Jiang stressed that it was imperative to actively participate in cooperation and competition on the international market, expand international economic and technological cooperation in areas and channels, make full use of both domestic and international markets and achieve an optimal allocation of global resources. He emphasized: “We must lose no time in going abroad and encouraging our enterprises to realize their full potential on the international economic arena. This going abroad strategy, if properly implemented, is of extreme importance to enhancing the driving force and staying power for China’s economic development and to its long-term development.”

3.4.2.5. Build a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, promote cultural diversity of the world and develop advanced Chinese culture Culture is an important cohesive and inspiring force for a country and a nation. It is an important symbol and component of the aggregate national strength of a country and a nation. In the present-day world, culture interacts with economy and political activities, and its status and functions are increasingly becoming more prominent in the competition for the greatest overall national strength. The power of culture is deeply rooted in the vitality, creativity and cohesion of a nation. Jiang emphasized that all Party members must fully understand the strategic significance of cultural development and help the socialist culture develop and flourish. Advanced culture, as the soul and blood

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of a nation, has always been a spiritual bond uniting the people in a common struggle. In view of the developmental trend of the times, Jiang Zemin creatively put forward the concept of national cultural interests and the core of the concept was “adhering to the direction of the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, promoting the world’s cultural diversity and making great efforts to build China’s advanced culture”. Adhering to the direction of the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics means taking Marxism-Leninism, the Mao Zedong Thought, the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thinking of the “Three Represents” as China’s guidance, applying the socialist ideology and culture to its ideological and cultural work, carrying forward the fine traditions of the national culture, fostering and promoting the national spirit, supporting a healthy culture, and resisting resolutely the corrosive influence of decadent Western ideas. While adhering to the direction of the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, it is also necessary to actively promote the cultural diversity of the world. Jiang Zemin saw the world as “diverse and colorful”. The diversity of civilizations is a basic feature of human society and also the driving force for the progress of human civilization. Culturally, we should learn from one another and work for common prosperity and should not exclude the other nations’ cultures. To advocate cultural diversity in the world in this manner helps to upgrade the cultural concept from a simple cultural value to a strategy of foreign cultural exchanges. International cultural exchanges and drawing upon each other’s cultural strength serve to promote the collective prosperity of the world’s cultures and civilizations, advance the world toward multipolarity and maintain world peace and stability.

3.4.3. Fresh Progress in the Concept of National Interests and the Chinese Diplomacy by the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary Since the beginning of the 21st century, changes have taken place in the international and domestic situations. Internationally, the 9/11 attacks have subjected the US and Western countries to an endless war against

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terrorism. The US’s strength has been tied up and there has been an accelerated movement toward multipolarity in the international pattern. At the same time, globalization has also produced a negative impact. Regional conflicts erupted from time to time, coupled with complex regional hotspot issues. The gap between the North and the South widened further and people in some countries have to worry about their basic livelihood and safety. International terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism are still fairly active in many areas. Transnational problems such as environmental pollution, drug trafficking, transnational crimes, and serious infectious diseases have become increasingly prominent. The outbreak of the 2008 international financial crisis has dragged the world into economic recession. But for China, the beginning of 21st century has been a period of “strategic opportunity”. Thanks to the CPC leadership, China has registered a rapid economic growth. Even the international financial crisis has not significantly slowed down its economic growth. But with economic growth, there has been a tendency toward a widened gap between the rich and the poor, and the diversified needs and interests of the people. With its accession to the WTO, China has had much stronger economic ties with the global economy, with substantially growing Chinese interests abroad and greater need for the international system and global governance. In the meantime, the “China threat theory”, “China to blame theory” and other such allegations have cropped up from time to time in the West. With international and domestic issues intertwined and interacting with each other, internal policy or foreign policy alone is no longer adequate to ensure a healthy economic and social development in China. In this context, the Chinese communists with Hu Jintao as General Secretary realized that in face of increased risks and challenges, to seek peace, pursue development and promote cooperation have become an inevitable trend of the times. The CPC has defined China’s core national interests, developed a comprehensive security concept, put more emphasis on the role of the multilateral platform in diplomacy, formed the foreign policy strategy of peaceful development on the basis of taking both international and domestic situations into consideration and put forward the proposition of building a harmonious world under the

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premise of a coordinated and balanced development of China’s national interests and the interests of all mankind.

3.4.3.1. China’s core interests brooking no infringement With the development of globalization and the growth of China’s economic strength, China has had increasingly more contacts with its neighboring countries and the world in general. Naturally, there have been frictions and conflicts between countries sometimes. Many departments in China have had the tendency of broadly defining national interests in their external contacts. There must be a clear and accurate definition of the national interests, for one to know what role they should or should not play; so one can keep a clear head in the complicated international political and economic environment and handle the situation with ease. The core national interests of China should be understood at three levels: first, the stability of the state system, the government and the political situation in China, namely, the leadership of the CPC, the socialist system and the socialist road with Chinese characteristics; second, the security of China’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity; and third, the basic guarantee of China’s sustainable economic and social development.67 These core interests absolutely brook no encroachment or damage. China’s foreign policy and diplomacy must serve to “safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests”. All the achievements and progress that China has made since the reform and opening up should, in the final analysis, be attributed to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the socialist theory system with Chinese characteristics. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has been the most important achievement of the reform and opening-up program and the most fundamental source for all the achievements. The stability of the state system, the government and the political situation in China is the cornerstone on which China has

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Dai Bingguo: China’s Core Interests in Three Areas, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC’s website, December 8, 2010, http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/ detail_2010_12/07/3379812_1.shtml, accessed September 16, 2013.

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achieved development and progress, and therefore, stability must never be disrupted. The financial security, energy security, export markets security, industrial security and water resources security all provide the basic guarantee for China to achieve sustainable development. Insecurity in any of these areas would threaten the very survival and development of the Chinese nation. The CPC is bound to make every effort to protect the security in all these areas. Many Chinese scholars of international relations believe that the most critical core national interests of China lie with state sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Taiwan issue and problems related to Tibet and Xinjiang all involve China’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity and have therefore affected the national feelings of the 1.3 billion Chinese people. Being the faithful representative of the interests of the Chinese nation, the CPC and its leaders will never make the slightest compromise on these issues. On the Taiwan issue, the CPC has always pursued the basic principle of “peaceful reunification” and “one country, two systems”. It has never allowed and will never allow the separation of Taiwan from China and has never undertaken to renounce the use of force, given the actions taken by a very small number of separatists for “Taiwan independence”. In recent years, the CPC and the “pan-blue camp” in Taiwan have made efforts and the cross-strait relations have seen positive and significant progress. The two sides have signed a framework agreement on economic cooperation, which has opened up broader prospects for a peaceful development of the cross-strait relations. China will continue to explore ways of peaceful settlement of the Tibet and Xinjiang issue.

3.4.3.2. Response to traditional and non-traditional security issues with a holistic security concept to ensure security and stability in surrounding areas With the rise of China, some neighboring countries and dominant countries of the world system have changed their attitude toward China, trying to check China’s development by creating incidents within and around China. The overlapping collisions between the

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domestic economic and social developments in China and globalization have made it more difficult for the CPC and the Chinese government to safeguard national security. For example, the Chinese military has to consider not only possible traditional military threats by some countries, but also transnational issues such as terrorism and piracy, as well as international cooperation actions such as China’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions. In addition, China must cooperate with other countries in ensuring the stability of the global financial market in order to protect its own economic security. All this means that it is almost impossible for China to make a clear distinction between friends and foes. It is very difficult for China to balance between taking care of the traditional political and military concerns and the ever-expanding social and economic interests. The best choice for the CPC is to give holistic considerations to both the economic and non-traditional security concerns and the traditional military and political interests, and to form a comprehensive security concept. While strengthening economic ties with other big powers, China should try its utmost to reduce the possibility of a military or political confrontation with them. Over the past year, we have seen frequent incidents in China’s surrounding areas, attracting worldwide attention. China has not changed its foreign policy of “fostering an amicable, peaceful and prosperous neighborhood”. The goal of its Asia–Pacific strategy is to create a stable and enabling surrounding environment for China’s domestic development. There is no exclusive clause in the bilateral and multilateral agreements that China has signed with other Asian countries. China is open-minded to regional cooperation in the hope that there will be mutual benefits and win-win results for all the state parties to these agreements. China wishes to always be a good friend, good neighbor and good partner of ASEAN and other Asian countries. China will continue to promote the development of cooperation frameworks in its surrounding areas, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the “10 + 3” cooperation framework. China aims at peacefully resolving territorial disputes left over from history through cooperation based on mutual benefits and win-win results and the maintenance of a stable surrounding environment.

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3.4.3.3. Focus on functional issues, undertake international obligations and promote transformation of the global governance mechanism through the multilateral platform At the beginning of reform and opening up, the CPC identified the maintenance of world peace and promotion of common development as one of the three historical missions for China. In recent years, it has given more attention and input to regional and international affairs. First, China has actively participated in the world’s response to global issues such as on energy, food, climate change, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious diseases and the financial crisis, and in finding solutions to regional hotspot issues such as the Korean nuclear issue, the Iran nuclear issue, the Arab–Israeli conflict and Sudan’s Darfur issue. Second, China has taken an active part in the building of international system. China is a responsible member of the international system and it is a beneficiary, builder and contributor of the system. The existing international system is by no means perfect. It needs to progress with the times and become more fair and reasonable through reform and improvement. China is ready to participate in this process with a more positive attitude toward the future. It is ready to participate in the reform of the international financial system, the development and improvement of the G20 and other international mechanisms, and it will continue to fulfill its international responsibilities and obligations consistent with its national strength. Third, China has vigorously involved itself in advancing the development agenda. China has concentrated on its own development on the one hand. China’s development is an important part of the world development and the more it develops, the more it will be able to contribute to the world. On the other hand, as an important participant in and a critical driving force for the world’s development, China wishes to work together with other countries in the world to implement the UN Millennium Development agenda and promote the prosperity and progress of the world.

3.4.3.4. Enhance capacity to protect China’s overseas interests in the spirit of putting people first With an expansion of its contacts with the outside world, China has seen its interests abroad grow continuously. The overseas interests of a

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country mainly include: the personal safety and property security of its citizens or nationals residing abroad; the political, economic and military interests of the country outside its border, and the safety and security of its embassies, consular posts and other institutions and companies abroad; and the safety and security of its transportation lines and means of transport outside its territory. General Secretary Hu Jintao stressed at the 10th Conference of Chinese Diplomatic Envoys that China should also enhance the capability of protecting the interests overseas, improve relevant laws and regulations, strengthen the priorwarning and fast-response system, improve the style of work and enthusiastically serve Chinese citizens and legal persons in foreign countries. Over the past few years, the Chinese government has, in the spirit of putting people first and conducting diplomacy for the people, made great efforts to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and citizens abroad, carried out a number of evacuation operations when there were turbulence and unrests in some countries. All these have won China praises in the media both at home and abroad. After the outbreak of the financial crisis, the Chinese state leaders have, on many occasions, asked the US and other countries to effectively protect the Chinese assets in their countries. The Chinese navy has carried out uninterrupted escort operations to combat piracy and protect the safe navigation on the Indian Ocean route. These escort operations have protected not only Chinese merchant ships, but also foreign merchant ships.

3.4.3.5. Take the road to peaceful development and build a harmonious world 68,69 The road to peaceful development is a brand new development that the central collective leadership, with Hu Jintao as General Secretary, has proposed, in light of the profound epoch characteristics and the

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Dai Bingguo: China’s Core Interests in Three Areas, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC’s website, December 8, 2010, http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/ detail_2010_12/07/3379812_1.shtml, accessed September 16, 2013. 69 News Office of the PRC State Council: China’s Peaceful Development Road, December 2005.

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national conditions in China, taking into consideration both the overall domestic and international situations, and drawing on the development experiences and lessons of other big countries. It is both a major choice that China has made for its development strategy and an important announcement that China has issued to the world on its foreign strategy. In sum, China’s road of peaceful development features “five emphases”. First, it emphasizes the peaceful nature of development. China will not seek development through aggression, plunder, war or expansion, as Western powers have done. On the contrary, China will serve world peace with its own strength, combining development and peace into an integral whole. Second, it emphasizes the independent nature of development. Maintaining independence is a fundamental feature of China’s diplomacy and self-reliance is its fine tradition. For more than thirty years, China has always based its development within China and has focused on domestic development. It has pursued development mainly through reform and opening up, and by relying on the wisdom and diligence of the Chinese people, on expanding its domestic demand and on transforming its economic development model. Third, it emphasizes the scientific approach to development. In accordance with the requirements of the scientific outlook on development for a people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, efforts have been made to vigorously promote both a sound and fast economic development and the building of a harmonious society so that there will be a good domestic environment for peaceful development. Fourth, it emphasizes the cooperative nature of development. China is a member of the international community. It serves the interests of China and other countries alike, so long as all countries share both benefits and responsibility in the spirit of standing together in weal and woe. In terms of state-to-state relations, China stands for friendship, not hostility; cooperation, not confrontation; mutual trust, not mutual distrust; and equal treatment, not imposing one’s will on others. Fifth, it emphasizes the commonality of development. China believes that its national interests are consistent with the common interests of mankind. China has endeavored to pursue the common development of all countries

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while seeking its own development. It will never do anything to benefit itself at the expense of others. China knows full well that if one wants to achieve development, one must let others develop too. Similarly, if you want to have security, you must let others enjoy security; and if you want to lead a better life, you had better let others lead a better life too. By adhering to the road of peaceful development, China has declared to the world how China will achieve development and revitalization. In essence, it is the CPC’s strategy for national development. By promoting the building of a harmonious world, China has told the world what kind of the world that China wishes to see and what kind of international order that China is committed to establish. In essence, it is the CPC’s proposition for a new international order and its proposed code of conduct for the new order. The building of a harmonious world should be based and predicated on the road of peaceful development. The former is the inevitable requirement of the latter. China has insisted on the integral unity between the two, pursuing both patriotism and internationalism. Continuing on the road of peaceful development, China will enable over one fifth of the world population to live a better life, which itself is a great contribution to mankind as a whole and will make the world a more harmonious place to live. By declaring to the world and repeatedly stressing that China will adhere to the path of peaceful development, China has expressed its sincere desire for peaceful development and also its hope to see more countries take the road of peaceful development. If this is achieved, a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity will not be far away. Furthermore, if the world becomes more harmonious, then China will in turn be able to enjoy a more smooth sailing road toward peaceful development. In this sense, to take the path of peaceful development and build a harmonious world are two mutually reinforcing goals, and neither cannot be achieved in isolation.

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CHAPTER FOUR

Scientific Outlook on Development and China’s Diplomacy ZHANG Haibing

The scientific outlook on development is a theory of seeking and promoting development that the CPC has come up with for the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and in light of the realities in China and the world as a whole. It is a continuation and development of the important thoughts on development advanced by the three generations of the CPC central collective leadership and a concentrated expression of the Marxist world outlook and methodology with regard to development. It is a scientific theory that is in the same line as Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of the “Three Represents” that keeps abreast of the times. It is an important guiding principle for China’s economic and social development and a major strategic thought that China must uphold and apply in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.1 This creative idea and mindset of the scientific outlook on development has not only supplemented “peace and development” — the themes of the times, but has also further enriched China’s diplomacy for peace. Since the introduction of reform and opening up, China has creatively implemented the scientific outlook on development in diplomacy under the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory, and put in place the rudiments of its own diplomacy theory system, advocated the grand goal of building a harmonious world and improved its 1

Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, People’s Daily, October 25, 2007.

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concepts on international cooperation, national interests, the international system, coordination between internal and external affairs, as well as diplomatic values.2 The impact of the scientific outlook on development on China’s diplomacy is two-fold. First, it defines the ultimate mission and objectives of China’s diplomacy in the new era, i.e. serving China’s development in a scientific manner. Second, it provides a theoretical guidance and practical anchoring for scientifically advancing China’s diplomacy. Under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development in an attempt to achieve development through peace, opening up, and cooperation. China has found a path of socialist diplomacy with Chinese characteristics guided by the scientific outlook on development. This has not only demonstrated the diplomatic charm of China as a big developing country, but has also injected new thoughts and vitality into the contemporary theory and practice of international relations.

4.1. Scientific Outlook on Development Formed amid Challenges Founded in the semi-colonial and semi-feudalist society, the CPC has always taken it as its major historical mission to save the Chinese nation and realize independent development of China. In the 21st century, with increasing globalization and developments in information technology, industrialization, urbanization and the market economy, China has enjoyed vigorous development, with a steadily growing economy and overall national strength. China became the world’s second largest economy in 2010. Its tremendous achievements in development have attracted worldwide attention. On the other hand, however, China is faced with more and more challenges and new opportunities in its development. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary has 2

Yang Jiemian: Innovation in China’s Diplomacy and Theories in the 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up. In Zhang Deguang (ed.), Global Financial Crisis and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, p. 85.

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advocated the scientific outlook on development. This important strategy has been formulated in light of China’s basic national conditions in the primary stage of socialism and the international and domestic environment, on the basis of a scientific analysis of the features and demands of China’s development at the new historical starting point, and in response to the new requirements for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects as well as for socialist modernization.

4.1.1. Formulation of the Scientific Outlook on Development The scientific outlook on development, a result of summing up the practices of reform and opening up, reflects the CPC’s new understanding of development, embodies the pressing need to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and conforms to both the trend of our times and the national reality of China.3 It has been formulated in response to the new requirements of development based on the basic national conditions of China in the primary stage of socialism, its practices in development and development experiences of other countries. The scientific outlook on development has taken shape through a process of gradual evolution from its first proposal to a full-fledged theory. As early as at the 2nd Meeting of the 3rd Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2003, then President Hu Jintao brought up the concept of the scientific outlook on development and expounded the idea about seeking development in a scientific way. He pointed out: “To adopt and implement the scientific outlook on development, which embraces a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, is of major significance for putting into practice the strategic thinking of development which is of paramount importance. The scientific outlook on development reflects our 20 plus years of experience in reform and opening up, an important inspiration we have got from our victory over SARS and also a pressing need to build a moderately 3

Party History Research Center of the CPCCC: A Brief History of the CPC in the New Period, Beijing: CPC Party History Press, 2009 Edition, p. 168.

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prosperous society in all respects. To realize the grand goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we must develop our economy, improve democracy, achieve progress in science and technology, boost cultural creativity, build a more harmonious society and ensure a better life for people. To this end, it is imperative to promote a coordinated development of the socialist material civilization, political civilization, and cultural and ethical progress. It is also important to pursue social progress in every aspect and an all-round development of mankind on the basis of economic development. Furthermore, it is necessary to seek harmony between man and nature and a sustainable social and economic development in the process of exploring and utilizing the nature. This concept of development conforms to the objective law of social development.”4 The scientific outlook on development has been adopted in response to the needs of and practice in China’s development in the current stage. China is faced with new issues for its development at the new stage of the new century and there are features unique to development at this stage, which are mainly embodied in the following six aspects: First, in spite of the markedly increased economic strength, its productive forces are yet to be enhanced, its capabilities for independent innovations are inadequate and its structural problems and extensive growth mode that have existed for a long time call for a fundamental change. Against the big backdrop of the international financial crisis, it has become all the more urgent to transform the economic growth mode and to change or readjust the trade pattern relying excessively on the low-end processing industry for too long. Second, although the socialist market economic system has, by and large, been put in place, development-hindering factors in mechanisms still exist. As reform deepens, we come across deep-rooted contradictions and problems, making the in-depth reform increasingly more difficult. In particular, it has become ever more pressing to push forward coordinated economic and political structural reforms. Third, although the Chinese people have generally enjoyed a moderately 4

Party Literature Research Office: Selected Important Documents since the 16th CPC National Congress, Vol. I, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2005 Edition, p. 483.

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well-to-do life now, thanks to more than 30 years of efforts in reform and opening up, the trend of the widening income gap is yet to be reversed, and the number of people in poverty and the size of the lowincome population are not insignificant. Agriculture, farmers and rural areas are still China’s long-term development priorities. With a weak agricultural foundation and lagged-behind rural areas, it is a long-term and formidable task for China to narrow the gap in development between the urban and rural areas and between different regions, and to achieve a balanced economic and social development. Fourth, although the socialist democracy has continued to develop and the fundamental principle of rule of law has been implemented, we are aware that the current state of democracy and the legal system are somewhat incompatible with the demand to expand people’s democracy and promote economic and social development. It is necessary to deepen the political structural reform. All this is a test of the CPC’s governance wisdom. Fifth, China should develop and improve the socialist culture in order to meet the growing cultural needs of the people. While advocating cultural pluralism, China still has a lot to do in providing guidance to cultural development, advancing cultural essence, getting rid of cultural dross and establishing new socialist cultural values. Sixth, with a visible impact of the international situation and factors on China’s domestic development and growing interaction between the two, there have been many unpredictable factors in China’s efforts to maintain a good momentum of economic and social development, giving consideration to both international and domestic situations and to the development needs of both China and other countries. All in all, a sustained good development momentum is vital to the settlement of all issues. Chinese problems must be solved through development, so must the world’s problems. Development is the shared task of the human society. To settle the current problems in China’s economic and social development, it must first and foremost have a correct cognitional understanding of seeking development in a scientific manner. The reason why the scientific outlook on development will guide China’s economic and social undertakings into a sound and rapid development is exactly because the Marxist historical materialism is

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the theoretical basis for this concept.5 The scientific outlook on development has, by applying the propositions, views and methodologies of the dialectical materialism and historical materialism, answered such important questions as what kind of development China should pursue and how to achieve the desired kind of development. It reflects the CPC’s latest understanding of the laws of governance by the Communist Party, of building socialism and the evolution of the human society. Therefore, the scientific outlook on development is of a universal significance for guiding development in the new stage of the new century. The formulation of the scientific outlook on development is by no means fortuitous. It is of profound relevance to the reality. The scientific outlook on development, proceeding from the overall arrangements for building socialism with Chinese characteristics and with a view to building a strong and modern socialist country of prosperity, democracy, advanced culture and social harmony, calls on us to advance economic, political, cultural and social development, improve the development road, model and strategy of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, it is of long-standing guiding significance for building socialism with Chinese characteristics and hence the major strategic thinking that China must embrace and apply in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. On the one hand, in view of somewhat uneven development in certain regions and sectors in the course of China’s development, the scientific outlook on development, for the purpose of a sound and rapid economic and social development, has offered a new way of thinking, aiming at a coordinated development between urban and rural areas, between different regions and between economic and social sectors, at a harmonious development between man and nature, and at a balanced development between domestic economy and opening up. It has identified a correct path of China’s economic and social development. It is therefore a major guiding principle for China’s economic and social development. On the other hand, the scientific outlook on 5

Wang Weiguang: Basic Issues on the Scientific Outlook on Development, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, p. 29.

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development is also a result of drawing upon the development experience of other countries. Practice across the world has shown us that development is by no means confined to economic growth only. It means an all-round and coordinated development in the economic, political, cultural and social sectors. It should also mean a sustainable development featuring harmony between man and nature. Being the largest developing country in the world, China has to accomplish both the tasks of industrialization and modernization and is under the dual pressure of accelerating economic growth and going easy on natural resources and protecting environment. This means that China cannot follow the other countries’ old pattern of “treatment after pollution”. Instead, China must find a new path of development with Chinese characteristics. It is precisely on the basis of drawing upon profound lessons of other countries on development that the scientific outlook on development has been formulated. It conforms to the trend of development in today’s world and reflects the latest development theory in the world. The scientific outlook on development has given us ideas and strategy for further promoting China’s economic reform and development. The fact that the scientific outlook on development has been identified as the fundamental guiding principle for economic and social development testifies to the new level that the CPC has reached in understanding the laws of building socialism, social development and governance by the Communist Party. It represents the latest achievement in applying Marxism to China and a new level or stage at which China has combined Marxism with the new conditions in China. The scientific outlook on development is a result of summing up the historical experience of the CPC in the past 90 glorious years and a fundamental guiding principle for future development in China, and it will surely have a far-reaching impact on China’s diplomacy in the new era.

4.1.2. Connotations of the Scientific Outlook on Development In his report to the 17th CPC National Congress on 15 October 2007, then President Hu Jintao gave a comprehensive and systematic

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account of the scientific outlook on development, including its connotations and requirements. The scientific outlook on development takes development as the key link, putting people first as the core value, seeking a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development as the basic requirement, and giving overall consideration to all aspects as the fundamental approach. With a holistic approach to seeking organic unity of all interrelated aspects, the scientific outlook on development is in essence aiming at a rapid and sound economic and social development. It profoundly reflects the CPC’s new cognition of development, the new developments in the economic, political and cultural fields in today’s world, and new requirements of China’s economic and social development in the critical era. The connotations and basic requirements of the scientific outlook on development are as follows:6 — We must always put people first. That means we must aim at an all-round development of the people, seek and promote development for the fundamental interests of the people, steadily meet their growing material and cultural needs, effectively protect their economic, political and cultural rights and interests, and make sure that development achievements benefit all the people. — We must pursue comprehensive development. That means we must focus on economic development and at the same time promote an all-round development in all sectors, including the economic, political, cultural and social sectors, so as to advance economic development and social progress across the board. — We must promote a balanced development. That means we must seek a coordinated development between the urban and rural areas, between different regions, and between the economic and social sectors, and pursue development without prejudicing the harmony between man and nature, between domestic development and opening up, between the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the 6

Zhao Xueqing et al.: A Study of the Scientific Outlook on Development, Beijing: People’s Daily Press, 2008 Edition, p. 1.

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economic base so as to achieve a coordinated development of all sectors and all aspects, including the economic, political, cultural and social sectors. — We must strive for sustainable development. That means we must promote harmony between man and nature, instead of disrupting harmony between economic growth on the one hand, and population, resources and the environment on the other. We must stick to the civilized development model of increasing productivity, ensuring our people a well-off life and protecting a good ecological environment, so that our people may enjoy development from generation to generation. The core of the scientific outlook on development is to do everything for the people and serve the people. To pursue development is for the people, in terms of improving the well-being of all the people. China should do everything for the people and by relying on the people. This is decided by the Marxist historical materialism and values. And this is also the driving source for the CPC. The scientific methodology of the Marxist dialectical materialism forms the theoretical basis of the scientific outlook on development, whose specific mandates include increasing the productivity to the maximum extent and promoting a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development of all social undertakings by applying the scientific methodology of the Marxist dialectical materialism and by analyzing and handling all development-related issues in a timely and truthful manner. The ultimate goal is to promote development of productivity and all social undertakings, serve the fundamental interests of the people and build a harmonious society with moderate prosperity. In essence, the scientific outlook on development is the Marxist development concept. The quintessence of this Marxist concept lies in the dialectical cognition of history and world outlook, a systemic and comprehensive concept of development that gives priority to both economic growth and political and cultural development. Applying the Marxist world outlook and methodology, the scientific outlook on development combines theory with practice and gives a comprehensive and systemic answer to basic questions such as what

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socialist-style development is, why it is necessary to pursue development and how to achieve that. It reveals the fundamental laws and features of the development road, models, strategies, goals and means toward the socialist modernization, and it covers all sectors of economic, political, cultural and social development. Therefore, the scientific outlook on development is a comprehensive development concept, incorporating the basic laws of comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development of human society. Based on the historical and present development experience of all countries, a sustainable development must ensure sustainability in three areas, i.e. material resources, cultural resources, and political resources.7 These three types of resources are all indispensable. Material resources provide the basic material foundation and precondition for social and economic development. With regard to the consumption of energy, resources and the environment, China must take into account both the immediate interests and the long-term interests of utilizing resources in a sustainable way. At present, China is at the critical stage of industrialization and urbanization. It is a strategic option for China to make every effort to effectively and scientifically utilize its energy and natural resources as this is, in the long-term, vital to a sustainable development of the Chinese nation and of mankind. Cultural and human resources are a key factor that carries forward civilization and social progress. They are also the fundamental driving source for promoting changes in the productive forces and in social development. The long-term competitiveness of the country hinges on inheriting, fostering and developing the cultural and human resources. The sustainability of political resources provides an institutional guarantee for development in a scientific way. Without a stable political structure and system to back the development, there would be no basic conditions for development. In this sense, the system itself constitutes a productive force. In sum, the scientific outlook on development is a guiding principle provided for by the CPC Constitution. It is a development of 7

Wang Weiguang: Basic Issues on the Scientific Outlook on Development, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, pp. 17–18.

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Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought by the fourth generation of the collective leadership with Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. It is an important component of the theory system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

4.1.3. Significance of the Scientific Outlook on Development The scientific outlook on development and the theory of building a socialist harmonious society are the most important major strategic theories initiated by the 16th CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary, under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important idea of “Three Represents” to meet the needs of building socialism with Chinese characteristics at the new stage in the new century. Like Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important idea of “Three Represents”, they are the latest achievements of applying Marxism in China.8 Among the theory system of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the scientific outlook on development has made new contribution in the following manners: it has made new exploratory efforts and found answers to three fundamental questions (What is socialism and how to build socialism? What should a ruling party be like and how to strengthen the ruling party? And what kind of development should we seek and how to achieve it?). The scientific outlook on development has also deepened our understanding of the three fundamental laws, i.e. the law of building socialism, the law of governance by the Communist Party, and the law of evolution of human society. Therefore, the scientific outlook on development is the overarching and fundamental strategy for building a socialist harmonious society. More specifically, the important significance of this concept can be appreciated for the reasons detailed below. First, guided by the Marxist world outlook and methodology, the scientific outlook on development has summarized the successful experience in China’s modernization drive, drawn upon useful 8

Wang Weiguang: Basic Issues on the Scientific Outlook on Development, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2007 Edition, p. 1.

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lessons of other countries in development, profoundly analyzed defects in the traditional notions on development, comprehensively revealed the rich connotations of development and greatly enriched and advanced the thoughts on development by the three previous generations of the CPC collective leadership. Its paramount principle is to achieve development. That means China must never deviate from the beliefs that “development is the most important” and that “development is of overwhelming importance to governing the Party and rejuvenating the nation”, and that China must unswervingly advance the socialist modernization drive. Development means eliminating poverty and obtaining an all-round social progress on the basis of realizing industrialization and building an IT-based society. Second, China should ensure that the CPC keep abreast of the times in its guiding principles and use the evolving Marxism to guide its practice. This is the most fundamental experience that the CPC has summed up in 50 plus years of governance. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the new CPC collective central leadership has adopted a series of major strategic guiding principles in consideration of the new situation and new tasks at the new development stage in the new century, in response to the requirements of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and in light of the new features of China’s development at the current stage, which have greatly helped ensure that its guiding principles keep pace with the times. Among others, the scientific outlook on development has played a particularly important role. There is sufficient theoretical and practical ground to make the scientific outlook on development a major guiding principle that the CPC must adhere to for a long period of time, and it also meets the needs of China’s long-term development. Third, development is the theme of today’s world, and it is also the theme of China today. From the perspective of the human society, development is the process of realizing modernization throughout the world. From the perspective of China’s national reality, development is the process of realizing socialist modernization. The reason why the development concept is important lies in the fact that it decides on the kind of road, model and strategy to take for development, which in turn will have a major impact of a fundamental and comprehensive

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nature on our development practice. China is in an important period of development opportunities, also a period of pronounced contradictions. The scientific outlook on development — with a view to the material goals of economic growth, social progress and a sound environment as well as to the rational objectives of updating philosophical thinking and pushing forward human civilization — covers almost all the operational rules of the complicated system of “nature, economy and society” and the dialectical relations among the “population, resources, environment and development”. This outlook comprehensively reflects the major development trend in the world and the practical development needs in China. Finally, the scientific outlook on development is a development concept with a strong sense of responsibility to the world. According to it, China will achieve the sustainability of its development not by relying on external forces, but rather on its own. In fact, it is a responsible attitude that China has adopted to link its own sustainable development with that of the whole world and with that of other countries. This responsible attitude of a major power is unprecedented in the world history. It is especially difficult for China, which itself is not yet developed and which still has a formidable task of development to accomplish in its way ahead. To put greater emphasis on the linkage is even more difficult for China and it is a testimony to China’s determination and responsibility for a win-win world.9 This concept of win-win development and cooperation runs through China’s foreign policy and its diplomatic practice. It is also the guiding principle for China’s diplomatic work in the new era. All in all, the scientific outlook on development is a major strategic concept that the CPC has developed by summarizing China’s development experience and conducting an in-depth analysis of the phased characteristics of China’s development under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents” and on the basis of a correct understanding of the world development trends. It represents a deepened understanding of the general laws of 9 Zhang Youwen et al.: Exploring the Upgrade of the Opening-up Strategy, Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2008 Edition, p. 19.

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economic and social development, a crystallized embodiment of the Marxist world outlook and methodology on development and the guiding principle that China must follow for a long time in promoting an all-round socialist development in the economic, political, cultural, social and other sectors.

4.2. Scientific Outlook on Development Improved in Practice: China’s Diplomacy in the New Era Theories cannot guide practice, unless they come from practice. The reason why the scientific outlook on development — a crystallized embodiment of the world outlook and methodology for guiding development — can give a comprehensive guidance to the economic and social development and ensure their sound and rapid development lies with the fact that this theory has been formulated on the basis of the great practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics; it is a crystallization of the CPC’s efforts in leading the Chinese people in building socialism with Chinese characteristics; it summarizes the achievements of the creative practice in building and improving the socialist market economic system, and it also draws upon experiences and lessons of other countries in development.10 To adopt and apply the scientific outlook on development featuring a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development is of important significance for implementing the strategic thinking that development is the paramount principle. It is the strategic program and guiding principle for China’s development in the new era. It is also the theoretical guidance for China’s diplomatic practice in the new era.

4.2.1. Scientific Outlook on Development as Originating from Practices The scientific outlook on development is in the same line as the Marxist world outlook and methodology on development, and at the 10

Li Junru: Scientific Outlook on Development: Major Strategic Thought Out of Practices, Guangming Daily, January 24, 2006.

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same time it is keeping with the times. This outlook has evolved from the call of the 8th CPC National Congress for “focusing on developing social productive forces”, Deng Xiaoping’s proposition that “development is the paramount principle”, Jiang Zemin’s appeal that “the CPC should give top priority to development in governing the country and rejuvenating the nation” to the decision by the 3rd Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee to “put people first, seek a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development and promote an allround development of economic and social undertakings and the people”. This evolving process has clearly shown that the scientific outlook on development is both an inheritance of the wisdom of predecessors and an innovation in response to the requirements of the times. It has incorporated not only scientific theories on development in Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents”, but also the development experiences and lessons at home and abroad, in particular the practice and experiences of China’s reform and opening up of more than 20 years. It has pointed out the direction and road toward future development. With continued practice, this outlook will continue to develop and improve theoretically.11 The Chinese communists have formed their essential ideas about pursuing development in a scientific way under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory. In formulating the important thought of “Three Represents”, the CPC, with Jiang Zemin as its main representative, unswervingly upheld the Deng Xiaoping Theory on development, developed a series of new views and thoughts with the features of the times on the basis of new practice, and further enriched and developed the Deng Xiaoping Theory on development. It was precisely on the basis of these historical practices and the rich experiences accumulated in the process that the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary has developed, through crystallization and summing up, the scientific outlook on development with “putting people first and achieving a 11

Li Xiyan: Theoretic Innovation of the Scientific Outlook on Development, Guangming Daily, January 24, 2006.

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comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development” as its main content and “realizing rapid and sound development” as its essence. The development of this theory indicates that the CPC guiding principle for the socialist modernization drive has kept abreast of the development of the times. When explaining the practical basis for the scientific outlook on development, the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary has always mentioned both an “indepth review of the experiences and lessons in the years of China’s economic development” and “absorbing new products of modern civilization and human progress”. In an open China, the creation of a scientific theory will increasingly show the new feature of domestic and foreign experiences reinforcing each other. The fact that the scientific outlook on development has this feature further attests to the scientific preciseness of the theory.

4.2.2. Importance of Implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development As the important guiding principle for China’s economic and social development, the scientific outlook on development is the important strategic thinking we must follow and implement in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. In terms of practice, it has important guiding significance for China to take the path of peaceful development in the course of opening up, build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics.12 Thanks to the unremitting efforts that have been made since the founding of the PRC, particularly since reform and opening up, China has made tremendous progress, bringing about changes of far-reaching significance both in the productive forces and relations of production, and both in the economic base and the superstructure. However, the basic fact that China is and will be in the primary stage of socialism for a long time has not changed and the major social contradiction between the growing material and cultural needs of the people and 12

Chen Zhanan (ed.): New Progress in Adapting Marxism to China’s Reality since the 16th CPC National Congress, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2008 Edition, p. 65.

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social production that is still lagging behind has also remained unchanged. The issues and challenges facing China in its development are manifestations of the features of the primary stage of socialism, which is the basic national condition in China in the new development stage in the new century. Therefore, on the basis of a sober assessment of this basic national condition, it conforms to China’s practical needs to advance reform and seek development at the current stage under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development. What is most important is to practice and implement the scientific outlook on development, which is a new development of CPC’s guiding principles on socialist modernization. Furthermore, this outlook stresses the paramount importance of development and the need to take economic development as the central task and to improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth. The theory requires us to put people first and pay special attention to the “five coordinations” so as to achieve allround, balanced and sustainable economic and social development. China must do everything under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, be it addressing the salient problems and issues in the current economic development, or building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It must implement this theory throughout the process of reform, opening up and the modernization drive.13 To implement the scientific outlook on development is a systemic process, which calls for joint efforts of all the sub-systems of the society. Development requires a stable domestic and external environment. China should not only develop socialist democracy within China and build the “lifeline” for social stability, but also pursue the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence in the world. Ideology should not be used as the standards to distinguish friends from foes. Instead, China must make as many friends as possible, and contribute more to the maintenance and promotion of world peace with the notion of building a harmonious world. It must have an accurate understanding of the new changes in the international environment, take into 13

People’s Daily Commentator: Always Use the Scientific Outlook on Development to Guide All, People’s Daily, March 21, 2005.

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consideration the domestic and international situation as a whole, seize the opportunity, meet the challenges, forge ahead to create a favorable international environment for national development, and truly safeguard and expand China’s national interests.

4.2.3. Scientific Outlook on Development and China’s Diplomacy in the New Era Since the founding of the PRC, China has made remarkable achievements in its diplomatic work, which has made irreplaceable contribution to China’s development and socialist modernization drive. In retrospect of the past 60 plus years of China’s diplomacy, it is not hard to see that China has conducted diplomacy by basing itself on China’s national conditions and for the purpose of serving its development. China has never deviated from this main line. In the past 30 plus years of reform and opening up in particular, the three generations of the CPC central leadership with Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao at the helm have observed the world with a profound vision, scientifically assessed the trends and features of the changing times, kept to the right direction amidst the changes in the international landscape, taken stock of and made the best use of the situation, correctly read the signs in both the domestic and international situations, and adroitly guided China’s diplomacy to continuous development. On the basis of the past achievements, they have carried out a great project of reforming China’s diplomacy in all aspects. If we vertically review the great changes in China’s diplomacy, we may easily detect some unique features in China’s diplomacy in the new era: First, there has been a qualitative change in the overall strategic objectives of China’s diplomacy from revolution and wars to peace and development. Second, there has been a change of diplomatic tactics and approaches, formerly mainly achieved through struggles, to the common approach of cooperation and consultation in recent times. Third, there has been a decisive readjustment of diplomatic strategy and mentality from based on “political ideologies” to an all-round diplomacy. Fourth, there has been a shift of diplomatic posture from generally passive response to voluntary and active participation. Fifth,

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there has been an upgrading and development from intuitive to rational diplomacy.14 The scientific outlook on development has endowed China’s diplomacy with a new perspective in the new era. With the further development of globalization, although peace and development — the themes of the world — remain unchanged, to address new issues facing China’s diplomacy in the new era surely calls for a new way of thinking. The scientific outlook on development conforms to the trend of historical development and has charted the direction in which to take stock of both the domestic and international situations and expand the scope of China’s global diplomacy.

4.2.3.1. The world’s outlook and methodology for a correct assessment and understanding of the international situation A scientific assessment of the international situation and China’s external environment constitutes an important basis and prerequisite for effective diplomacy. China must continue to observe the world with the positions, views and methods of dialectic materialism and historical materialism, have a correct understanding of the changes in the international situation and pay special attention to the laws of development of the international situation so as to increase the strategic importance of China’s future-oriented diplomatic work.15 The scientific outlook is a concentrated manifestation of Marxist world outlook and methodology. A correct assessment of the international situation and China’s external environment guided by this outlook is an important prerequisite for effective diplomatic work. The outlook makes it clear that China must analyze and understand the new developments, issues and challenges in the international situation in a comprehensive and holistic manner and with a developing view, so as to 14

Ma Zhengang: Thirty Years of Great Transformation of China’s Diplomacy. In Zhang Deguang (ed.), Global Financial Crisis and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, pp. 100–102. 15 Yang Jiechi: Three Important Historic Periods in China’s Diplomacy in 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up, October 30, 2008, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzg/ 2008-10/30/content_7158478_4.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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have an accurate grasp of the nature and trends of the changes in the international situation, make a scientific judgment on China’s external environment and increase its capability to foresee the development and trends of major events. If China wants to enjoy a favorable position and good prospect in a drastically changing world, it must in particular enhance its capability of dealing with complex situations and emergencies. It must be good at both seizing opportunities and turning challenges into opportunities. The scientific outlook on development stresses the importance of observing the world with a broad view and improving China’s capability to make a scientific judgment on the international situation and to think strategically. It must have a profound understanding of the close linkage between domestic and international situations and between domestic and foreign affairs, have a scientific assessment of profound changes in the world and their characteristics, conform to the trends of maintaining peace and promoting development in our times, and correctly respond to the developments toward multi-polarity, economic globalization and advances in science and technology. China must take stock of the times and trends, take advantage of the situation and take into consideration both domestic and international situations, so as to seek advantages while minimizing disadvantages. It must be good at staying the course amidst the changes in the international situation and conditions, make good use of development opportunities, create conditions for development and always have the overall interests of development in mind.16 The major changes and adjustments in the international situation in the new era have brought about profound changes in China’s economic and social systems, and in the interest patterns and in people’s mindset. In this new situation, China can see through the nature of the changes, find the correct direction, and increase the capabilities of its diplomacy to predict future trends and take the initiative, only by using the Marxist position, views and methods to understand the laws of development of human society, grasping the major trends of economic and social development, and guiding its practices with the developing Marxist theory. 16

Party Literature Research Office: Selected Important Documents since the 16th CPC National Congress, Vol. II, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2006 Edition, p. 288.

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The complex changes in the international situation have brought about new situations and new issues for China’s diplomacy to cope. Historical changes have already taken place in China’s relations with the outside world. China has increasingly closer contacts with the outside world. Consequently, there have been higher demands for diplomatic work serving scientific development. On the one hand, there has been an unprecedentedly close connection between China’s development and that of the world. On the other hand, China’s national interests have continued to expand beyond its national border. With expanded foreign exchanges, more and more enterprises and business people are “going abroad”. In this new situation, China’s diplomacy should not only continue to fulfill its mission of carrying out its foreign policies, guidelines and strategies, but also should serve domestic development more directly. Using the scientific outlook on development as a base will help China have an accurate understanding of China’s national conditions and its status in the world — the starting point and the purpose of its diplomatic work. In the new situation, without a correct understanding of China’s national conditions and failing to closely follow domestic trends, it would be impossible for diplomacy to serve scientific development with a clear mandate. All in all, the biggest achievement in China’s diplomacy in the past 30 years and more is that it has created a favorable external environment for China’s development by accurately understanding the international situation and seizing the strategic opportunities of reform and opening up. First, economically, China has vigorously conducted economic diplomacy and developed all-round business relations with big powers, neighboring countries and developing countries. Through bilateral and multilateral channels, China’s diplomacy has played a supporting and coordinating role in implementing the economic strategy of attracting foreign investment to China and encouraging Chinese companies to go abroad. It has also made important contributions to integrating the Chinese economy into that of the world. Since the international financial crisis broke out in 2007, the global multilateral economic diplomacy, represented mainly by G20, has become the major platform for countries to respond to the crisis and coordinate their policies. China’s diplomacy has not only helped and supported its own economic development, but has

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also significantly contributed to the steady growth of the world economy. Second, politically, as it has integrated itself more and more into the international system, China has adhered to the principle of combining principled positions with flexibilities and has, through its diplomacy, made positive and effective contributions to the cause of maintaining state sovereignty and promoting democratization and multi-polarization of international relations. China has thus become a major force working for world peace. Third, security-wise, China’s diplomacy has made tremendous contribution to safeguarding state sovereignty and territorial integrity and promoting the great cause of reunification of China. In fighting separatist elements for “Taiwan independence”, “Tibet independence” and “Xinjiang independence”, China has flexibly used various platforms, effectively contained and cracked down on the extremists and separatists, and thus made important contribution to defending its state sovereignty. In the meantime, China’s diplomacy has played an irreplaceable role in stabilizing the situation across the Taiwan Straits, in building a favorable and harmonious international environment for the great cause of national reunification and in promoting peaceful crossstraits development and peaceful reunification.

4.2.3.2. The fundamental theoretical basis for China’s diplomacy in the new era . A correct theoretical guidance is absolutely necessary for a scientific planning and management of China’s diplomacy. The scientific outlook on development is ahead of the trends of our times and it is thus of a pioneering and forward-looking nature. It has provided the theoretical guidance for China’s efforts to explore and expand new ways of thinking and new measures for China’s diplomacy in the new situation. (1) The scientific outlook on development is the fundamental guiding principle for the CPC leadership in China’s diplomatic work in the new era. The CPC leadership is the key to effective diplomacy in the new situation. China must strengthen and improve the CPC leadership over

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foreign affairs in real earnest, focusing on improving its capabilities in safeguarding state sovereignty, security and development interests amidst the profound and complicated changing international situation and all-round opening up, and from the strategic perspective of enhancing CPC’s governing capacity and its advanced nature.17 Reviewing the 30 plus years of the glorious course of China’s diplomacy since reform and opening up, then Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summed up valuable experience in ten areas. One of them is “adhering to the concentrated and unified leadership of CPC” in foreign affairs. All the achievements in diplomacy should be attributed to the wise policy decisions and meticulous guidance by the collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee of the past generations. Adhering to the CPC leadership over China’s diplomatic work means adhering to the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents”, a thorough implementation of the scientific outlook on development, an upgrading of China’s understanding so that it will be consistent with the assessment of the international situation by the CPC Central Committee and with its major principles, policies and strategic plans on foreign affairs, and resolute implementation of all foreign policies and principles formulated by the CPC Central Committee.18 In its diplomatic work in the new era, China is faced with new situations and new issues one after another. There is often hardly any precedent to follow. So China has to explore new ways boldly so that it will be able to open up new prospects for diplomacy. The scientific outlook on development is a result of CPC’s efforts to emancipate minds, seek truth from facts, and keep abreast of the times. It is the new guiding theory for China’s development as required by the new era and is also the fundamental guiding principle for China’s diplomatic work.

17

CPC Central Conference on China’s Foreign Affairs Work held in Beijing, Hu Jintao Delivered an Important Speech, Xinhuanet, August 23, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet. com/politics/2006-08/23/content_4999294.htm, accessed September 16, 2013. 18 Yang Jiechi: Three Important Historic Periods in China’s Diplomacy in 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up, China Daily, October 30, 2008.

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In the new era, China must always focus on the central task of the CPC and the country, conduct diplomacy to serve the needs of domestic development and endeavor to build an international environment of peace and stability, a neighborhood of good neighborliness and friendship, an environment for cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit, a secure environment of mutual trust and coordination and an environment of objective and friendly public opinions, under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, by giving consideration to both the domestic and international situations and bearing in mind the foreign policy’s purpose of helping to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. The new situation and new tasks have set increasingly higher requirements for coordinating efforts and holistic considerations in China’s diplomatic work. First, it must take into consideration both domestic and international situations. It must be good at taking the initiative in the course of interaction between the interwoven domestic and international factors and strengthen coordination in foreign and internal affairs so as to safeguard its national interest. China’s policy proposals and policy enforcement should serve domestic development and stability, and they should also conform to international practices with possible international repercussions in mind. Second, China must give holistic considerations to all aspects of its national interests. It must safeguard its security and development interests and also properly handle its relations with other countries. China will defend its legitimate rights and interests and refute groundless accusations against China without prejudicing China’s relations with these countries, through sincere and candid communications and dialogues with the relevant parties. Third, China must also take into holistic consideration interests and concerns of different countries. Diplomacy is an art of compromise. To find converging points of interests of all parties concerned and proper ways to address them in accordance with the principle of seeking mutual benefit and win-win results is often the key to solving knotty international issues. It is obvious from the above that the scientific outlook on development is the fundamental guiding principle for coordinating the domestic and international work in the new era through diplomacy.

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(2) The scientific outlook on development is the theoretical foundation for expanding and upgrading all-round diplomacy. The scientific outlook on development has provided a theoretical and methodological foundation to support China’s efforts to deepen and expand diplomacy in all directions by giving holistic considerations to both domestic and external situations and to the political, economic, security and cultural factors, amongst others. The foreign affairs conference convened by the CPC Central Committee in August 2006 proposed for the first time that China should “always give considerations to both domestic and international situations”. This holistic vision indicates that China’s diplomacy is moving toward an all-directional and composite model. China has substantially changed its views on participating in the international system, for multilateral diplomacy in particular. And China is taking a more active part in improving the international system and international norms. In the meantime, China has more proactively taken up its responsibilities in the international system as an emerging, but still developing, country. Under the guidance of the theory of all-round diplomacy, China has made substantive progress and achievements in its diplomatic efforts with big powers, neighboring countries and developing nations. First, China has vigorously promoted diplomacy with big countries. It has upgraded its strategic partnerships with the US, the EU, Japan and Russia in all aspects and promoted coordination, cooperation and development among big countries. Since the current financial crisis broke out in particular, China has actively promoted coordination and cooperation among big countries through bilateral and multilateral channels and has played an important role in the recovery and stability of the world economy. Second, China has advanced diplomacy for a harmonious neighborhood. China has all along advocated and observed open regionalism, and has been working hard to promote security and economic cooperation with its neighboring countries through ASEAN, APEC, ASEM, SCO and other regional arrangements. Third, China has developed a solid relationship with developing countries. It has vigorously promoted economic relations and trade with the vast number of developing

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countries, and at the same time it has provided them with various forms of needed assistance — economic, technological, medical, and human resources training. Fourth, China has made good use of multilateral platforms. In order to safeguard the international order and promote the reform of global governance, China has actively mediated the Korean nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear issue and has tried to find a proper solution. Since the global financial crisis broke out, China has taken an active part in the G20 summits and has promoted the reform of global economic governance through this platform, which has resulted in a greater say for developing countries. Finally, China has expanded its economic diplomacy to serve the overall interests of its domestic development. Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, been working closely with other relevant ministries of the Chinese government to enhance international economic coordination as well as consultation and cooperation on major economic issues, which has yielded fruitful results on the diplomatic front. China has had a visibly bigger say in the world major economic organizations. There have been important breakthroughs in its strategic cooperation with main economic partners. It has markedly increased its economic influence. Since the global financial crisis broke out in 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made vigorous efforts in strengthening dialogue, communication and policy coordination with relevant parties; it has constructively participated in international and regional economic and financial cooperation, and has firmly opposed protectionism in trade and investment. All this fully demonstrates that the fundamental purpose of diplomacy is to serve the scientific development of China. (3) The scientific outlook on development provides a new and broader stage for China’s diplomacy in the new era. The scientific outlook on development embraces all-round arrangements for a balanced development of the political, economic, cultural and ecological sectors, and provides a broad stage for China’s diplomacy in the new era. Since reform and opening up, China’s diplomacy

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for peace has made world-renowned achievements and China has steadily expanded its international influence. An all-dimensional, multi-level and wide-ranging opening-up pattern has taken shape in China, and China has became more comprehensively and deeply involved in international economic, political, and security affairs. On the other hand, China’s development and security have also been increasingly impacted by external factors. Under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, China will remain committed to its independence foreign policy of peace, which is designed to serve China’s national development internally and to rigorously promote democratization of international relations, common development and the building of a harmonious world externally. It is an inexorable historical course for the scientific outlook on development to guide China’s diplomacy and China’s determination to take the peaceful development road. China cannot achieve development in isolation of the world. But most importantly, the kind of development China is seeking is a scientific and peaceful development, one based on opening up and cooperation, for mutual benefit, win-win results, harmony and coexistence with all countries. With steadily increased national strength and international influence, and in light of the trend of the international situation, China has further expanded its diplomatic efforts in terms of both geographical areas and specific functional topics. In response to the changed situation, China has — based on its national conditions — strengthened its strategic thinking and become more creative in its diplomacy. On the one hand, it has continued to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with big powers, promote good neighborly and friendly relations with its neighbors, consolidate its foothold among developing countries, and make better use of the important multilateral platforms. One the other hand, it has further strengthened coordination in different diplomatic areas and has paid more attention to the people-to-people diplomacy, economic diplomacy and security diplomacy. While the top priority of the CPC and the Chinese government is to ensure steady, but robust economic development, the most important mission of China’s diplomacy is to create favorable conditions in all areas for achieving the steady, but robust economic development. Looking into

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the future, China’s diplomacy will surely have a big role to play under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development.

4.2.3.3. China’s diplomatic practice in the new era has demonstrated the values and spirits of the scientific outlook on development. China has gone through more than 50 extraordinary years from no diplomacy to speak of in a weak country before the founding of the PRC to the current all-dimensional and multi-level diplomatic pattern. It is the socialist values that have become the moral support and backbone to back up and inspire China’s diplomatic work. The scientific outlook on development is the concentrated manifestation of the Chinese values covering ideals, objectives, spirit and the features of the times. The system of core values captures the essence of social consciousness, and determines the nature and orientation of social consciousness. Every society has its own system of core values. The system of the socialist core values is the soul of the socialist system, and it commands and dominates all other socialist values. Its fundamental contents include the guiding Marxist ideology, the common ideal of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the patriotism-based national spirit, the reform-and innovation-oriented spirit of the times, and the socialist concept of honor and disgrace.19 For a nation to survive and prosper, it must have a powerful spiritual support and driving force. Ideals reflect people’s aspirations and longings for a better life and represent a direction for a country or a nation to move forward. Without a shared ideological foundation or a common goal, a nation will lack cohesiveness and a country will have no driving force to move forward. China’s common goal is to build socialism with Chinese characteristics and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation under the CPC leadership. In its 5,000 years of history, 19

Li Changfeng: What is the Core Values of the Socialist System — A Series of Studies of the Decision by the 6th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee, People’s Daily, February 7, 2007.

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the Chinese nation has developed a great national spirit featuring solidarity, unity, peace-loving, diligence, bravery and resilience with patriotism at the core. The national spirit and the spirit of the times have fully revealed the fundamental reasons why the Chinese nation has been able to grow in strength, the source of energy for the innovative and pioneering Chinese people, and the unique spirit that has enabled the Chinese nation to stand independently in the world. As a symbol of social ethics, the socialist concept of honor and disgrace has led the society and the people know what to stand for and carry forward, and what to oppose and resist under the socialist market economic system. It has provided a basic yardstick to the whole society for judging behavioral gains and losses, distinguishing right from wrong and good from evil, making ethical decisions and choosing correct values. China will continue to follow the path of peaceful development guided by the scientific outlook on development in its diplomatic practice. This is a choice made in light of the national conditions in China, its cultural traditions and its decision to follow the trends of the world. In the final analysis, it is determined by the socialist nature of China under the leadership of the CPC and by its goal to realize socialist modernization. Peaceful development, in essence, is to achieve development in a peaceful international environment and to promote world peace through China’s development. China will always work to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. In this context, China will always implement the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, faithfully observe international law and universally acknowledged norms governing international relations and stand for democracy, harmony, coordination and win-win cooperation in international affairs. It will continue to advocate a state-to-state relationship of mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing politically; cooperation and drawing on each other’s strength economically; learning from each other and seeking common ground while putting aside differences culturally; enhancing mutual trust and cooperation at the security level; and helping each other and making joint efforts for environmental protection. What China has demonstrated in its diplomacy is the essence of the Chinese culture and its

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national spirit. It is also the best explanation of the scientific outlook on development as proposed by the CPC.

4.3. Theoretical Development of the Scientific Outlook on Development and Innovations in China’s Diplomacy The scientific outlook on development is a theoretical innovation that carries on the heritage and leads the future. It is a new theoretical summary of the concepts, principles and measures of the CPC’s governance, and an exploration and summary of the laws and nature of rapid development, scientific development and harmonious development. It is a theory of the world outlook on whom to seek development for and to count on to achieve development. It is also a theory of methodology by which to achieve rapid and sound development. The scientific outlook on development is a scientific theoretical system and a new fruit of CPC’s theoretical innovation.20 China has implemented the scientific outlook on development in its diplomacy, mainly in two ways. On the one hand, it has conducted diplomacy to serve its scientific development and on the other hand, it has tried to ensure a scientific approach to its diplomatic work.21 Under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, China’s diplomatic practice has enriched the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics and its diplomatic theoretical innovation has reached a new high. The innovation in China’s diplomatic theory has been based on the remarkable progress in China’s diplomacy in the past 30 plus years since reform and opening up. The past three decades and more have witnessed fundamental changes in the international situation and the transformation of the international system. It is also a period of great development of China, and more importantly, a period that 20

Li Xiyan: Theoretic Innovation of the Scientific Outlook on Development, Guangming Daily, January 24, 2006. 21 Yang Jiechi: Study and Implement the Scientific Outlook on Development and Do Our Job Well under the New Situation, December 26, 2008, http://www.gov.cn/ gzdt/2008-12/26/content_1188628.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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has placed high requirements for the innovation of China’s diplomatic theory. In response to the needs of development both at home and abroad, China has timely changed its mindset to keep pace with the historical trends, seized the opportunity, made major shifts in its relations with the outside world and made world-renowned achievements in its diplomatic work. In the past 30 years and more, China has gradually formed a strategic diplomacy map in which to regard “big countries as the key, neighboring countries as of primary importance, developing countries as the foundation and multilateral occasions as an important stage”. The three sets of relationships between China and big countries, neighboring countries and developing countries respectively interconnect with and reinforce one another on the one hand and impact one another on the other hand. For more than three decades under this strategic plan, China has established partnerships and strategic dialogue mechanisms with many countries, helped institute a number of multilateral dialogue mechanisms, promoted the development of sub-regional, regional and inter-regional organizations, and maintained peace, development and cooperation of the world. In the first ten years of reform and opening-up, China completed the strategic adjustment of its diplomacy and decided on an independent foreign policy of peace. During his meeting with UN SecretaryGeneral Javier Perez de Cuellar on 21 August 1982, Deng Xiaoping expounded on China’s fundamental foreign policy in the new era with a view to create a favorable international environment for reform and opening up and the modernization drive. He stressed three points in China’s foreign policy: opposing hegemony, safeguarding world peace, and enhancing solidarity and cooperation with Third World countries, or unity and cooperation with them.22 At the Enlarged Meeting of the Central Military Commission on 4 June 1985, Deng Xiaoping expounded the two major strategic shifts in China’s foreign policy. The first shift was reflected in the understanding of the questions of war and peace. An assessment of the international situation 22

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, p. 415.

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and China’s surrounding environment reversed the past proposition that war was inevitable and imminent. Although the risk of a world war still existed, factors for world peace outweighed those for war. It was possible to avoid a large-scale world war in a fairly long period of time and to maintain world peace. The second shift was reflected in China’s foreign policy by reversing the old “One Line” strategy which was formulated to counter the Soviet hegemonic threat. Instead, China formulated the independent foreign policy of peace, holding high the banner of opposing hegemony, safeguarding world peace and standing firmly on the side of the forces for peace. In March 1986, the 4th Session of the 6th National People’s Congress summarized China’s foreign policy as “an independent foreign policy of peace” for the first time and elaborated the main contents and fundamental principles of this policy. By then, China had by and large completed its foreign policy adjustment and its foreign relations pattern with new features of all-directional development of external relations.23 In the second decade of reform and opening up, China made remarkable progress in its diplomatic work and had seen its international influence substantially increased. After the 1990s, China was faced with three missions in its diplomacy: First, to respond to the new development in the trend toward multipolarity and new changes in international relations. Second, to continue to oppose hegemony and power politics, maintain world peace and development, and promote the establishment of a fair and just new international political and economic order. Third, to adapt to economic globalization and respond to consequences and challenges of the rapid scientific and technological advancement. At the turn of the century, these three main features in China’s diplomacy changed: First, unprecedentedly active summit diplomacy played an irreplaceable role. Increased dialogues and communications between Chinese leaders and their foreign counterparts helped smooth growth of bilateral and multilateral relations, improved China’s international standing, and expanded China’s international influence. Second, China set up various forms of cooperative partnerships with a number of countries and international organizations, and 23 Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee: A Brief History of the CPC in the New Period, Beijing: CPC History Press, 2009 Edition, pp. 54–55.

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established regular meeting and consultation mechanisms at different levels. These institutionalized consultation mechanisms not only improved the efficiency of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, but also helped with a steady growth China’s foreign relations. Third, the CPC conducted broad cooperation and exchanged experience with political parties of other countries in line with the four principles for inter-Party relations of “independence, full equality, mutual respect, and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”. In this way, party diplomacy served China’s development strategy and the overall interests of its diplomacy, and China’s foreign relations entered a new stage of all-round development.24 In the third decade of reform and opening up, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, China has been faced with many strategic issues on its diplomatic front, such as the financial crisis, climate change, trade protectionism, RMB exchange rate and regional hotspots, all of which have had an important bearing not only on the overall international interests, but also on the overall interests of China’s domestic development. The sensitivity, fragility and influence of diplomacy have all become more pronounced. Internal issues could have the potential to turn into an international focal point, such as the earthquake in Wenchuan and the quality of Sanlu baby formula. Similarly, major international issues may also get China involved. This makes it imperative that China takes into consideration both the domestic and international situations, and improve its capability to holistically steer China’s overall and all-round diplomacy. China has entered, ahead of time, a transitional period from “gradual adaptation” to the “sprint to the finishing line” in its rise. In this period, China has been pushed from the backstage to the center stage with all the attention, and has started to face the growing pressure from existing powers. As such, China must readjust its diplomatic strategy as soon as possible and think seriously about its future options after its status and role changed so as to better adapt itself to the new reality arising from its changed status in the world.25 24

Ibid., pp. 144–145. Zhao Kejin: Transformation and Adjustment in China’s Foreign Strategy, Study Times, August 30, 2010.

25

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The 11th meeting of Chinese diplomatic envoys was convened in 2009 under the centralized leadership of the CPC Central Committee, which made a systemic review of the valuable diplomatic experience of the PRC in the past 60 years. In reviewing innovations of China’s diplomatic theories, then Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi stated: “We believe that China’s diplomacy is ever more closely linked with the development in the new circumstances. Our diplomatic work must rely on development, serve and promote development, and effectively safeguard China’s development interests in the context of the allround opening up. We must adjust our diplomatic work to the changes in the world structure and promote our diplomatic work in all areas and at all levels. While enhancing our diplomacy with regard to big countries, developing countries and neighboring countries, we must also strengthen our diplomatic efforts in all fields. We have thus further substantiated and improved our all-round diplomatic strategy. We will work hard to increase China’s political influence and economic competitiveness, present a more lovable image of China and increase its moral inspiring strength so as to create a favorable international environment and external conditions for our efforts to build a harmonious society and step up the socialist modernization drive. And this has made clear the overall requirements of our diplomatic work in the new situation. We will always take into consideration domestic and international situations and understand fully that overall coordination is the fundamental way to effective diplomacy under the new circumstances. These theoretical innovations are of important and far-reaching significance for our efforts in opening up a new prospect for our diplomatic work.”26 In retrospect of the 30 plus years of reform and opening up, China has made major innovations in diplomatic theories and the diplomatic theories with Chinese characteristics are gradually taking shape and being improved. The collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary, taking Deng Xiaoping 26

The Communiqué of the 6th CPC Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee, Xinhuanet, October 11, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2006-10/11/ content_5190605.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents” as guidance and applying the scientific outlook on development, has inherited, enriched and advanced the diplomatic thoughts of the three generations of the central leadership, had a scientific understanding of the profound changes and features of the world, properly responded to the world multipolarity trend and made great achievements in the innovation of China’s diplomatic theories. Compared to the period before reform and opening up, there has been, on the whole, a change in the recognition of China’s identity in the diplomatic theories, in that it is now giving more emphasis to all-round participation and integration in the international system. Compared to the diplomatic theories of the West, China’s theories give priority to the balance between interests and morality, resulting in the independent foreign policy of peace. Innovations in the diplomatic theories with Chinese characteristics are mainly reflected in the following five aspects: (1) the concept of international cooperation that keeps pace with the times, (2) the concept of national interests focusing on balanced interests, (3) the concept of active participation in the international system, (4) the concept of taking into consideration domestic and international situations featuring overall and broad visions, and (5) the diplomatic values of putting people first.27 To sum up, innovations in China’s diplomatic theories should be seen in the following six areas below.

4.3.1. Innovations in China’s Diplomatic Theories 4.3.1.1. Improvements in China’s diplomatic system for peace, development, cooperation and win-win outcomes Scientific development is in the same line with peaceful and harmonious development. It is at the core of China’s diplomatic thinking and concept. Since the 1980s, the Chinese leaders, represented by Deng Xiaoping, have made the scientific conclusion that peace and 27

Yang Jiemian: Innovation in China’s Diplomacy and Theories in the 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up. In Zhang Deguang (ed.), Global Financial Crisis and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, pp. 87–90.

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development are the two strategic issues in today’s world. Peace is an important guarantee for development while development provides conditions for peace. Peaceful development means that China will develop itself through working for a peaceful international environment and promote world peace through its own development. Development based on opening up means that China will achieve development mainly with its own efforts, and will promote reform and development through its opening-up strategy. Development in cooperation means that China will conduct broad exchanges and cooperation with all countries for mutual benefit and win-win results. To seek peace and development is the correct choice for China’s development strategy. It is also an important part of the scientific outlook on development. It shows that the theoretical system of the scientific outlook on development has the essential features of openness, forward-looking and strategic importance, and that it is the theoretical guidance for innovations in China’s diplomatic practice. With regard to China’s diplomatic theoretical system in the new era, the independent foreign policy of peace is its foundation, with peace, development and cooperation as its foundation, the building of a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity its longterm objective, peaceful development its path, and mutual benefit and win-win results its fundamental way, leading China to peaceful development and the world to harmony. This theoretical system on diplomacy, centering around peaceful development and based on the philosophical thinking on peace, cooperation and harmony, reflects the basic elements and spirits of the scientific outlook on development. China cannot achieve peaceful development without peace, stability and common development of the world, and the world will not enjoy lasting peace and common prosperity without peaceful development in China. Peace, development and cooperation represent the common aspiration of the whole world as well as the irresistible historical trend. With an in-depth growth of the trend toward multipolarity and economic globalization, countries have become ever more interdependent, their interests are more interconnected and intertwined, and no one can prosper alone. This has also given new features to cooperation and competition among countries in today’s

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world. Development of a country is closely connected with the development of the whole world, and with that of other countries. A country, be it big or small, strong or weak, can only prosper and become stronger through active participation in international economic cooperation and competition on the basis of mutual benefit and winwin results. From the perspective of the interaction between China and the world, China can hardly achieve a comprehensive, balanced or sustainable development without a peaceful and stable international environment of equality and mutual benefit. Similarly, without China’s peaceful development, the world will not have a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable peace and development. Since reform and opening up, China has started the process of integrating into the international system out of its own accord. Since the mid-1990s in particular, China has come to realize that the change of the international system is not as simple as replacing it with a new one. China needs to constructively take part in the international system, and to coordinate, adjust or restrain its relations with other countries within the system through rule-making, with a view to cooperation and win-win results in the globalized world. As former Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated, “China is firmly committed to maintaining world peace, and is a participator, defender and constructor of the international system.” The report to the 17th CPC National Congress emphasized that the fundamental method of the scientific outlook on development is coordination and overall consideration — which, in diplomatic work, means working for mutual benefit and win-win results. The path of peaceful development is the essential prerequisite and important guarantee for mutual benefit and win-win results, while mutual benefit and win-win results are the natural and logical extension and important indicator of peaceful development. Embracing the peace ideal, the Chinese government and people have kept to the path of peaceful development and have made dedicated efforts for national prosperity and rejuvenation, and at the same time, bearing in mind the interests of the world, they have stuck to the opening-up strategy for mutual benefit and win-win results and have made positive efforts for the building of a harmonious world of

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lasting peace and common prosperity. It is exactly the pursuit of peaceful development, mutual benefit and win-win results that have closely linked the Chinese people’s interests with the common interests of the whole world. Peaceful development, mutual benefit and win-win results are the soul of the system of China’s diplomatic theory in the new era. Although there still remain various deep-rooted and complicated contradictions in today’s world and the road to a harmonious world is still long and full of challenges, China will continue to stay on the path of peaceful development and will do all it can to achieve the above goals. In recent years, international cooperation in various fields, at various levels and through various channels has become the practical choice of a growing number of countries. The pursuit of peace, development and cooperation by people of all countries has become the trend of our times.

4.3.1.2. People-oriented diplomatic thinking and fundamental principles established The scientific outlook on development is fully embodied in the identification of the “people first” concept at the diplomatic level. It is a reflection of the change in the model and concept of China’s domestic governance in its diplomatic work. It represents a strategic shift in China’s diplomatic philosophy from the “country-centered approach” that safeguards the collective rights and interests to the “peopleoriented approach” that takes care of individual rights and interests. The people-oriented diplomatic concept is of inspiring significance for the re-evaluation of the ultimate objective of diplomacy and policy priorities, and is an important guide for China’s diplomatic efforts on specific issues.28 Serving the people whole-heartedly has always been the CPC’s purpose and fundamental principle, and putting people first is a new interpretation of how to better serve the people in the new era. Diplomacy for people represents a concrete action to implement the 28

Jin Canrong: People-First Thought in China’s Diplomacy. In Zhao Jinjun (ed.), 60 Years of New China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2010 Edition, p. 71.

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“people first” element enshrined in the scientific outlook on development and also a fundamental guiding principle for China’s diplomatic endeavors to better serve the people in the new era. The people-oriented diplomatic concept vividly reflects the values of China’s diplomacy. Apparently, China and the West have different perceptions of human rights. The establishment of the diplomatic principle of putting people first has forcefully rejected the groundless attack on China by the West, effectively declared to the world Chinese values in a universal language and pragmatically reached consensus with developing countries and even developed countries in this regard. China’s “people first” idea is consistent with the concept of human security advocated by the UN and some countries. The diplomatic values with Chinese characteristics that fit in well with China’s national conditions will not only help China’s diplomatic practice and theoretical exploration, but will also help break the West’s domination and right of interpretation in the field of diplomatic values.29 To conduct diplomacy oriented toward people and for people is an inevitable requirement of the scientific outlook on development. It is also an important political mission to demonstrate the CPC’s governance capacity internally and to build an image of a responsible big country to the world.30 With more and more Chinese businessmen and other nationals going abroad, it has become increasingly more pressing to safeguard the security and safety of Chinese institutions and citizens abroad and their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with law. Following the principles of putting people first and conducting diplomacy for the people, China has strived to protect and defend its overseas interests, fulfilled its purpose of serving the people and safeguarded the fundamental interests of the Chinese people so that all the Chinese people may benefit from the diplomatic achievements that China has made. Serving the people whole-heartedly is the fundamental purpose

29

Yang Jiemian: Innovation in China’s Diplomacy and Theories in the 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up. In Zhang Deguang (ed.), Global Financial Crisis and China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2009 Edition, p. 90. 30 Zhao Jinjun (ed.): 60 Years of New China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2010 Edition, p. 12.

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of the CPC and all CPC goals and missions are designed to meet the ultimate requirement of delivering benefits to the people. The CPC and the government have always proceeded from and aimed at promoting, safeguarding and developing the fundamental interests of the people in all their work. In recent years, China’s diplomacy, with concrete efforts, has made important contributions to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and legal persons abroad, settling issues involving the safety of Chinese citizens and labor disputes abroad in a timely manner, and ensuring the safety and security of Chinese citizens and properties abroad. Amidst the turmoil in Egypt and Libya in the wake of the Tunisia incident in the early spring of 2011, Chinese embassies did a tremendous amount of meticulous work to help Chinese citizens caught up in the two countries return. The evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya has been the largest operation of its kind since the founding of the PRC. During this operation, China also did what it could to help more than 2,100 people from 12 countries to leave Libya. These operations have fully demonstrated that China is going all out to fulfill its mission of “governing for the people and conducting diplomacy for the people”. With its good image of putting people first and conducting diplomacy for the people, China has won acclaim at home and abroad, and its actions have displayed again the core value of the CPC-led Chinese diplomacy — to serve the people.

4.3.1.3. Advocating dialogue and cooperation between different civilizations and putting forward the new concept of a “harmonious world” In 2005, China brought up the concept of building a harmonious world for the first time. At the Asia–Africa Summit in Jakarta, then President Hu Jintao proposed in his speech that Asian and African countries should promote amicable co-existence, dialogue on an equal footing for development and prosperity, and work together to build a harmonious world. During former President Hu’s visit to Russia in July 2005, “the harmonious world” concept was included in the China–Russia Joint Statement on the International Order in the 21st Century and it established consensus between different states for the first time,

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which is an indicator that the international community has became gradually aware of this brand new concept. At the 2nd plenary session of the summit marking the 60th anniversary of the UN in September 2005, then President Hu delivered an important speech entitled Making Joint Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity, in which he comprehensively elaborated the profound connotations of the harmonious world concept. This is clearly a typical Chinese concept and it marks how China’s diplomacy contributed to world peace.31 The concept of building a harmonious world has coherently integrated the concept of new order, the new security concept, the new development outlook and the new concept on civilization that China had advocated in recent years. It emphasizes peace between nations, amicability between individuals and harmony between man and nature. It is a statement of China’s views and propositions on the future development of the world, and it has added more Chinese elements to the development of the international order. A harmonious world is also the ideal which China’s peaceful development is moving toward. The notion of a harmonious world highlights the interdependence of countries in today’s world, i.e. the commonality of the world. It has thus encouraged the international community to make a rational examination of the common interests and common prosperity, and to make joint efforts to that end. China will continue to provide the world not only with abundant material products, but also with progressive spiritual products. The harmonious world notion will help unite all the forces for peace around the world, and realize the long-term objective of peaceful development.32 On the one hand, China’s proposal to build a harmonious world shows the world that China will stay firm on the path of peaceful development, and that it will not stay in the way of or threaten any other country. China is not seeking hegemony, and it will never do so 31

Hu Jintao Putting Forward the Concept of a Harmonious World in 2005, People’s Website, September 23, 2009, http://world.people.com.cn/GB/8212/169570/169571/10102608. htm, accessed September 16, 2013. 32 Yang Jiemian: Exploration and Expansion of the Road of Peaceful Development of China. In Zhao Jinjun (ed), 60 Years of New China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2010 Edition, p. 21.

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even when it becomes stronger in the future. China’s development will offer the world an opportunity, not a threat, a blessing for peace, not a potential cause for conflicts. On the other hand, it also shows that a developed China will shoulder greater international responsibility and make greater contributions to world peace and development. The proposal for a harmonious world shows that China is trying to contribute theories, concepts and development model reflecting the profound Chinese culture to the transformation of the international system. Guided by the new civilization concept, the Chinese government has vigorously promoted dialogue between civilizations and advocated pluralism. China has hosted many international forums and various forms of cultural festivals, giving a strong boost to the cultural pluralism and dialogue between civilizations. China has staged colorful and memorable activities separately to mark the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties with several countries respectively, expanding people-to-people exchanges and enriching bilateral relations between China and these countries. Jiang Zemin remarked, “China believes that our world is diversified and colorful. The diversity of civilizations is the basic feature of human society and also the driving force behind the progress of human civilization. Respect should be given to the history, culture, social system and model of development of each individual country. Diversity of the world is a reality that should be recognized. Different civilizations and social systems should enjoy long-term coexistence and draw upon and benefit from each other in the process of competition and comparison and achieve common development while seeking common ground and shelving differences. We will continue to work with the people of all countries for a world of lasting peace and universal prosperity.”33 Li Zhaoxing echoed this view: “Only by respecting, tolerating and learning from one another, and by strengthening mutual communications, dialogue and cooperation, can the civilizations in today’s world develop themselves properly while making contributions to the progress of entire mankind. Coexistence in harmony among 33

Jiang Zemin: Speech at the Meeting Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC, Xinhuanet, July 1, 2001, http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2001-12/03/ content_499021.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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different civilizations calls for cooperation. The spread of information technology has changed the way people live and work and made relations among countries and civilizations more complicated. China advocates a new civilization concept of respecting diversity. China believes that the world’s diverse civilizations are the shared heritage of humanity and an invaluable source for prosperity. They should be properly protected. The right to independently choose the path of development in light of its national conditions is an inalienable right of every people, which must be fully respected. All countries should draw upon each other’s strength in the ‘inter-civilization dialogue’ and build a harmonious world together on the basis of equality.”34 In the process of the transformation of the international system, countries have been trying to inject their own concepts and ideas into the values of the new international system to be built. Some countries in the West are advocating the so-called diplomacy for democratic values and emphasizing the Western-style democracy and human rights, making ethics and values a new focal point for competition. The diplomatic values with Chinese characteristics that China has set forth in light of Chinese national conditions have not only helped China’s diplomatic practice and theoretical exploration, but also helped break the domination and interpretation of diplomatic values by the West. As former President Hu Jintao once stated, “Diversity of civilizations is a basic feature of humanity and an important driving force behind human progress. In the course of human history, all civilizations have, in their own way, made a positive contribution to the overall human progress. It is their differences that allow them to learn from one another and grow stronger together. Uniformity, if imposed on them, can only take away their vitality and cause them to become rigid and decline. The world’s civilizations may differ in age, but none is better than or more superior to others. Differences in history, culture, social system and mode of development should not become barriers to exchanges between countries, let alone excuses for confrontation. We should respect a country’s 34

Li Zhaoxing: Peace, Development and Cooperation — Banner for China’s Diplomacy in the New Era, August 22, 2005, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/ceee/chn/dtxw/ t212438.htm, accessed September 16, 2013..

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right to independently choose its own social system and path of development. In this way, countries will go for mutual emulation instead of deliberate exclusion, for mutual learning of respective strong points instead of making fetish a particular model, thus succeeding in their rejuvenation and development in line with their national conditions. We should enhance inter-civilization dialogue and exchanges, allowing cultures to complement one another through competition and comparison, and to develop together by seeking common ground while putting aside differences. We should do away with misgivings and estrangement existing between civilizations and make humanity more harmonious and our world more colorful. We should endeavor to preserve the diversity of civilizations in the spirit of equality and openness, make international relations more democratic and jointly build toward a harmonious world where all civilizations coexist and accommodate each other.”35 Of course, China has also realized that its concept of a harmonious world imposed higher demands on its diplomatic strategy which will guide its efforts to realize this objective of a harmonious world. Naturally, theories and actions by a big country like China will have immeasurable influence on the direction in which international relations will move.36 The harmonious world concept has marked a meaningful break in the Western domination of the world civilization process. The Chinese civilization, the Islamic civilization and the Indian civilization will bring about substantial changes to the values that form the basis of theories on international relations.

4.3.1.4. A new diplomatic theory focusing on balancing interests with responsibilities The Chinese diplomatic theories emphasize the need to balance interests with responsibilities and the adherence to an independent foreign policy of peace. Since reform and opening up, China has redefined the 35

Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the UN summit on the 60th anniversary of the UN, People’s Daily, September 16, 2005. 36 Yu Xintian et al.: China’s Role in the International System, Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 330.

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status of the national interests in its foreign policy and reversed the “leaning to one side” strategy formulated at the beginning of the PRC. China has given priority to its own national interests and on this issue, Deng Xiaoping pointed out many times that “each party should proceed from his country’s own strategic interests”, and that in studying and handling problems, each country should “place the highest importance on its national interests”.37 The Chinese concept on national interests has taken a positive change and moved toward balanced rights and obligations, especially easing the tension between material interests and spiritual interests, and the national interests of China versus those of other countries and the common interests of the whole world. With progress in reform and opening up, China has had a more balanced view of national interests. On the one hand, China has made greater efforts to increase its material wealth through reform and opening up, and regarded its material capacity as the most important basis of its national interests. On the other hand, China has also paid much attention to the value dimension in the national interests, or in other words, the issue of international justice.38 To safeguard state sovereignty, security and development interests is the basic prerequisite for the survival and development of a country in modern times. It is the basic mandate that the ruling party in any country must fulfill. It is thus naturally the primary responsibility of any country’s diplomacy. China is no exception. In upholding international justice, China stands firmly with developing countries at the political level, opposes hegemony and stands for building a new international political and economic order. On many global hotspot issues such as the Korean nuclear issue, the Iranian nuclear issue, Darfur, energy security, and climate change, China has been playing a constructive role. In the Asian financial crisis in 1997, China faithfully honored its commitment as a responsible big country, which has won international acclaims. The report to the 17th CPC National Congress pointed out that China always

37

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 330. 38 Yu Xintian et al.: China’s Role in the International System, Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2008 Edition, p. 295.

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combined the interests of the Chinese people with those of the people from all other countries, promoting fairness and upholding justice. In addition, the joint efforts by China and other countries across the world in building new common values consistent with the historical trend are beginning to pay off. Concepts such as the one of building a harmonious world, the path of peaceful development and common development are balancing and rectifying those views and practices which put interests above all else and seek to maximize one’s own interests. China’s development is not only vital to its own interests, but also offers more opportunities for its cooperation with other countries. China is extending a helping hand to those developing countries that are in a disadvantaged position due to historical and practical reasons to help them enhance their competitiveness and their capacity for sustainable development. Among others, China has had cooperated with African countries in many fields in recent years, in particular. For example, China has helped Africa with the development of infrastructure, and with the building of more than 2,200 kilometers of railways and about 3,400 kilometers of highways in particular.39 All this has helped these African countries to enhance their capacity for sustainable development. In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Pakistan and other international natural disasters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took an active part in international humanitarian efforts, demonstrating China’s international moral standards. China’s concept on interests versus responsibilities is based on the reality of its development, and demonstrates a high sense of responsibility not only for China itself, but also for the whole world.

4.3.1.5. Active public diplomacy for a new image of China seeking development Public diplomacy is a new growth point and highlight in China’s diplomacy in the new era. China has made fresh progress in its diplomatic

39

Yang Jiechi: Yang Jiechi’s Press Conference on China’s Foreign Policy and Foreign Relations, March 7, 2011, http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011lh/2011-03/08/c_121160043. htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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theories and practice in terms of public diplomacy guided by the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Then General Secretary Hu Jintao delivered an important speech at the 11th diplomatic envoys’ conference, in which he stressed the important status and role of public diplomacy in China’s overall diplomatic work. He pointed out: “As an important part of our overall diplomatic work, public diplomacy is an objective call of China’s diplomatic strategy in the new situation and it is an important direction that China’s diplomacy should move forward. Good public diplomacy has a direct bearing on China’s international image. Our diplomatic work should increase China’s political influence, economic competitiveness and a moral appealing force, and should present a more amicable image of China to the world. It should create a more favorable international environment and external conditions for the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and expediting the socialist moderation drive.”40 At the current stage, China’s strategic objective in public diplomacy should be first and foremost to change the present situation and help the general public of all countries to understand China’s reality, its domestic and foreign policies, and its future development. In the long run, its strategic objective should be to convince the international community of China’s peaceful rise, and of accepting and supporting its peaceful rise, so as to reduce and remove any possible worries and fears that a stronger China will seek hegemony. China is a socialist country that is engaged in reform and opening up, a big developing country that is rising rapidly, and a country with a secular culture and ethics. At a deeper level, the strategic objective in public diplomacy for a socialist, developing and secular country like China should be to help the general public of all countries to see through the fog of “demonizing China” and realize that not only can they enjoy win-win cooperation with China, but they can also have the empathy of the Chinese people and work together with them to build a better and harmonious world.41

40

Hu Jintao and Other Central Leaders Attending the 11th National Conference of Diplomatic Envoys, Xinhua News Agency, July 20, 2009. 41 Yu Xintian: Some Thoughts on Building the Theory of Public Diplomacy of China, International Studies, 2010, No. 6, pp. 10–15.

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China’s public diplomacy should be guided by such major strategic theories as Deng Xiaoping’s Theory, the important thought of “Three Represents”, the scientific outlook on development and the diplomatic theory of building a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity, which have a guiding significance for the nature, direction and norms of public diplomacy. In the new situation, China has been working hard to apply those guiding principles in its public diplomacy and to build China’s image with all sincerity and concrete actions, which has helped increase mutual understanding and friendship between China and other countries. The objective of public diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is to promote common development and common prosperity of China and the world. Its fundamental purpose is to focus on the central task of the CPC and the government, and serve the greater interests of reform, development and stability, and its supreme success criteria is measured against how well China’s overall interests are safeguarded and promoted. China has no intention to export its ideology or values, or influence other countries over their road of development or their domestic and foreign policies. China’s public diplomacy is aimed at closing the gap between China and the world, at presenting to the world a real China that is committed to lasting peace and common prosperity of all countries, and at removing prejudice, misunderstanding and misgivings about China. In the meantime, it is also aimed at promoting friendship and cooperation, mutual understanding and trust among all peoples, and contributing to peace and development of the world.42 Public diplomacy has expanded the contents and methods of China’s diplomatic work. Through interactions between the government and the civil society, it has extended diplomacy to the sphere of interactions between the government of one country and the general public of other countries. It is an innovative diplomatic practice to treat the foreign general public as the object of its diplomacy. Among the public diplomacy means, the establishment of Confucius institutes 42

Yang Jiechi: Endeavouring to Create a New Landscape for Public Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics, Qiu Shi Journal, 2011, http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/ 2011/201104/201102/t20110214_67907.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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is a milestone in China’s public diplomacy. The way the Confucius institute operates proves to be a more flexible vehicle for public diplomacy and a new approach is being tried out in which political diplomacy plays a dominant role with culture being spread through commercial operations.

4.3.1.6. Scientific outlook on development adding a brand-new development concept to China’s diplomacy in the new era The development concept represents the systemic thinking of a country on development and its approach to development. Since reform and opening up, it has always been the main mission and objective of China’s diplomatic work to create a favorable international environment to serve the central task of economic development. With ever closer ties between China and the world, China has realized that it cannot achieve development in isolation of the world. In practice, China has gradually developed a new concept of development with equality and mutual benefit at the core.43 The scientific outlook on development seeks peaceful development. It stands for development through peace, openness and cooperation. The scientific outlook on development is a concentrated embodiment of the Marxist world outlook and methodology that keeps pace with the times, and advocates an innovative outlook on development with rich content. It seeks “people-oriented”, comprehensive, balanced, harmonious, civilized, peaceful, open, and sustainable development. In a key speech entitled Cooperation, Openness, Mutual Benefit and Win-win Strategy at the 2nd BRIC Summit in April 2010, then President Hu Jintao elaborated on China’s development concept. He pointed out that China had a long way to go in its development, that China’s development could only be, and would surely be, a peaceful development, and that China sought a development that was open, win-win, and also responsible.

43

Qin Yaqing et al.: Preliminary Thoughts on Building the Diplomatic Theory with Chinese Characteristics. In Zhao Jinjun (ed.), 60 Years of New China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2010 Edition, p. 36.

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First, China’s development is a long and arduous task. China is still the largest developing country in the world. A large population, a weak economic foundation and uneven development are the basic national conditions of China. China’s development can only be — and will surely be — peaceful. China has more than 1.3 billion people, and its per capita GDP has just exceeded USD $3,000, trailing behind more than 100 countries in the world. Measured against the UN standards, more than 100 million people in China are living below the poverty line. China is faced with an extremely arduous task to develop its economy and improve the people’s livelihood. The scale and complexity of the problems and challenges China faces in the course of development are unmatched in today’s world, and have been rarely seen in human history. It must make persistent efforts for a long time to come before realizing modernization and enabling all Chinese people to live a happy and affluent life. Second, China’s development can only be, will surely be, peaceful development. Hu Jintao remarked: “China will firmly stick to the path of peaceful development, and will never seek hegemony. China will develop itself through maintaining world peace, and will promote world peace through its own development. China will endeavor to achieve peaceful, open, cooperative and harmonious development. Taking the path of peaceful development is the inherent requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and it is self-evident in China’s independent foreign policy of peace. It is consistent with the major foreign policies and principles that the CPC and the government have all along adhered to, and serves the fundamental interests of the Chinese people. It conforms to the historical and cultural tradition of the peace-loving Chinese nation as well as the trends of human progress. China will strengthen peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries. It will faithfully observe the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and work vigorously to create a peaceful and stable international environment, a surrounding environment of good-neighborliness and friendship, a cooperation environment based on equality and mutual benefit, a security environment of mutual trust and coordination, and an environment of objective and friendly public opinions. China will give considerations to both the

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fundamental interests of the Chinese people and those of other nations, and make its foreign policies and positions with the will of all nations for progress in mind. It will seek peace, promote development and settle disputes all through cooperation.”44 The Chinese nation has always loved peace and it has had the tradition of “taking peace as the most precious concept under the heaven” and “building goodneighborliness and friendship with all neighbors” since ancient times. In seeking development, China will not harm anyone, nor will it threaten anyone. Having suffered from the scourge of wars and foreign aggressions in modern times, the Chinese people cherish most peace, tranquility, harmony and freedom, and they will stay on the path of peaceful development. A prosperous, growing, peaceful and cooperative China is willing and able to make greater contribution to peace and development of mankind through its own development. Third, China seeks win-win development based on opening up. China always believes in and advocates mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity. Development is vital to the key interests of the people in all countries and to the removal of the source of threats to global security. Without universal development and common prosperity, the world cannot enjoy peace. The growing economic globalization has brought all countries together, with their interests intertwined with each other, and their development becoming an integral part of global development. Economic globalization should benefit all countries, especially the vast majority of developing countries, rather than further widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The UN should take effective measures to realize the MDGs and in particular, enhance its efforts to help developing countries expedite their development so that the 21st century can really be “a century of development for all”.45 China pursues the opening-up strategy of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and always seeks common 44

CPC Central Conference on China’s Foreign Affairs Work Held in Beijing, Hu Jintao Making Important Remarks, Xinhuanet, August 23, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet. com/politics/2006-08/23/content_4999294.htm, accessed September 16, 2013. 45 Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Remarks at the Summit on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, People’s Daily, September 16, 2005.

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development of all countries through mutually beneficial cooperation. Implementing the basic national policy of opening up, China has worked to develop an open economy, expand imports, make good use of foreign investment, speed up the implementation of the free trade agreement (FTA) strategy and promote regional economic integration, so as to share the benefits from the expanded market and deepened division of labor. Fourth, China seeks a responsible development. Affected by the international financial crisis, China has seen a drastic drop in its exports, a substantial increase in its unemployment rate and a quick slow-down in its economic growth. In responding to the crisis, China has always taken it as its primary task in economic work to ensure stable and fairly rapid growth of the economy. It has implemented and continued to enrich and improve a host of economic development plans and policy measures to ward off the impact of the international financial crisis, and has thus made important contributions to the recovery of the world economy. China has taken it as an important task of promoting stable and fairly rapid economic development to step up the transformation of the mode of economic development and economic restructuring. It is going all out to promote the balanced growth of consumption, export and investment, especially to expand domestic demands and consumption. China has never intentionally sought trade surplus and has always believed that balancing international payment is important to maintaining macroeconomic stability. Since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China has generally maintained RMB stability and helped promote the stability of the international economic and financial system in spite of the formidable difficulties it has encountered.46 All in all, to seek a peaceful and scientific development is the permanent strategic choice of China. China will stay firmly on the path of peaceful development and strive for peaceful development to meet the requirements of the scientific outlook on development. 46

Hu Jintao Delivering an Important Speech at the 2nd BRICS Leaders Meeting, Xinhuanet, April 16, 2010, http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-04/16/c_1237347_2.htm, accessed September 16, 2013.

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This is China’s solemn commitment to the world. China’s development is an opportunity to other countries, not a threat. China is an important constructive force in the international community, not a destructive one. And China will always stick to the path of peaceful development. The fundamental purpose and values of the scientific outlook on development are to put the people first and benefit the people, which have determined that the scientific outlook on development benefits not only the Chinese people, but also the people of the world. The global vision and the overall considerations, as reflected by the scientific outlook on development, demonstrate that China not only wishes to see good opportunities created by world peace for its development, but also endeavors to maintain world peace and promote common prosperity more effectively through its own development.

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PRACTICE

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CHAPTER FIVE

Traditional Deployments of China’s Diplomacy ZHANG Chun

The actual CPC leadership in China’s diplomacy and its practices are reflected in three areas: traditional diplomacy or strategic diplomatic layout from the actor’s perspective, non-traditional or agenda-oriented diplomacy to address specific issues, and the party diplomacy that the CPC directly conducts or involves itself in. This chapter is mainly to discuss the CPC-led traditional diplomacy with Chinese characteristics as well as its strategic diplomatic layout. Given the development process of the CPC and the PRC as well as the current level of China’s development, China’s diplomacy under the leadership of the CPC still focuses more on the traditional aspects of diplomacy, i.e. foreign relations centered on high politics in which nation states play the dominant role. For example, the 1949 Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the 1954 Constitution of the PRC and the 1982 Constitution of the PRC have all emphasized two points: China’s foreign relations with other countries and its diplomatic objective of maintaining world peace and promoting human progress.1,2,3 Guided by these principles, China has formulated the overall diplomatic

1

The Common Program of The Chinese People‘s Political Consultative Conference, People‘s Daily, September 30, 1949. 2 The Constitution of the PRC (adopted at the 1st Session of the 1st National People‘s Congress on September 20, 1954), People‘s Daily, September 21, 1954. 3 The Constitution of the PRC (adopted at the 5th Session of the 5th National People‘s Congress on December 4, 1982 and subsequently amended several times), People‘s Daily, March 16, 2004.

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strategy to consider “big countries as the key, neighboring countries as of primary importance, developing countries as the foundation, and multilateral diplomacy as an important platform“. In retrospect of the past 90 years of its development, China’s traditional diplomacy has had very conspicuous Chinese features, which are mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First, with the growth of the CPC and the PRC, profound changes have taken place in the relations between China and the international system, in both means and connotations. In terms of diplomatic means, China’s traditional diplomacy under the CPC leadership has gradually moved from a passive posture to a more positive and active one. In terms of connotations, it has developed from a simple single-dimensional endeavor to a holistic multi-dimensional one. Second, in leading China’s diplomacy over the past 90 years, the CPC has always kept abreast with the three historical trends of our times, i.e. peace and development, economic globalization, and democratization of international politics.4 Hence, China’s traditional diplomacy with Chinese characteristics under the CPC leadership has not only pursued peace and harmony in keeping with the themes of the times, i.e. peace and development, but it has also embraced openness and inclusiveness by riding on the historical trend of economic globalization, and it has furthermore been committed to an independent foreign policy in keeping with the common aspiration for greater democracy in international politics. Third, it is exactly owing to its accurate understanding of the historical trends that the CPC has been able to properly balance between pursuing material interests and maintaining universal values in conducting traditional diplomacy with unique Chinese characteristics, including balancing the national interests with the interests of mankind, and balancing between diplomacy with big countries and neighboring countries for greater material interests on the one hand and diplomacy with developing countries and multilateral diplomacy more for maintaining values on the other. As the CPC turned 90 years old, an all-dimensional holistic strategic layout has taken shape in China’s traditional diplomacy, 4

Zhang Baijia: One Hundred Years Review — the Changing World and the Changing China, World Affairs, 2000, No. 4, p. 10.

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which has created a favorable external environment for China’s firm pursuit of the path of peaceful development: China has established strategic partnerships with major countries, fostered good-neighborliness and friendship with its neighbors, steadily developed its relations with developing countries and made innovative explorations in multilateral diplomacy.

5.1. Strategic Partners and Diplomacy with Big Countries Compared with its diplomacy with neighboring countries and developing countries as well as its multilateral diplomacy, China’s big power diplomacy has two distinctive features: First, it has a longer history. China’s diplomacy in the first three categories generally started after the founding of the PRC. However the CPC leadership of and practice in diplomacy have, since its inception, had an indissoluble bond with China’s relations with big countries. Second, it has experienced more twists and turns. Out of ideological considerations and of the concerns of the interests of mankind, the CPC first kept close relations with the Communist International led by the Soviet Union and tried at the same time to win diplomatic support from big countries for China’s peaceful liberation, from its direct contacts with the US during World War II, for example. What it experienced in its pursuit for a peaceful liberation through diplomacy, or its failure in its diplomatic pursuit, had a direct impact on China’s relations with big countries after 1949 and compelled China to adopt an alliance policy in its relations with big countries from the very start of the PRC’s inception. On the whole, China’s foreign policy toward big countries has had a lot to do with the evolution of the international system or the international structure and China’s participation in it. With changes in the international structure over the past 90 years, and in particular with the post-World War II bipolar structure replaced by the post-Cold War multipolarity, China’s relations with big countries have gradually moved toward non-alignment and finally toward the strategy of building partnership, especially strategic partnerships with big countries. In the meantime, it has continued to build

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partnerships with more countries and expand cooperation in more areas with partners. In this process, its big power diplomacy has undergone a development process from conducting diplomacy with a few big countries to include emerging big countries, and from the previous high politics only to increasingly more low politics issues in terms of areas in which to conduct diplomacy.

5.1.1. Diplomacy for Peaceful Liberation and Maintaining Relative Independence Although the CPC had never deviated from the independent principle in external relations before the founding of the PRC, it had been under significant influence from big countries, especially the Soviet Union and the US. In the early days of the CPC, the Soviet Union guided the revolutionary practice of the CPC, mostly in the name of the Communist International and its guidance caused many difficulties for China’s revolution as well. In contrast, the US tried to help China become a major power toward the end of World War II and hence attempted to develop relations with the CPC. However, due to various reasons, particularly the outbreak of the Cold War, the US finally opted for Chiang Kai-shek, which directly led to China’s “alliance strategy” when the PRC was founded. From the founding of the CPC to the founding of the PRC, the relations between the CPC and the Soviet Union had always been quite delicate, featuring both dependence and relative independence. In the early days of the CPC, the Communist International offered the CPC selfless help and correct guidance. For example, it helped and promoted the founding of the CPC, assisted the CPC in formulating a program of democratic revolution to unswervingly oppose imperialism and feudalism, and helped bring about the first cooperation between the CPC and the KMT. However since the very first day of its relations with the CPC, the Communist International had mistakenly overestimated the KMT while underestimating the CPC. For example, in his report to the Communist International, Henk Sneevliet tried hard to belittle the CPC and blow up the KMT strength, asserting that the CPC was weak, no more than a “communist group”, and could not

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shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading China’s revolution.5 This erroneous assessment inevitably and adversely affected the ability of the Communist International in handling CPC–KMT relations during the Great Revolution. In the period of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the Communist International helped the CPC correct the mistakes of the right opportunism represented by Chen Duxiu and to formulate the policy of armed revolt against the KMT reactionaries, and rendered support to the CPC-led Agrarian Revolution, thus enabling the CPC to grow in strength and develop further. However, the Communist International mistook the betrayal of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei cliques as the betrayal of the whole national bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie, and asserted that the only allies left for the proletariat were peasants and the urban poor. It believed that China’s revolution was at its best time and could directly enter the higher stage of establishing the dictatorship by the workers and peasants. It erroneously put forward the so-called “third period” notion and issued a series of “leftist” directives, which made the CPC increasingly lean toward the “left” and gave rise to the three “leftist” mistakes represented by Qu Qiubai, Li Lisan and Wang Ming respectively, inflicting severe damages to the Chinese revolution. Since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937, which marked the beginning of the all-round War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the national conflict between China and Japan became the main issue before the whole Chinese nation. Bearing in mind the national interests of the Chinese nation and the overall interests of the anti-fascist war across the world, the CPC made the building of a united front against Japanese imperialist aggression its overarching policy in both theory and practice of its foreign policy. The fundamental principle of this overarching policy was to unite all potential forces to resist the Japanese imperialist aggression of China and other Asian countries. The CPC maintained its independence in this united front. Restrained by neither the official policies of the KMT 5

Selected Historical Data on the Communist International and the Chinese Revolution (1919–1924), Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1985 Edition, p. 167.

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or by any other country, the CPC adjusted its foreign policy whenever the changed situation so required, and maintained its flexibility and independence in diplomacy. It was on this basis that the CPC started its flexible diplomacy with the US, the UK, the Soviet Union and other countries. The CPC’s priority in diplomacy during this period of time was its relations with the Soviet Union and the Communist International, with the struggle of dependence versus independence being the major part of its relations with them. On the one hand, the Soviet Union and the Communist International offered the CPC positive and important assistance, which were mainly evidenced by its advancement and promotion of the Chinese national united front against Japanese aggression, its significant moral and economic support for China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and its support for the guerrilla wars by the CPC. Guided by the Communist International’s tactics of establishing the anti-fascist united front, the CPC gradually gave up its “leftist” closed-doorism and successfully established the national united front against Japanese aggression. Once the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out, the executive committee of the Communist International issued a statement to the world proletarians, declaring that the war of liberation of the Chinese people is the most important part of the general struggle by the world proletarian class and all progressive peoples against the barbarian oppression of fascism.6 It called on the world working class and all people who truly supported democracy and peace to provide assistance to China by all possible means. On the economic front, the Communist International and the Soviet Union also provided a large amount of aid to the CPC, including supporting CPC in its guerrilla warfare. On the other hand, the CPC did not get along well with the Soviet Union all the time. The two sides had differences from time to time on how to implement the policy of the national united front against Japanese aggression and in the meantime, the ideological bonds that helped maintain their relationship were weakened. As Joseph Stalin 6

Xiang Qing: Historical Materials on Relations between the Communist International and the Chinese Revolution, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1988 Edition, p. 223.

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saw it, the CPC was more and more turning out to be a party that represented peasants and petty bourgeoisie to pursue national interests and social welfare. In 1942, he told Soviet General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, who was to go to China to serve as Chiang Kai-shek’s military adviser, in blunt terms, that the CPC was a party with a very strong tendency toward nationalism that lacks internationalism.7 As China was about to win the anti-Japanese War, the Soviet Union, in order to secure its interests in China after the War, promised Chiang Kai-shek that it would only support the KMT government, not the CPC. This promise had severely hurt the self-esteem of CPC leaders, and the joy over the victory in the entire CPC leadership was quickly washed away by the disappointment with the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between China and the Soviet Union.8 During his conversation with US reporters, Zhou Enlai was critical of the Treaty, saying that “it made Chiang Kai-shek believe that he could start the anti-Communist civil war”. To win greater international support, the CPC also tried to develop relations with the US and other countries. Since Japan invaded China, the CPC gradually put forward and developed the policy to establish the national united front against Japanese aggression. In its foreign policy, the CPC gave up the slogan “Down with All Imperialists” and re-designed a policy to differentiate imperialist countries. It was ready to “reach necessary understanding and compromise, establish relations, and enter into treaty relations with all countries, political parties, factions, and even individuals that oppose Japanese imperialists and their running dogs and national traitors”.9 After the war between the Soviet Union and Germany broke out in June 1941, Mao Zedong pointed out in an internal directive that he wrote for the CPC Central 7

Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov: Mission to China — Memoirs of a Soviet Military Adviser to Chiang Kaishek (Chinese edition translated by Wan Chengcai), Beijing: Xinhua Publishing House, 1980, p. 34. 8 John King Fairbank (ed.): The Cambridge History of China,Vol. II (Chinese edition translated by Huang Jiangang et al.), Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1992, pp. 783–784. 9 Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee, Vol. X, Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 1991 Edition, pp. 598–617.

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Committee: “In foreign relations, unite against the common foe with everybody in Britain, the US, and other countries who are opposed to the fascist rulers of Germany, Italy and Japan.”10 In other words, the CPC not only sought unity and solidarity with the Soviet Union, but was also ready to establish relations with the US, the UK and other imperialist countries that opposed fascist aggressions in a joint effort to fight Japanese imperialists. After China won the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the US and the Soviet Union reached a compromise at the cost of China’s interests, which was accepted by the Chiang Kai-shek clique. Thus, the US shifted its policy from supporting Chiang Kai-shek and uniting with the CPC to supporting Chiang in opposition to the CPC. Under these circumstances, the CPC worked out the general principle of “tit for tat, fighting for every inch of land, and striving for peaceful reunification of the country after the war against Japanese aggression through war of self-defense”. Based on this principle, the CPC readjusted its policy toward the US. On the one hand, it decided not to believe in the “nice words” of the imperialists and remain alert to the US policy of turning China into its vassal state. China must not be intimidated by the imperialist blusters. Rather it should sternly criticize and firmly resist US interference in China’s internal affairs. On the other hand, the CPC decided to do what it could to prevent the US from getting directly involved in China’s civil war and minimize the excuses for the US to use to take provocative actions, so as to secure temporary or even nominal neutrality from the US. An editorial of Xinhua Daily around the time pointed out that the Chinese people know the “necessity to make differentiations”: First, China should differentiate the US and UK governments from the vast majority of the people of the two countries. Second, it should differentiate the policymakers in the US and UK governments from the majority of the working staff of the two governments. Third, it should differentiate today’s policies from tomorrow’s policies that may be changed. For example, China may firmly oppose the existing US 10

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, p. 806.

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policy toward China (in the first half of 1945). However, if one day the US changes its policy, China would not oppose it forever.11 The introduction of the Truman Doctrine in March 1946 marked the formal start of the Cold War. In July and August that year, the CPC completely gave up its strategic policy for cooperation with the US and turned to adopt the strategy of opposing the US and overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek. Since then, expelling the US imperialist forces out of China and overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT government that was entirely dependent on the US became the fundamental strategic principle and objective of the CPC. The Soviet Union, on its part, recognizing the mistakes it made with regard to the CPC and worrying about China becoming another Yugoslavia, had started to engage more actively with the CPC since 1948. This helped the New China to formulate the “leaning to one side” strategy.

5.1.2. The “Leaning to One Side” Strategy and Alliance with the Soviet Union As in many cases of confrontation between big powers in history, the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union had apparent geopolitical and geostrategic connotations. Dougherty and Pfaltzgraff (2003) explained: “Bipolarity is expressed as the reciprocal control of the two strongest states by each other out of their mutual antagonism… each is very sensitive to the gains of the other.”12 Throughout the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union constantly assessed the strategic values and strategic situations in every region in the world. Being the only big country located at the converging point of the two blocs, and having a vast expanse of territory and an important geographical position, China became the focal point for competition between the two superpowers. To ensure the security in its east in the Cold War international context and to increase its strength for confrontation 11

Commemorating the 8th Anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War, July 7, 1945, Xinhua Daily (Chongqing), Editorial. 12 James E. Dougherty and Robert L. Pfaltzgraff: Contending Theories of International Relations (5th Edition) (Chinese edition translated by Yan Xuetong et al.), p. 128, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2003 Edition, p. 137.

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against the US, the Soviet Union needed China to join its bloc. The US, on the other hand, had a strong desire to have China in its sphere of influence and serve its strategic interests in order to contain the Soviet Union and stop the “expansion of Communism”. It was precisely under these circumstances that the newly-founded PRC had to turn to the expedient option of “leaning to one side”, even though this was not, to a large extent, that consistent with its proposition for and pursuit of a peaceful diplomacy. In the early post-war period, the CPC leaders already noticed the increasingly apparent differences between the US and the Soviet Union, but they did not believe that US–Soviet cooperation or mutual compromise would come to an end soon. Instead they held the view that the whole world had entered an era of peaceful construction. This understanding had been one of the important reasons for Mao Zedong to personally fly to Chongqing for negotiation with the KMT in 1945. In spite of the fairly limited achievements of the Chongqing negotiations, Mao Zedong reiterated, after returning to Yan’an, that the US and the Soviet Union “would yet reach compromises on a number of international matters” and that the period of peaceful construction of China would finally come though “the situation will remain in flux for six months or so”.13 However, with the start and intensifying of the Cold War, the CPC leaders had come to realize that “the conflict between the two major blocs of the US and the Soviet Union is a fundamental one and that the struggle between them is a matter of life and death”.14 Therefore, in today’s world, the choice is between “uniting with the Soviet Union” and “uniting with imperialism”. As Liu Shaoqi (1948) put it, it must be one or the other: “That is the line of demarcation between patriotism and betrayal of one’s own country, between revolution and counter-revolution, between progress and retrogression for any nation.”15 Neutrality was impossible when there

13

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991 Edition, pp. 1161–1162. 14 Niu Jun: Formation of the New China‘s Diplomacy and Its Main Features, History Studies, 1999, No. 5, pp. 23–42. 15 Liu Shaoqi: On Internationalism and Nationalism, People‘s Daily, Nov. 1, 1948.

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were two confrontational camps and therefore it was merely deceptive nonsense. This meant that the CPC had entirely embraced the strategy to enter alliance with the socialist countries led by the Soviet Union, and had decided on the “leaning to one side” policy. “Leaning to one side”, as the foreign policy of New China, was formed in the special international environment and under special historical conditions. Diplomatically, this policy answered the question of which side New China would take in the world political structure of two confrontational blocs. According to Mao Zedong, China leaned to the side of democratic and socialist bloc headed by the Soviet Union in the international struggle. In summarizing the important experiences of the Chinese people, Mao Zedong stated, “Externally, unite in a common struggle with those nations of the world which treat us as equals and unite with the peoples of all countries. That is, ally ourselves with the Soviet Union, with the People‘s Democracies and with the proletariat and the broad masses of the people in all other countries, and form an international united front.”16 Specifically, the “leaning to one side“ strategy had four important connotations. First, “leaning to one side” did not mean the loss of independence. On the contrary, it meant to lean to one side under the prerequisite principle of remaining independent. Although China leaned to the side of socialism, or to the camp of democracy and peace on the international arena, it did not mean that China was entirely dependent on the Soviet Union and lost all its independence. On the eve of the PRC’s inception, the CPC Central Committee decided that independence would be the fundamental principle for China’s diplomacy. At the preparatory meeting of the new Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Mao Zedong pointed out that China must be “independent” and “liberated”, its affairs must be “decided and run by the Chinese people themselves”, and no further interference, not even the slightest, will be tolerated from any imperialist country.17 Zhou Enlai was even more explicit in stating that China has a basic 16 17

Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, p. 1133. Ibid., p. 1465.

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position on diplomatic affairs, namely, the position for independence and self-reliance of the Chinese nation.18 It was exactly on the basis of the principle of independent diplomacy that China initially proposed in 1953 and then jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence with leaders of India and Myanmar in 1954. Instead of being a supplement to “leaning to one side”, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have been regarded as the fundamental principle for China in handling state-to-state relations. In reality, the CPC’s adherence to independence while “leaning to one side” heralded the ensuing evolution of China’s foreign policy and the changes in Sino– Soviet relations. Second, priority was given to the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union in China’s foreign policy. Given the Cold War situation at the time, the foreign policy choice for New China was not taking or not taking the “leaning to one side” policy, but rather which side it should “lean to”. The capitalist bloc headed by the US did not recognize New China nor treat it as an equal, forcing New China to lean to the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union. As Mao Zedong stated in On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship in 1949, “The 40 years’ experience of Sun Yat-sen and the 28 years’ experience of the Communist Party have taught us to lean to one side, and we are firmly convinced that in order to win victory and consolidate it we must lean to one side. In the light of the experiences accumulated in these 40 years and these 28 years, all Chinese without exception must lean either to the side of imperialism or to the side of socialism. Sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a third road. We oppose the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries who lean to the side of imperialism, and we also oppose the illusions about a third road.”19 The Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of September 1949, equivalent to the interim Constitution, declared to the whole world that the PRC shall “unite with all peace-loving and freedom-loving countries and peoples throughout the world, first of all, with the USSR, all peoples’ 18

Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1980 Edition, p. 321. 19 Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. IV, pp. 1472–1473.

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democracies and all oppressed nations; it shall side with the camp of international peace and democracy and join the common struggle against imperialist aggression for a lasting world peace”.20 Third, in the spirit of maintaining independence, “leaning to one side” did not entirely rule out the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations, especially economic relations, with the West. On 22 December 1949, Mao Zedong, who was visiting the Soviet Union, told the CPC Central Committee in a telegraph: “We should proceed from our overall interests in preparing for a trade treaty with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is naturally our top priority. But at the same time, we should also be ready to conduct trade with France, Czechoslovakia, Germany, the UK, the US and other countries.”21 On 7 January 1950, Mao Zedong again telegraphed Zhou Enlai and the CPC Central Committee from the Soviet Union, stating that on the exportimport issue, it was imperative to holistically consider the export to and import from the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary as well as those to and from the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Romania, Australia, Canada, Japan and the US for the entire year of 1950 in terms of both categories and quantities. Otherwise, China would find itself in a passive position.22 Thus on the one hand, making use of the contradictions among Western countries, China took Hong Kong as a basis for its trade with the UK and other Western European countries, and successfully made Hong Kong a channel for its trade with capitalist countries. Statistics showed that China’s trade with Hong Kong and Macao exceeded US$200 million almost every year throughout the 1950s, with the biggest volume of US$620 million in 1951.23 On the other hand, taking advantage of the Moscow International Economic Conference, China signed huge-volume trade agreements with capitalist countries in Western Europe, pushing China’s trade with the UK, 20

Xinhua Monthly, No. 1, November 15, 1949, p. 8. Bo Yibo: A Review of Major Decisions and Events, Vol. I, Beijing: Central Party School Press, 1991 Edition, p. 40. 22 Manuscripts of Mao Zedong since the Founding of the PRC, Vol. I, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 1987 Edition, p. 218. 23 China Statistical Yearbook (1981), Beijing: China Statistics Press, 1982 Edition, p. 356. 21

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France and Germany to as high as US$150 million in 1953, or four times more than the US$30 million of 1952.24 Lastly, China also strived to develop normal diplomatic relations with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. It paid much attention to establishing and developing relations with newly independent countries in Asia and Africa, especially establishing good-neighborliness and friendship with its neighbors. As a unique option in the unique circumstances, the “leaning to one side“ strategy made important contribution to the development of New China. On the one hand, it enabled China to quickly get rid of isolation in the difficult international environment and consolidate its political power. On the other hand, joining the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union gave New China access to the extremely valuable financial and economic assistance after its founding, and thus enhanced China’s overall national strength.

5.1.3. Moving toward an Independent and Non-aligned Foreign Policy Independence has always been one of the guiding principles of the CPC and China’s foreign policy. However under different international and domestic situations and due to different perceptions of China’s foreign strategy and policy, China had taken aligned or quasialigned strategies at different times. In the 1950s, China allied with the Soviet Union against the US in order to consolidate the sovereignty and independence of the newly born socialist country. In the mid 1970s, China entered into a quasi alliance with the US in order to ease its severe security pressure, and built a China–US strategic relationship against the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, in light of the changed international situation and particularly in review of the experiences and lessons of the alliance with the Soviet Union and the quasi alliance with the US, the CPC adopted an all-directional diplomatic strategy of

24

Ibid., pp. 363–364.

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forming no alliance with any big country or group of countries, and hence started to implement the independent foreign policy of peace. The policies of alliance with the Soviet, quasi alliance with the US and non-alliance were all specific manifestations of China’s independent foreign policy in different periods of history. They were all correct diplomatic strategies that the CPC and the Chinese government formulated in light of the international and domestic situations at the time, taking into account development trends, changes in the balance of international strategic power and China’s fundamental national interests. The formulation and implementation of each of these diplomatic strategies had a significant impact on China’s international status and international relations. As aforementioned, the diplomatic strategy of “leaning to one side” that China adopted in the early days of the PRC did not bring about major benefits to China. Furthermore, the China–Soviet alliance had negatively impacted China. Under the historical conditions then, since Stalin was not only the leader of the Soviet Union, but also the widely recognized leader of the socialist world, Mao Zedong had to, more often than not, respect the views of Stalin and the Soviet Union on many issues. This had compromised China’s independence and flexibility on domestic and diplomatic issues. On the one hand, the China–Soviet alliance made China somewhat dependent on the Soviet Union for its domestic affairs. In the early days of the PRC, China more or less copied the Soviet model of political, economic, cultural and military systems, and lacked creativity and independence. Mao Zedong sought the Soviet views on many important domestic issues such as the formulation of its economic development plan and the relationship between the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. China also valued the works of Lenin and Stalin in formulating its national ideology. At the same time, the China–Soviet alliance also made China somewhat dependent on the Soviet Union for handling international affairs. For example, many of China’s decisions concerning the Korean War were made with the Soviet views very much in mind. China consulted the Soviet Union and accommodated its views on China’s position regarding the Korean issue and the UK-masterminded

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Mexico’s three-point proposal at the UN General Assembly in September 1952 and China sought the Soviet view on whether China should sign treaties of mutual non-aggression with India and Myanmar. China was advised not to fully develop normal state-tostate relations with “pro-American countries”. In the late 1950s, contradictions and differences between China and the Soviet Union had thrown China–Soviet alliance into a crisis. As a result, China gave up its “leaning to one side” policy since the 1960s and adopted a foreign policy that opposed both the US and the Soviet Union, which plunged itself into isolation, passivity and a disadvantaged position. The international environment for China was very perilous. In this context, China opened the door to the normalization of China–US relations in the early 1970s and took the strategy of “uniting with the US against the Soviet Union”. The China–US quasi alliance helped open a new chapter in China’s diplomacy. It helped China improve its relations with the US, Europe, Japan and other developed countries in the West, forming an international coalition against hegemony. It played an important role in containing the Soviet’s aggressive expansion and easing the tremendous pressure on China’s national security. But it also brought along with it some drawbacks for China. This quasi alliance highlighted the hostility between China and the Soviet–Eastern Europe bloc, which was not helpful in China’s efforts to improve its relations with these countries. In this quasi alliance, China was in fact in a semi-subordinate position. Overshadowed by the US hegemony and the strategic relationship, China’s independence was compromised significantly. Based on a new assessment of the international situation and a reflection on its alliance and quasi alliance diplomatic strategies, China readjusted its diplomatic strategy in the early 1980s, replacing the China–US quasi alliance with a non-aligned strategy. The CPC formed the non-aligned diplomatic strategy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It continued to enrich and develop the strategy in response to the changes in and outside of China, thus forming a quite complete scientific system of theories on China’s foreign relations in the new era. First, it has insisted that the non-aligned strategy should be based on keeping independence and opposing hegemony. In this strategic

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thinking, the principle of maintaining independence and opposing hegemony has served as the basis. Firstly, China does not form alliance with any country. China’s foreign policy is independent and truly non-aligned; China does not align itself with any country25; nor does China seek strategic relations with any country.26 China does not subordinate itself to any power, nor does it join any group of big powers. Secondly, China should uphold principles in international affairs, and should absolutely never barter away principles: “We will not play the ‘US card’ or the ‘Soviet card’. Nor will we allow others to play the ‘China card’.”27 Thirdly, China absolutely does not seek hegemony and opposes hegemony by other countries. Deng Xiaoping elaborated: “To be frank, China, such a backward country, is in no position to seek hegemony! The question is: When China becomes a developed country in 30 or 50 years, will it seek hegemony as well?”28 Deng Xiaoping also commented: “It will not be long before the PRC, which is already a political power, becomes an economic power as well… We shall seize every opportunity to develop. We do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, nor do we fear sanctions. China opposes hegemonism, and we shall never seek hegemony ourselves.”29 Lastly, China must side with the Third World, and oppose hegemonism together with the Third World. Second, China should, through its non-aligned diplomatic strategy, play a part in actively promoting world peace. World peace is to be achieved through active diplomatic endeavors, not through passive waiting, still less through making humiliating concessions or taking neutrality. Therefore, China must play a role in international 25

Deng Xiaoping: Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (revised edition), Beijing: People‘s Publishing House, 1987 Edition, p. 44. 26 Deng Xiaoping’s Talks with Susumu Nikaido, President of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, People’s Daily, March 29, 1985, p. 1. 27 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 57. 28 Chronicle of Deng Xiaoping Thought, Beijing: Central Literature Publishing House, 1998 Edition, p.6. 29 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 358.

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affairs and work for world peace. Thus, the non-aligned foreign policy that China pursues is not aimed at neutrality, but rather at opposing hegemonism and safeguarding world peace. China should actively conduct diplomacy in light of its own economic and political strength in order to create a peaceful international environment conducive to its economic development, and to win the support for its stance in international affairs from as many countries and international forces as possible. To this end, China should enhance exchanges with all countries in the world, and China is “ready to establish and expand diplomatic relations and economic and cultural ties with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”.30 At the same time, China should promote the NorthSouth dialogue and its cooperation with the Third World in a joint effort to achieve world peace. China belongs to the Third World “as a matter of course”; it will remain one of them even when it becomes “prosperous and powerful”, because it shares a “common destiny with all Third World countries”. China will always side with the Third World.31 Third, the national interests are the overarching or the highest principle in handling international relations, which is the general principle of the non-aligned thinking. In handling international relations and international affairs, China should not base its decision on whether to develop relations with a particular country on the social system or ideology of that country. Instead, it should independently decide on its domestic and foreign policies as well as its stance and policies in international affairs based on the merits and demerits of each case, the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and the whole world, and the possible impact of the relevant decision on world peace, friendly relations with other countries and common development. Deng Xiaoping stated: “In determining relations between two countries, each party should proceed from his country‘s own strategic interests … and at the same time respect the interests of the other. Each country, whether it is big or small, strong or weak, 30 31

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, p. 70. Ibid., p. 56.

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should respect others as equals, giving no thought to old scores or to differences in social systems and ideologies.”32 From the early 1980s through the late 1990s, China firmly put into practice the non-aligned thinking of the CPC with Deng Xiaoping at the core. As a result, China not only significantly improved its international environment, but also considerably advanced the reform and opening-up cause on the domestic front. It also gradually began to build toward partnerships with other big countries, which became more obvious and important in the 1990s.

5.1.4. Vigorously Developing Partnerships with Big Countries In the context of the changing international landscape since the end of the Cold War, all countries, especially the big ones with a critical role to play in promoting multi-polarity and building a new international order, have made adjustments to their foreign policies to varying degrees. Under the prerequisite of safeguarding and seeking selfdefined national interests, they have begun to look for common interests, developing mutually beneficial cooperation and building partnerships in different names.33 In response to this trend, China has also become more vigorous and active in its diplomacy, beginning to build and develop partnerships of various kinds with other countries, with a view to playing an even more important role in the international system. To a great extent, building a wide range of “strategic and cooperative partnerships” with all countries, especially with emerging powers, is China’s new diplomatic strategy in the new century. The partnerships between China and big countries have started from the initiative of the countries themselves and a public announcement of their commitment, and have developed by taking advantage of summit diplomacy as a vehicle and through the cooperation mechanism of multi-tiered

32

Ibid., p. 330. Ning Sao: Strategies for Selecting Partners and Managing Partnerships — China’s Diplomacy in the 21st Century, China’s Foreign Affairs, 2000, No. 6, p. 2. 33

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dialogue. The kind of partnership that China seeks to build is, in essence, one of consultation and cooperation. It seeks peaceful consultation, friendly cooperation and dialogue on an equal footing between partners. Its ultimate objective is to better safeguard national interests. The diplomacy for partnerships that China is developing with big countries under the leadership of the CPC has the following fundamental connotations and features: First, it means that China does not seek alliance or confrontation, and that the partnerships are not directed against any third party, nor will they harm the interests of a third party. The partnerships that China is developing with other countries are not alliances, still less a way against any third country. The strategic goal of China’s diplomacy is to promote world peace and development. To develop partnerships with other countries is definitely not to form military alliances against any third country. This is required by the fundamental goal of China’s diplomatic strategy, which is consistent with the fundamental goal of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Second, the partnership that China is building in its partnership diplomacy is a relationship in which partners respect each other and seek common ground while putting aside differences. In this diverse world, it is inevitable for countries to have different views on some issues due to their differences in history, national conditions and values. On the other hand, they also have common interests, which make it possible for countries to cooperate with each other in some areas. China’s partnership diplomacy advocates mutual respect and seeking common ground while putting aside differences. The two sides to a partnership should highlight their common interests, and seek cooperation. At the same time, they should candidly acknowledge their differences on some issues. When tension arises in the bilateral relations due to their differences, the two sides should not rush into confrontation in disregard of their common interests in other areas. Instead, they should, on the basis of seeking common interests, address their frictions and differences through dialogue and consultation, so as to prevent their differences on specific issues from damaging their overall interests. Third, China’s partnership diplomacy is a long-term and strategic endeavor. The countries in a partnership should have a cross-century

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strategic vision, proceed from the long-term interests and comprehensive security, cast aside the Cold War mentality of confrontation and hostility, and develop normal state-to-state relations of equality, mutual benefit and cooperation through engagement, dialogue and consultation. When faced with interferences in its domestic affairs due to power politics, China has not resorted to severing diplomatic relations with the countries concerned. Instead, it has adopted a flexible and pragmatic attitude toward the contradictions and disputes in line with the principle of seeking common ground while putting aside differences and having the long-term interests in mind. This attests to the maturity of China’s foreign relations and its pursuit of building constructive strategic partnerships with other countries from the strategic height. China’s partnership diplomacy originated from its post-Cold War relations with Russia. In December 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin visited China. The two countries signed the Joint Statement on the Foundation of Mutual Relations between the PRC and the Russian Federation. It stated explicitly, “The right of peoples of all countries to choose freely the road of their development should be respected. Differences in social systems and ideologies should not obstruct the normal development of relations between countries.”34 The two countries issued the China–Russia Joint Statement during then President Jiang Zemin’s visit to Russia in September 1994. It affirmed that the two countries have established a new type of constructive partnership, namely, a relationship of complete equality, good-neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which is neither an alliance nor directed against any third country.35 During President Yeltsin’s visit to China in April 1996, the two sides signed the China–Russia Joint Statement, in which they declared to develop the 21st century-oriented strategic partnership of coordination based on equality and mutual trust. Entering the 21st century, China and Russia have started to build the new type of strategic relations, known as the “strategic 34

The Joint Statement on the Foundation of Mutual Relations between the PRC and the Russian Federation, People’s Daily, December 19, 1992, p. 1. 35 The China–Russia Joint Statement, People’s Daily, September 4, 1994, p. 1.

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partnership of coordination for the 21st century”, showing in clear terms to the rest of the world a new model of state-to-state relations. In May 2003, during then President Hu Jintao’s visit to Russia, the two heads of states agreed that no matter what changes might happen in the international situation, deepening good-neighborliness, mutually beneficial cooperation and the strategic partnership of coordination would always be the strategic priority in their respective foreign policies. Thanks to the joint initiation of the presidents of the two countries, China hosted the “Year of Russia” activities in 2006 on the occasions of the 10th anniversary of China–Russia strategic partnership of coordination and also the 5th anniversary of the China–Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, and Russia hosted the “Year of China” event in the following year. These events represented a major strategic decision by the Chinese and Russian leaders when their bilateral relationship had a new opportunity of development. They were unprecedented in the history of China–Russia relations, opening up broad prospects for the further deepening of the China– Russia strategic partnership of coordination. Leaders of the two countries recognized profoundly that the sustained, sound and steady development of this partnership would serve as an important pillar for world peace and stability. On the part of China, whatever changes may happen in the international situation, the Chinese Government will continue to push forward China–Russia relations from the “strategic height and the long-term perspective”, and will unswervingly promote “strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Russia”.36 With the breakthrough and progress in China–Russia relations, Chinese diplomats began to see a new major opportunity for the postCold War world and innovations of China’s diplomacy. In the late 1990s, China’s foreign policymakers gradually proposed to develop partnerships with big countries in the West on the basis of the experience it had acquired in the course of building China–Russia strategic 36

Ye Jiang: Transformation of China’s Strategy in Dealing with Great Powers in Its All-round Diplomacy since Reform and Opening-up, Studies of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theories, 2008, No. 8, pp. 38–44.

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partnership of coordination, and to more vigorously promote the institution of multilateral mechanisms in international organizations. The most notable example was the establishment of the constructive and cooperative partnership between China and the US. Then President Jiang Zemin visited the US in October 1997 and agreed with then President Clinton to work toward a “constructive strategic partnership”. Since then, the China–US relationship has been generally moving forward in spite of some ups and downs. In 2006, President Hu Jintao made a state visit to the US from April 18 to 21 at the invitation of then President George W. Bush. During the visit, then President Hu emphasized that developing China–US relations was necessitated by the need to safeguard the common interests of the two countries and peoples as well as to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia–Pacific region and the world as a whole. Therefore, China and the US were not only “stakeholders”, but also “constructive partners”. President Bush agreed that both China and the US were stakeholders in the stability of the international system. To define the two countries as “responsible stakeholders” and “constructive and cooperative partners” led China–US relations to a new era. With China becoming an important big country in the international system, China and the US have found their international activities or interests converging or overlapping, with some “common strategic interests” existing between them. Therefore, it is imperative for the two countries to establish a long-term stable relationship of cooperation based on a new security concept and through the promotion of greater democracy in international relations.37 Before establishing partnership with the US and Russia, China and France announced in May 1997 that they would establish a “21st century-oriented comprehensive strategic partnership”, signifying that the China–France relationship had entered the stage of rapid growth. In October 1998, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited China. The two countries issued a joint statement, announcing that they would build a “comprehensive partnership”, which provided a basic framework for the cross-century development of China–UK 37

Ibid.

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relations. In October 2006, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a visit to China. The two sides agreed to build mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests, and realize the lofty goal of peaceful coexistence, perennial friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development. It was the first time in the history of China–Japan relations that the two sides agreed to develop a strategic relationship of mutual benefit. In 2005, China and India announced their decision to establish a strategic partnership of peace and prosperity during Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India. At the 1st China–EU Summit meeting on 2 April 1998, the two sides issued a joint statement, stating that they were ready to build a “long-term stable constructive partnership” for the 21st century. In 2001, the two sides announced that they would build a “comprehensive partnership”. In 2003, the two sides decided to upgrade their relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. During former Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Europe in May 2004, the European countries he visited all stated expressly that the China–EU relationship was a strategic partnership.

5.2. Good-neighborliness and Diplomacy with Neighboring Countries China’s neighboring countries are an important strategic support for China’s peaceful development. The state of China’s relations with its neighbors has a direct bearing on the state of external material and spiritual environment for China’s peaceful development. In the 60 years of diplomatic history since the founding of the PRC, the strategy to develop good-neighborliness has always been a very important part of China’s diplomacy. In spite of some deviations in the guiding principles, policies and implementation due to ideological influence, China has never deviated from its overall goal of peaceful coexistence and good-neighborliness. With a comprehensive rectification of the erroneous ideas and concepts and an expedited integration into the international community particularly since the reform and opening up, there has been a significant leap in China’s perception, understanding and practice of the diplomatic thinking and theory on good-neighborliness,

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which has gradually helped China to effect a shift from a fairly conservative pursuit of peaceful coexistence in the early days to today’s more active pursuit of a harmonious region. In this process, China’s diplomacy, under the leadership of the CPC, has focused not only on bilateral relations with neighboring countries, but also on multi-lateral relations with regional organizations of which China and its neighboring countries are members.

5.2.1. Diplomacy for Good-neighborliness and Peaceful Coexistence The diplomatic thinking of good-neighborliness is deeply rooted in the Chinese history and culture. China’s diplomacy since the founding of the CPC and the PRC has unswervingly continued to pursue good-neighborliness. In the early days of New China, the most important diplomatic task was to safeguard and consolidate China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In the bipolar international structure of US–Soviet confrontation, the CPC recognized that a peaceful and relatively friendly neighboring environment was extremely important for the growth of the new regime. Based on this understanding, the first generation of the collective CPC leadership with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai at the core, made a thorough analysis and review of China’s diplomatic thinking and tradition on good-neighborliness, and put forward new proposals for good-neighborliness with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence at the core. New China’s foreign policy of good-neighborliness not only had a theoretical foundation, but also originated from practical needs. As leaders of China’s New Democratic Revolution, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other members of the first generation of Chinese leadership provided the correct theoretical guidance for New China’s foreign policy of good-neighborliness. As the founder and leader of New China, Chairman Mao Zedong believed that to implement a foreign policy of good-neighborliness, New China must, proceeding from the proletarian position, criticize and self-reproach the old China’s mindset of believing that China is the “celestial kingdom” and stop acting like a “celestial kingdom”, but instead adhere to the principle of

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treating all countries as equals regardless of their size, and oppose chauvinism and hegemonism. Proceeding from the position of national independence, China must firmly oppose all unjust wars of aggression and expansion. It should stress the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries and oppose all attempts to export revolution. It should vigorously advocate mutually beneficial cooperation and oppose all acts harmful to the interests of neighboring countries. It should respect the facts, advocate peaceful settlement of all historical problems and disputes with neighboring countries and firmly oppose all acts of bullying smaller and weaker countries. It should focus on building mutual trust among countries, stress the importance of always having a bigger picture in mind and work together for friendly relations. It should “firmly oppose any foreign aggression and interference, and resolutely safeguard China‘s sovereignty and security while promoting good-neighborliness”. Former Premier Zhou Enlai also pointed out that New China’s foreign policy of good-neighborliness must embrace major elements of the times: the principle of seeking common ground while putting aside differences; carrying forward internationalism, opposing narrow-minded nationalism and going all out in supporting neighboring countries in their anti-aggression wars; emphasizing on mutual understanding and accommodation in managing relations among neighboring countries, treating neighboring countries as equals and opposing chauvinism; opposing external attempts to interfere in the internal affairs and undermine solidarity and stability in the region, and promoting goodneighborliness within the region. On the other hand, New China’s foreign policy of goodneighborliness was also a natural response to the requirement of the actual international environment. First, in the early days of the PRC, the pressing tasks for China were to consolidate the newly born government and to go all out for large-scale economic recovery and development. Therefore China was in urgent need of a peaceful neighborhood and international environment. Second, the Korean War, which cost China huge human, material and financial resources, did not end until 1953. If the Indochina War could not be stopped from escalation and expansion in 1954, the financial situation of New China

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would be further worsened. Third, New China was also faced with the risk of a worsening security environment in its neighborhood. The US intensified its military deployment step by step in the Asia–Pacific region. In addition, fearing about the “red” government of New China, some of China’s neighbors hoped to see greater US military presence in Asia. All this brought about tremendous pressure on China’s security and defense. Fourth, New China bordered with 12 countries, with a total land border zigzagging about 21,108 kilometers and tens of thousands kilometers of coastal lines. Yet, not even a single section of these land or coastal borders was clearly demarcated, due to unequal treaties, historically formed traditional lines, lines of actual control and other reasons. Obviously, with its hands full of things to do in the early days of the PRC, the border issue could not find its place on China’s agenda. Former Premier Zhou Enlai once said, “If our relations with neighboring countries become tense because of the border issues, we’d better not raise the issues or seek to settle them now, but rather we should wait for the right time and opportunity.”38 Apparently however, even if New China was in no hurry to settle the border issue, its neighbors were still very keen on the settlement and on how it would be settled. In this context, the CPC must consider what diplomatic principles to follow that could provide effective guidance for the settlement of the border issue and ensure a good external environment for New China as well. These diplomatic principles are the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Based on these theoretical considerations and out of the practical needs, the CPC initiated the diplomatic policy of seeking “peaceful coexistence” with neighboring countries. Of course, the concept of “peaceful coexistence” was first proposed by Lenin, mainly for the purpose of helping the newly established Soviet government to get out of the internal and external crises. Lenin claimed: “The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic wishes to live in peace with all peoples and devote all its efforts to internal development so as to put production, transport and government affairs in order on the

38

Guo Li: Fifty Years of Border Negotiations, Xinxi Daokan, 2005, No. 18.

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basis of the Soviet system.”39 It should be pointed out, however, that the foreign policy of “peaceful coexistence” that the Soviet had to take in the then-complicated international situation was an expedient tactic and was the only choice for the new Soviet government at a critical time when it was threatened by both domestic trouble and external perils. In contrast, the CPC advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence more for the purpose of actively seeking ways to shelve or settle its disputes with neighboring countries so as to ensure a peaceful and friendly environment for its construction and development. In this sense, the CPC was still the first to identify “peaceful coexistence” as the guiding principle for the development of peaceful diplomacy. In reality, China’s foreign policy of good-neighborliness in the early days of the PRC was mainly reflected in the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were first proposed in the course of discussions between China and India on how to settle their bilateral disputes. In late December 1953, an Indian government delegation came to China to negotiate with the Chinese government for its privileges in China’s Tibet, which it had enjoyed during the British colonial days. Former Premier Zhou Enlai told the Indian delegation: “We believe that China–India relations will get better with each passing day. The principles guiding China–India relations have been established since the founding of the PRC, namely, mutual respect for territorial sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and reciprocity, and peaceful coexistence.” It was the first time that a Chinese leader put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. After four months of negotiations, China and India officially signed the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet Region of China and India on 29 April 1954 in Beijing. The Agreement states in the preamble that the Government of the Republic of India and the Central People’s Government of the PRC, being desirous of promoting trade and cultural intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India 39

Lu Benlong: The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and China’s Diplomacy, Changbai Journal, 2004, No. 1, p. 29.

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and of facilitating pilgrimage and travel by the people of China and India, have resolved to enter into the present agreement based on the following principles: (1) mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; (2) mutual non-aggression; (3) mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs; (4) equality and mutual benefit; and (5) peaceful coexistence. It was the first time that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence officially appeared in a diplomatic document. From 25 to 27 June 1954, former Premier Zhou Enlai visited New Delhi. When asked about “how countries of different sizes can coexist peacefully” at the press conference at the end of his visit, then Premier Zhou replied: “We believe that in accordance with the five principles provided for in the preamble part of the recent Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet Region of China and India, all countries in the world, regardless of their size, strength and social systems, can live side by side in peace. Peoples of all countries should have the right to choose their own system and ways of life, free from interference from other countries. Revolution cannot be exported. At the same time, the common will of the people of a country brooks no foreign interference. If all countries in the world follow these principles in handling their relations with other countries, there would be no threat of aggression by one country against another and peaceful coexistence among all countries of the world will then become a reality.” In the sixth round of their talks, the prime ministers of China and India approved the text of the joint statement between the two countries. Before then Premier Zhou flew from New Delhi to Yangon, Myanmar on the morning of June 28, the two sides issued the Joint Statement of the two prime ministers, announcing solemnly that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence would serve as the guiding principle for China–India relations. On June 29, Premier Zhou Enlai and Prime Minister U Nu of Myanmar issued a Joint Statement, declaring that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence “should also be the guiding principles for ChinaMyanmar relations”. Both joint statements with Indian and Myanmar used the wording “equality and mutual benefit”, instead of “equality and reciprocity”. In October that year, a Soviet delegation came to China for China’s National Day celebrations. During Premier Zhou’s

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talks with the Soviet delegation and in the ensuing Sino–Soviet Joint Communiqué issued thereafter, the phrase “mutual respect for territorial sovereignty” was replaced with “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”. By then, the language used to spell out the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was most complete and most accurate. Thereafter, thanks to the joint advocacy and promotion by China, India and Myanmar, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were adopted successively by the 1955 Bandung Conference, other multilateral meetings of developing countries and the Non-aligned Movement, and they were widely supported and subscribed to by the international community. The core elements of these principles have been incorporated into some of the UN declarations and have become universally recognized norms governing the establishment and development of friendly relations and cooperation between countries. On the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, China successively settled the border issue left over from history with Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and other countries, and signed border treaties respectively with Myanmar, Nepal, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The settlement of border issues through peaceful negotiations won China extensive commendation. The number of hostile countries in China’s neighborhood was reduced significantly. This not only enhanced New China’s national security, but also highlighted its sincerity and determination in safeguarding peace and seeking good-neighborliness. In addition, New China properly handled the dual nationality issue of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia within the framework of the foreign policy of good-neighborliness. Although the concept of peaceful coexistence with Western capitalist countries was first introduced by Lenin, it was merely a tactic in the eyes of Lenin. The CPC inherited and developed this concept. It put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that transcended ideology and social systems, and upgraded these principles to the basic propositions on international relations and the fundamental principle in the foreign policy. The CPC demonstrated to the world the vitality of these principles by practicing in diplomacy the principle of goodneighborliness, which has won China extensive respect and support.

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5.2.2. Pursing Peaceful Development and Mutual Benefit After the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, China has gradually shifted its top diplomatic priority from serving its domestic political needs to serving its national economic development. Hence, it has also gradually changed its guiding principle for diplomacy with its neighboring countries from a rather passive pursuit of peaceful coexistence to a more active pursuit of peaceful development and mutual benefit. Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized that it served the core strategic interests of China in the new era to maintain a good international environment, and a good surrounding environment in particular, for the overall interests of reform and opening up at home. As one China Daily article puts it, to strive for a peaceful international environment, China must first and foremost strive for a peaceful environment in our neighborhood. This is because China is an Asian country, and a developing country in Asia. Only by developing good-neighborly and friendly relations and cooperation with its neighboring countries, can China attain a favorable and peaceful environment in its neighborhood.40 To achieve peaceful development, mutual benefit and win-win results with neighboring countries, China has taken it its “long-term strategic policy” to “develop friendly relations with Asian countries and enhance its friendship with them”.41 China has developed relations with all countries in its neighborhood, big and small, developed and developing, socialist and capitalist. First, China gave priority to stabilizing its relations with big countries in its neighborhood, especially the Soviet Union, Japan and India. The Soviet Union (or Russia) was essential to a good surrounding security environment for China. Therefore no matter how the Soviet Union might change, China must carefully handle its relations with it. From the early 1960s to the early 1980s, China and the Soviet Union were in an all-round confrontation with each other. In the early 1980s, Deng Xiaoping made major adjustments to China’s diplomatic 40

Liang Shoude (ed.): Deng Xiaoping Theory and Studies on International Relations in China, Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press, 2003 Edition, p. 342. 41 People’s Daily, April 11, 1988.

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strategy and decided to pursue an independent foreign policy of peace in that China would not enter into alliance or strategic relations with any big countries. To this end, Deng Xiaoping maintained that China should gradually improve its relations with the Soviet Union. He said, “Our foreign policy is to oppose hegemonism and safeguard world peace. Under this general policy, we seek to improve our relations with the US and the Soviet Union. We have made some substantive progress in improving relations with the US. We are also trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union, while sticking to our principles.”42 It was exactly based on this pragmatic strategy for peace and development with neighboring countries that China was able to enjoy a normal relationship with the Soviet Union (and Russia later). In spite of the deep feud between China and Japan, China has always believed that “China and Japan must build perennial friendship”. The CPC has always adhered to a flexible and pragmatic foreign policy, decided on the maintenance of China’s national interests as its strategic objective and taken a long-term view in handling its relations with Japan. On the one hand, China has given priority to the friendly relations and cooperation with Japan. Deng Xiaoping pointed out, “The slogan ‘the Chinese and Japanese peoples should live in friendship from generation to generation’ represents an ideal for all of us. We should remember that this slogan was not proposed today but more than thirty years ago. Furthermore, it was proposed not by one individual but by both the Chinese and Japanese.”43 He maintained that China should “consider and develop Sino–Japanese relations from a long-term point of view”, and “develop relations through the 21st century and on into the 22nd and 23rd centuries, so that the people of our two countries will be friends forever.”44 This is something more important than all the other issues between us.45 On the other hand, the CPC has looked at the reality squarely, recognized the existence of problems in China–Japan relations and has always

42

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, p. 82. Ibid., p. 231. 44 Ibid., p. 53. 45 Ibid., p. 53. 43

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maintained that the two sides should calmly address the problems, both old and new. On 5 May 1987, Deng Xiaoping said during a meeting with Japanese friends, “If there is anything that matters in Sino– Japanese relations, it is the possibility that a handful of people in Japan, some of whom probably have political influence, may revive militarism there — that is what the Chinese are concerned about. It’s the only thing that worries us.”46 India is a big country in the region of South Asia. Due to geopolitical reasons and historical feuds, India’s “world power” dream has always been shrouded in a strong “China element”. Nevertheless, there have been no fundamental conflicts of interests between the two countries. Taking China as its main competitor, India has been suspicious and vigilant of China’s rise, worrying about China’s possible role in India’s “sphere of influence” in South Asia.47 Therefore, how to properly handle China–India relations has become an important part of China’s diplomacy. Deng Xiaoping all along held the view that there existed no fundamental conflict of interests between China and India, and that the two countries should find ways to develop normal and friendly relations. Deng Xiaoping sums it up as such: “Both China and India are developing countries, but they are not without importance in world affairs. They have the biggest populations: added together, they amount to 1.7 billion, more than one third of the world‘s people. As the two countries are neighbors, we cannot afford not to understand each other and promote the friendship between us.”48 Second, China treated small countries in the neighborhood as equals. Apart from several big countries in China’s neighborhood, there are many countries and regions in China’s vicinity. These countries are apparently complicated and diversified and they are at different levels of economic development. Some of them have had territorial or maritime disputes with China. China and Vietnam even went to serous military conflicts in 1979. Some have been suspicious and

46

Ibid., p. 230. Yan Sheng Yi: Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy, Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2004, p. 335. 48 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, p. 19. 47

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afraid of China. Therefore, to maintain a favorable and stable environment in its neighborhood, China must not only stabilize its relations with big countries such as Russia, Japan and India, but also live in peace with other neighboring countries. Based on his new assessment of the international situation, Deng Xiaoping changed Mao’s policy toward China’s neighboring countries. In this regard, Deng initiated two strategic measures. The first was to oppose export of revolution, thus preventing the idealistic impulse from resorting to revolutionary means to destroy the existing international order. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, China withdrew its support to the revolutionary movements in Asia and elsewhere. In particular, the communist parties in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and India lost allowances, arms, training of revolutionaries and publicity assistance that China had once provided.49 In 1982, the CPC declared in explicit terms in its Report for the 12th CPC National Congress that China would develop relations with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and that China firmly opposed exporting revolution. This significantly helped relax China’s relations with its neighbors, especially with Southeast Asian countries. The second strategic measure that Deng proposed was to remove ideological elements from China’s diplomacy with neighboring countries and reverse the practice of distinguishing countries on the basis of their positions on the Soviet Union or on the US in the international community. China would handle its relations with neighboring countries based entirely on its assessment of China’s national interests. Guided by this principle, the second generation of the collective Chinese leadership “vigorously sought to improve relations with those neighbors that had allied with the Soviet Union but were hostile to or estranged with China”.50 Consequently, it enabled China to normalize relations with Vietnam, the Laos and Mongolia, restore normal relations with Indonesia, and improve relations with

49

William H. Overholt: The Rise of China: How Economic Reform Is Creating a New Superpower (Chinese Edition translated by Da Zhou), Beijing: Central Compilation and Translation Press, 1996, p. 231. 50 Yan (2004, p. 316).

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India and the Republic of Korea that were once hostile to China. By the late 1980s, not a single country in its neighborhood was publicly hostile to China, thus a favorable neighboring security environment for China’s socialist modernization drive had been in place.51 Third, China creatively proposed new ways to resolve disputes with neighboring countries. In the spirit of seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic, Deng Xiaoping creatively put forward a new way to settle international disputes, namely, “putting aside disputes and going in for joint development”. For a long period of time, the border issues between China and some of its neighboring countries remained unresolved. This had affected China’s relations with these countries and made it possible for certain big powers to take advantage of these border disputes. It had also been a huge waste of diplomatic resources for China. Therefore, how to settle the territorial disputes in the manner in which China could safeguard its national interests and also maintain friendly relations with the countries concerned, was a big thorny issue before Chinese leaders. In reference to the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan and the Nansha Islands between China and some ASEAN countries, Deng Xiaoping said, “I have also considered the possibility of resolving certain territorial disputes by having the countries concerned jointly develop the disputed areas before discussing the question of sovereignty. New approaches should be sought to solve such problems according to the reality.”52 “Shelving differences and seeking joint development” was a new and interesting idea.53 By putting aside disputes, it means to “set aside disputes temporarily” to avoid intensifying the issue. By seeking joint development, it means to proceed from the economic perspective, get all the relevant parties together with the common bonds of economic interests, and enable all of them to benefit from the joint development, so as to create a harmonious and favorable atmosphere for a reasonable settlement of the disputes and ultimately solve them. Deng Xiaoping’s propositions on how to solve 51

Ibid. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, p. 49. 53 Ibid., pp. 87–88. 52

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the Diaoyu Islands and Nansha Islands issues were rational and pragmatic; he proposed a new thinking on solving what used to be life-anddeath territorial disputes, namely, to benefit all parties to the disputes.54 Wang Zhaowen explained: “The strategic thinking to turn disputes and potential conflicts into cooperation served the strategic interests of all parties to the disputes. To some extent, it was well received by relevant countries, reduced their suspicions of and hostilities to China, and was helpful for a proper settlement of the disputes.”55 “Putting aside disputes and seeking joint development” was a new approach proposed by Deng Xiaoping in his strategic thinking on China’s diplomacy for good-neighborliness. This strategy was inherited by the new collective leadership. The most sensitive issue in China–Vietnam negotiations on the demarcation of the Beibu Bay was the ownership of Bailongwei Island, located in the middle of the Beibu Bay. Yet the two sides reached consensus on the concept of “common fishing zones” and this sensitive issue was temporarily put aside. This was a successful example of Deng Xiaoping’s strategic idea of “putting aside disputes and seeking joint development” in practice. It fully demonstrated the flexible, pragmatic, forward-looking and scientific feature of Deng Xiaoping’s strategic thinking on China’s diplomacy for good-neighborliness.

5.2.3. Fostering Friendship with Neighboring Countries and Building a Harmonious Neighborhood Since the Cold War ended, China’s diplomacy with neighboring countries has become more and more proactive. China first put forward the policy of “developing partnership and friendship with neighboring countries” and it later enriched and developed this policy into one of “creating an amicable, prosperous and secure neighborhood”. After China initiated the idea of building a harmonious world, it has

54

Zhang Zhirong: China’s Border Areas and Ethnic Issues — China’s Challenges Today and Their Evolution in History, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2000, p. 146. 55 Wang Zhaowen: Contemporary World Economics and Politics, Beijing: Economic Science Press, 1999, p. 276.

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stepped up efforts in building a harmonious neighborhood as its neighborhood policy. In fact, the policy of “creating an amicable, prosperous and secure neighborhood” is also a summary of the evolution process of China’s policies toward its neighborhood. As aforementioned, China’s policies toward its neighbors were designed to mainly seek good-neighborliness and peaceful coexistence between the founding of the PRC in 1949 to the 1970s, and prosperity and peaceful development in its neighborhood from the 1980s to the 1990s. After the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new century, China began to pursue higher goals in its neighborhood policies, namely, creating a secure and harmonious neighborhood and contributing to the building of a harmonious world. On 7 October 2003, then Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech entitled China’s Development and Asia’s Rejuvenation at the China– ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. He stated in the speech that China was “committed to building good-neighborly relationships and partnerships with China‘s neighbors” and that it will take concrete steps to promote “good-neighborliness, friendship and regional cooperation” and bring its ties with the surrounding countries to a “new high”. He further elaborated: “It is a vital part of China‘s policy toward surrounding countries under the new circumstances to be the good neighbors, good friends and good partners of ASEAN countries.”56 It was the first time for China to elaborate its policy of “building good-neighborliness” and “partnership with its neighbors” in detail, which was a new outline and summary of China’s diplomatic practices in its neighborhood in recent years. Former Premier Wen’s statement further enriched the connotation of China’s foreign policy for good-neighborliness. First, to build an amicable neighborhood, it is necessary to inherit and carry forward the Chinese philosophy of benevolence, good-neighborliness and harmony. Guided by the principle of living amicably with neighbors, China is ready to work together with its neighbors to foster stable and harmonious state-to-state relations in 56

Wen Jiabao: China’s Development and Asia’s Rejuvenation, People’s Daily, October 8, 2003.

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the region.57 It is of critical importance for China to put in practice its foreign policy for good-neighborliness. This is because in its neighborhood, there are economic powers, military powers and regional powers, as well as least developed countries (LDCs). And they differ from each other in their social systems, ideologies, economic development levels, and domestic and foreign policies. This makes it particularly important to have mutual accommodation, mutual trust, and amicable coexistence. To this end, two fundamental principles must be observed. First, all countries, big or small, must treat each other as equals and seek amicable coexistence. China’s relations with its big neighbors have a direct bearing on whether China can realize its neighborhood diplomatic strategy. Therefore, China has made every effort to properly handle its relations with regional powers in an attempt to win greater room for development. Russia is China’s biggest neighbor and also an international power with important influence. China therefore gives priority to China–Russia relations. As for its smaller neighbors, China also treats them with sincerity, and assists their development as far as it can, without any trace of chauvinism. Second, each country’s choice must be respected and the internal affairs of a country should brook no external interference. In this respect, the way in which China has handled its relations with central Asian countries is one of the best showcases and has been well received by these countries. Promoting regional cooperation is another starting point in China’s policy to build an amicable neighborhood. China’s good-neighborliness policy has played a big role in promoting regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, which has been vividly called “the political catalyst”. More often than not, the international system takes shape and changes following the changes in the balance of power and in the pattern of relations among major countries. In East Asia today, two trends are working to shape a new international system in the region. One is the traditional trend dominated by relations among big countries (the US, Japan, Russia, India, China and other big countries have all increased their strategic input in Southeast Asia). The other is the ASEAN-dominated 57

Ibid.

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trend of a special role played by a group of small and medium countries, which serve as the “lubricant and coordinator” in the region and actively implement the strategy of balancing among big powers. The development of China–ASEAN relations has promoted the positive growth of both trends. Economically, thanks to China’s promotion, there has appeared a positive trend toward greater and closer East Asian cooperation based on the three 10 + 1 mechanisms with ASEAN at the core (ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea). Diplomatically, the Strategic Partnership that China and ASEAN officially announced to build at the summit will also encourage other big countries to further enhance their relations with ASEAN. Second, to build a tranquil neighborhood, it is necessary to actively maintain peace and stability in the region, consistently enhance mutual trust through dialogue and cooperation and settle disputes through peaceful negotiations so as to create a peaceful, tranquil and stable regional environment for Asia’s development.58 China’s policy of building a tranquil neighborhood mainly includes two aspects: one is to enhance security cooperation to jointly maintain peace and stability, and the other is to properly settle differences and disputes in the spirit of seeking common ground while putting aside differences. Since the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, China has actively conducted counter-terrorism cooperation in cooperation with neighboring countries in a joint effort to combat international terrorism. In this regard, it has held consultations on counter-terrorism with Russia, India and Pakistan at different levels. In June 2001, initiated and promoted by the Chinese government, the six heads of state of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) signed in Shanghai the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism. In June 2002, the SCO member states signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the Regional Counterterrorism Structure, providing effective guarantee for maintaining security and stability in Central Asia and China’s northern and northwestern regions and for combating terrorism, extremism and separatism. 58

Ibid.

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China has sought a reasonable solution to differences and disputes through consultation and negotiation in accordance with the principle of seeking common ground on major issues while putting aside minor differences, on the basis of respect for history and reality and from the long-term and strategic perspective so as to avoid armed conflicts. If a difference cannot be settled immediately, the difference could be put aside temporarily so as not to affect the development of normal diplomatic and economic relations between relevant countries. Along this line of thinking, China and Russia have settled all their border issues in a peaceful manner. China and Vietnam successfully completed negotiations on the land border issue and signed the agreement on the demarcation of the Beibu Bay. In 2002, China and ASEAN signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, sending out a positive signal that both sides are ready to jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea through cooperation and to handle regional disputes through peaceful means. In late June 2003, then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited China and the prime ministers of China and India signed the Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation between China and India. On the boundary issue left over from history, the two sides reiterated their readiness to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution through consultation on an equal footing and in the spirit of mutual understanding, mutual accommodation and mutual adjustment. China has always attached great importance to safeguarding stability in the region, taken an active part in regional security dialogue and cooperation and played a constructive role in maintaining regional security and stability. China has played an important role in mediating peace and promoting negotiations on such regional hotspot issues as the Korean nuclear issue, the India–Pakistan conflict and the Afghan issue. It has won respect and commendation from the international community for its position and stance. In the ASEAN Regional Forum, the SCO and other regional security cooperation arrangements, China has vigorously advocated the new security concept based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination, and has made significant contribution in this regard. In Southeast Asia, China’s policy of building a tranquil neighborhood is known as “the

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security stabilizer” and China was the first big country from outside of the region to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which is one of the pillar documents for ASEAN. The Treaty provides ten ASEAN members with the norms for handling their relations with countries in and outside of the region. The purpose of the Treaty is to maintain regional peace and stability, and to seek peaceful settlement of disputes and controversies. China’s accession to the Treaty has provided a legal guarantee for avoiding the use of force in case of a dispute between China and ASEAN. Third, to build a prosperous neighborhood, it is important to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with neighboring countries, deepen regional and sub-regional cooperation, and vigorously promote economic integration in the region, so as to achieve common development of all Asian countries.59 The policy of building a prosperous neighborhood is mainly aimed at mutual benefit and common development economically. In recent years, with economic globalization and regional economic integration further deepened, China and its neighbors have become increasingly more interdependent economically and expanded their common interests. China has seized this good opportunity to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with its neighboring countries. The first step China has taken is to expand trade with them. It has established close economic and trade ties with Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries with growing trade between them. China has also shared such benefits with its neighbors. While ensuring rapid and stable growth of its own economy, China has helped its neighboring countries to participate in its economic development process so that they too may benefit from the economic growth. In addition, China has enhanced regional cooperation. Thanks to China’s vigorous advocacy and promotion, the ten-year plan for the China–ASEAN free trade area (FTA) was launched in full swing in 2002. In November 2002, both sides signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and ASEAN, laying a legal foundation for FTA. In January 2004, the first zero-tariff plan was launched, with the ultimate goal of realizing zero tariffs for all trading goods within the 59

Ibid.

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region. Once the China–ASEAN FTA is in place, a free trade area of developing countries with a total population of two billion and an aggregate GDP of over US$3 trillion will emerge in Asia. This is not only helpful for the economic development of China and ASEAN, but will also have a far-reaching impact on the economic integration of the whole East Asia. China’s policy to build a prosperous neighborhood has delivered real benefits to ASEAN members, and it has won their respect. Therefore, this policy of a prosperous neighborhood by China is known as “the economic engine” in Southeast Asia. China’s policy to build an amicable, tranquil and prosperous neighborhood has provided a new environment, new thinking and space for the successful implementation of its opening-up and development strategy in the new era. It has also created favorable conditions for building a harmonious neighborhood and a harmonious world as a whole. Following President Hu Jintao’s proposal on building a harmonious world in September 2005, the Council of Heads of the Member States of the SCO officially put forward at its 6th Meeting in May 2006 the concept of a harmonious region. This is aimed at building various forms of regional cooperation mechanisms based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination so as to achieve lasting peace and common prosperity for the whole region in the end. In addition, China has established an FTA with ASEAN, taken an active part in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and played an active role in seeking a settlement of the Korean nuclear issue and in building a Northeast Asian security and peace mechanism. All in all, China is practicing the idea of building a harmonious neighborhood.

5.3. Inheriting the Past and Carrying Forward into the Future: Diplomacy with Developing Countries Developing countries refer to countries with a “relatively backward economy” that is moving from “a traditional model to modernization”.60 60

Qian Qichen (Chief Editor): Dictionary on World Diplomacy, Vol. I, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2005, p. 560.

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They are mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The vast number of developing countries constitutes the basic force for world peace and development, and against hegemonism and power politics. They are the main force for building a fair and equitable new international order. China has always endeavored to develop friendly relations and cooperation with other developing countries, and has regarded them as a strategic pillar for New China’s foreign policy of peace. However the pursuit of a foreign policy of peace has, due to changes in domestic and international situations, gone through several stages with distinctive features in different stages. Before the 1970s, China paid more attention to supporting the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Starting from the beginning of the 1970s, China tried to develop an all-round relationship with the Third World as a whole. Since the end of the Cold War, China has given more emphasis on institutionalizing its relations with developing countries and on the building of a fair and equitable new international political and economic order.

5.3.1. Supporting National Liberation Movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America Always standing ahead of the trend of the times, the CPC itself was a product of the times of national self-determination. Thus, it had profound sympathy for the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin American under the colonial rule after the end of World War II. Therefore, from the founding of the PRC in 1949 to the complete collapse of the colonial system worldwide in the 1970s, China’s foreign policy toward developing countries mainly centered around supporting the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America, while trying to build an international united front against imperialism and colonialism to supplement its support to the national liberation movements. First, under the CPC leadership, China provided forceful political and moral support to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in their struggles for national liberation. China wholeheartedly supported countries and peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America in their struggles to break off colonial rule

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and win national independence. It united nationalist countries and jointly opposed imperialist countries for their policies of war and aggression. China was ready to provide selfless assistance to countries and peoples that were engaged in this just cause. In the early days of the PRC when its government was yet to be consolidated, China assisted the DPRK and Vietnam in defeating the US and French aggressions respectively. When the second Middle East War broke out in 1956, China stated that the Chinese people will not turn a blind eye to “any act of violation of the sovereignty of Egypt”.61 Mao Zedong affirmed: “We in China are also ready to do what we can to help Egypt, and our assistance is without any strings attached.”62 It should be pointed out in particular that China’s support for the national liberation movement was unconditional and uncompromising. Take China’s support for Algeria’s national liberation movement as an example. When the Algerian people fired the first gunshot of the national liberation war in 1954, China was in contact with France on the sidelines of the Geneva Conference and China–France relations were about to improve somewhat. However, China did not give up its support to the just struggle of the Algerian people because it wanted to improve its relations with France. It immediately recognized the Algerian interim government of national independence when it was founded in September 1958, and the two countries quickly established diplomatic relations. China was the first non-Arab country to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the Algerian interim government of national independence. And it was exactly because of China’s support for Algeria that China and France did not establish diplomatic relations until 1964. Second, China provided economic assistance to the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America and newly born nation states, sometimes even beyond its capacity.

61

Qu Xing: China’s Diplomacy in Five Decades, Nanjing: Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, 2000 Edition, p. 273. 62 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 1994 Edition, p. 249.

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In the 1950s, China’s foreign aid was mainly provided to the DPRK and Vietnam in support of their struggles against imperialism and colonialism. In order to manage properly its assistance to Third World countries, China set up the General Administration of Foreign Economic Liaison on 1 March 1961, which was mainly responsible for China’s economic aid to and economic and technological cooperation with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. With a growing workload in its foreign aid projects, China established the Foreign Economic Liaison Commission on the basis of the General Administration of Foreign Economic Liaison through enlarging and readjusting its staff and institutional set-up in 1964. It was renamed the Ministry of Foreign Economic Liaison in 1970. Starting from 1965, while continuing to provide a huge amount of assistance to Vietnam in support of its war against the US aggression, China steadily increased its assistance to other Asian and African countries. From 1970 to 1978, under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Liaison, China helped 37 countries to complete 470 projects, more than the total number of aid projects that had been completed in the 21 years between the founding of the PRC in 1949 and 1970. The financial expense involved in these aid projects in the eight years was 159% of the total foreign aid that China had provided in the previous 21 years.63 With an upsurge of nationalist movements in the 1960s, China adopted eight foreign aid principles. They were: (1) to provide aid in accordance with the principle of equality and mutual benefit; (2) to strictly respect the sovereignty of the recipient countries and provide aid without attaching any strings or asking for any privileges; (3) to provide economic assistance in the form of no-interest or low-interest loans, and reduce the burden of recipient countries in case of a need; (4) to help recipient countries to gradually embark on the road of selfreliance and independent development, instead of relying on China’s economic aid; (5) to introduce those aid projects that required less investment but would produce quick results so that the recipient countries could increase revenues and accumulate their financial 63

Shi Lin: Foreign Economic Cooperation in Contemporary China, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1989 Edition, pp. 60, 61 and 69.

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resources; (6) to provide quality equipment and materials that China could produce at the negotiable international market price which could be returned or replaced if they did not meet the agreed quality standards or specifications; (7) to ensure that technicians in recipient countries have a good grasp of the relevant technologies involved in a technological assistance project; and (8) to make sure that Chinese experts working in a recipient country should not be accorded the same treatment as their local counterparts without any privileges or special treatment. These foreign aid principles are applicable “not only to African countries, but also to Asian and other emerging countries”.64 Although ideological considerations tended to play a role to some extent, China’s foreign aid generally displayed the following features during this period. The first feature is its wide coverage. Chinese aid went to a wide range of nationalist countries. Take Southeast and South Asia as an example. Except for allies of the US or the Soviet Union, China’s aid went to almost all countries in that region, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Ceylon, the Laos and Cambodia. As for Africa, China’s aid was even more extensive. The second feature is a high proportion of aid in national economy. China’s foreign aid accounted for a large share of its GNP, as high as 7% for quite a long period of time and apparently beyond its national strength at that time. Its foreign aid ratio to GNP was far higher than that of some developed capitalist countries. A third feature is the “blood-transfusion” style aid. China intended to use its foreign assistance to help Third World countries to build their own independent national economy. For instance, it helped to develop infrastructure in some countries. However, in most cases, China provided direct economic aid to them, like in blood transfusions. As a result, some of the recipient countries relied on China for their economic development to varying degrees. Third, China advocated the building of an international united front against imperialism and colonialism in the principle of “seeking common ground while putting aside differences”.

64

Ibid.

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In spite of similar historical experience they shared with China, many newly independent countries still had suspicion and fears of the socialist China. Therefore, in the principle of “seeking common ground while putting aside differences”, China reached important consensus with Asian and African countries that attended the 1st Bandung Conference on a concerted effort against colonialism, for national independence, world peace, friendship and cooperation. The successful convocation of the Bandung Conference showed that nationalist countries had become an independent player in international relations. By uniting with other independent nationalist states in Asia and Africa against imperialism and colonialism, China played a positive role in pushing the Third World as a group onto the international relations stage. After the Soviet Union advocated the “three peaceful” line — peaceful coexistence, peaceful competition and peaceful transition, China and the Soviet Union had different views on many international issues. In these circumstances, it was especially necessary for China to state its correct stance to the world and support all countries and peoples in their just struggles. Starting from the late 1950s and early 1960s, Chairman Mao Zedong frequently received visitors from countries and regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and advocated for an international united front of Third World countries against the US. He pointed out that to defeat the reactionary rule of imperialism, it is necessary to form a “broad front and unite with all forces”, except the enemy, and continue to wage arduous struggles. He emphasized: “The just struggles of the peoples of the various countries in the world have received and will continue to receive firm support from the 650 million people of China.” He believed that what the imperialists fear most was the political awakening of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and of the people throughout the world, and that unity is critical to drive US imperialists away from Asia, Africa and Latin America.65

65

Xie Yixian (ed.): A Contemporary Diplomatic History of China (1949–2001), Beijing: China Youth Publishing Group, 2002 Edition, pp. 222–223.

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After the signing of the Geneva Accords, the Chinese government and people, as always, continued to support the Vietnamese people in their just struggle against Western colonial aggression and for national independence and unification. When the US steadily expanded its “Special Warfare” in southern Vietnam, Chairman Mao Zedong made the Statement Opposing Aggression against Southern Vietnam and Slaughter of its People by the US–Ngo Dinh Diem Clique on 29 August 1963, in which he appealed to the world: “The working class, revolutionary people and progressive personages of the whole world will stand by the people of South Vietnam and, in response to Chairman Ho Chi Minh’s call, support and assist the brave people of South Vietnam in their just struggle and oppose the aggression and oppression of the US–Ngo Dinh Diem clique so that the people of South Vietnam may avoid being massacred and achieve thorough liberation.”66 On the question of supporting Vietnam in its struggle against US aggression and with regard to the vast number of independent nationalist countries, China always endeavored to unite all the forces that could be united against the US. In March 1965, the US began to directly send its troops to the battlefield in Vietnam. With its strategy of “attacking the south and bombing the north”, the US intention to expand its Vietnam War was clear to all. In this context, China took it as its international obligation to assist the Vietnamese people in resisting the US aggression and saving their country. The Chinese government stated on many occasions that it would, “firmly and without any reservation”, support the Vietnamese and Indochinese peoples in carrying out the struggle against US aggressors “till the end”. It also declared that “the Chinese people mean what they say, and they will honor all the international obligations that they have pledged to fulfill”.67 Throughout the war against US aggression in Vietnam, China indeed honored its commitment. It offered not only material assistance to Vietnam, but also necessary human support. China made huge contributions to the triumph of the Vietnamese people in defeating the US’s aggression and unifying their country. 66 67

Ibid., p. 228. Ibid., p. 230.

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In addition, China strongly protested and condemned the US invasion of Cambodia in 1970 and its invasion of the Laos in 1971, and offered a helping hand to the trapped Prince Norodom Sihanouk. It also voiced its support to other independent nationalist states in their anti-American movements in a timely fashion. For instance, it supported the anti-American struggle in the Congo (Léopoldville) and the anti-American movement in Panama in 1964. It issued a statement in support of the Dominican people’s opposition to the US-armed aggression in 1965. It offered support and assistance to the Arab countries and people in their struggle against Israel’s expansionism during the June 5 War in 1967 and it all along supported Cuba in its struggle against the US. No doubt, the ideological overtone in China’s relations with developing countries and in particular, the heated polemics on the international communist movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s, had a far-reaching impact on the party-to-party relations between China and Third World countries. That bitter polemic not only dealt so heavy a blow to the international communist movement that the socialist camp ceased to exist except in name, but also caused the interparty relationship between China and some socialist countries to retrogress due to mutual degradation.

5.3.2. Developing Friendly Relations with the Third World With the triumph of most of the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the introduction of the “Three Worlds Theory” by Chairman Mao Zedong, and in particular, the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy, China’s relations with developing countries entered the second stage. It shifted its priority from supporting the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America, to promoting an all-round development of its political and economic relations with Third World countries. First, China readjusted its economic policy toward the Third World. Since the middle of the 1970s, the “Three Worlds Theory” had gradually become the guiding principle for China’s diplomacy. On the basis of a new understanding of the Third World, China gradually

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adjusted its economic relations with Third World countries. The twoway mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation with Third World countries on an equal footing gradually replaced the previous foreign aid-dominated policy. China’s foreign aid policy also gradually changed correspondingly. On the one hand, though its foreign assistance decreased on the whole, China still provided assistance to developing countries as far as it could, and adopted a differentiated policy in its aid provision. After the 1980s, China offered aid to 24 more countries in addition to the previous 64, and in particular, it increased its economic aid to LDCs. On the other hand, the modalities of China’s foreign aid changed markedly. It combined aid with mutually beneficial cooperation for the development of both sides, instead of unilateral provision of aid. As Deng Xiaoping said, “It should be recognized that it was correct to provide aid to the Third World in the past… On the question of foreign aid, the principle must be continued, but the specific modalities could be changed so as to truly deliver benefits to recipient countries.”68 Thus, in 1983, China put forward four fundamental principles to guide its economic and technological cooperation with Third World countries — namely, equality and mutual benefit, stressing on practical results, diversity in form, and striving for common development. Since China shifted its focus in economic relations with Third World countries from aid provision only to bilateral economic cooperation and trade, its trade with them has grown steadily every year. To enhance business and trade ties with Third World countries through the international market has gradually become the mainstream in China’s economic relations with them. And diversified forms of foreign assistance and diversified sources of foreign aid capital have also promoted direct cooperation between Chinese enterprises and their counterparts in Third World countries. The main form of economic relations with Third World countries has since been government concessional loans provided by China for projects in recipient countries in the form of joint ventures and cooperative partnerships, projects that recipient 68

Wang Taiping (ed.): 50 Years of New China’s Diplomacy, Beijing: Beijing Publishing Group, 1999 Edition, pp. 721–722.

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countries need and that have comparative advantage in resources. It has encouraged Chinese enterprises to engage in long-term cooperation with their counterparts in recipient countries in foreign aid projects, project contracting, labor cooperation and export with the capital serving as the bond. In this way, trade and economic cooperation between China and Third World countries have made much headway. Take Africa as an example. China–Africa trade volume was only 177 million USD in 1970 and it jumped to $1.131 billion in 1980.69 Second, China made fresh progress in its political relations with the Third World. Since the “Three Worlds Theory” was identified, China’s perception of its relations with Third World countries has visibly changed. China has realized that the main objective of Third World countries should be to develop their national economy and expand their international influence, that China cannot rely on Third World countries for its national security, and that it cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all approach toward Third World countries. Based on these understandings and perceptions, China has readjusted its relations with the Third World and has adopted a more active, pragmatic and effective approach. First, China has expanded the scope of exchanges with Third World countries. Since the mid-1970s and in particular, since the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, China has vigorously developed its relations with all Third World countries, without basing its decision on whether to develop relations with a country on that country’s relations with a certain big country. Shaking off the “big-country element” constraints and fully respecting the right of Third World countries to independently make their domestic and foreign policies, China has improved its relations with many Third World countries with which China had already established diplomatic ties. Furthermore, it has established diplomatic relations with those Third World countries with which China had no direct conflicts of fundamental interests. As a result, China has made friends across the world. Second, China’s policy toward the Third World has gradually exhibited a diversified trend. 69

The China Institute of Contemporary International Relations: China and the Third World (a Collection of Papers), Beijing: Shishi Press, 1990 Edition, p. 224.

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Starting from the mid-1970s, China has paid increasingly more attention to analyzing the conflicts of interests between countries and their possible impact on China’s national interests so as to come to a sound assessment for the benefit of its own interests. In this spirit, China has started to implement a differentiated policy toward Third World countries in that it differentiates between capitalist and socialist, newly industrialized countries and underdeveloped, and neighboring and non-neighboring countries, so as to protect its maximum interests in the Third World. Third, there has been an obvious increase in the common interests between China and Third World countries. Having given up its previous approach of distinguishing countries on the basis of their attitude toward the US or the Soviet Union, China has come to realize that it is not strange for some countries to have better relations with the Soviet Union or the US; China should understand their position and respect their policies and practices.70 Since its relations with Third World countries were no longer circumscribed by their relations with the US or the Soviet Union, China has had bigger space and greater flexibility on the international arena and significantly increased common understandings with Third World countries. Third, China has restored and further developed its relations with political parties in developing countries. Since the “Three Worlds Theory” was identified, China’s perception of Third World countries has changed significantly — from seeing them as allies in the worldwide united front against imperialism and hegemonism to regarding them as partners in conducting economic cooperation and building the new international political and economic order. During this transformation, ideological importance was greatly reduced in China’s overall national interests. The CPC started to free itself from the long existed ideological constraints in its contacts with political parties of other Third World countries. After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the CPC significantly readjusted the guiding principles and policies for its external work in light of the changing international situation and on the basis of a review of the experiences and 70

Tian Zengpei (ed.): China’s Diplomacy since Reform and Opening-up, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 1993 Edition, p. 6.

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lessons of the international communist movement. First, the CPC has shifted the strategic objective of its external work to creating a favorable international environment for China’s socialist modernization drive and to making greater contributions to world peace and development. Second, the CPC has reversed the practice of preconditioning or basing its external contacts or party-to-party relations on ideology. Instead, it has followed the principle of seeking common ground while putting aside differences. Third, the CPC has changed from developing relations with the communist parties of other countries to developing relations with all types of political parties in all countries. Fourth, the CPC has observed the four principles in developing relations with foreign political parties — independence, full equality, mutual respect, and non-interference in others’ internal affairs. Thanks to this major readjustment, the CPC’s external contacts with political parties of other Third World countries have had a series of substantive changes, which are mainly reflected in the following two aspects. Firstly, the CPC restored its relations with the communist parties of some of the countries in the former socialist camp. During the big polemic of the international communist movement in the 1960s, the inter-party relations between the CPC and communist parties or workers’ parties in many socialist countries were seriously disrupted due to many ideological differences and were suspended for a long time. Having redefined the status of ideology in China’s national interests, the CPC decided to improve its relations with communist parties or workers’ parties in these countries in the former socialist camp. After the 1980s, the CPC has taken a forward-looking approach without revisiting the feuds in history and restored relations with these parties one after another. At a meeting in May 1980, Deng Xiaoping made a profound summarization on how to handle interparty relations. He said: “When a Communist Party comments on the actions of a foreign fraternal Party, it may often judge them according to some rigid formula or established pattern. Facts have shown that this approach gets one nowhere… The correctness of the domestic principles and the line of a Party in a given country should be judged by that Party itself and the people of that country. After all, it is the comrades in a particular country who know its specific conditions

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best... We object to being ordered about and we, on our part, will never issue orders to others. This should be an important principle.”71,72 Secondly, the CPC has established and developed friendly cooperation and exchanges with some nationalist parties. Relations with nationalist parties in Third World countries are of great significance for enhancing unity and cooperation with them, as party-to-party relations have opened up a new prospect for China’s relations with Third World countries. In December 1977, the CPC Central Committee approved the recommendation jointly proposed by the CPC International Liaison Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the requests by the ruling parties in some nationalist countries in Africa for establishing relations with the CPC. Since 1978, the CPC has started to establish and develop friendly party-to-party relations with all types of nationalist parties in developing countries in Africa, Latin America and other regions. To develop friendly relations and cooperation with all kinds of political parties in developing countries has a far-reaching impact on better relations between China and other developing countries, deepened friendship between peoples, closer South-South cooperation, and continued world peace and progress of mankind.

5.3.3. Institutionalize Mutually Beneficial and Win-win Relations with Developing Countries The end of the Cold War has brought about substantive changes to China’s relations with the Third World. This has been reflected not only in the ever-closer exchanges between the two sides in the political, economic and cultural fields, but also in the institutionalization and strategic significance of their relations. It is exactly through institutionalization of these mutually beneficial relations that China has been able to consolidate and upgrade such relations with developing countries.

71

Outline for Studying Deng Xiaoping’s Thoughts on Diplomacy, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 2000 Edition, p. 118. 72 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, pp. 318–319.

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At the political level, developing countries have become an important supporting force for China’s peaceful development and for building a new international political and economic order. First, developing countries are the major force that China can rely on in international affairs. Without the support of the Third World, China would not have enjoyed such an international status as it has now. In the UN voting mechanism, by which every country, regardless of its size and wealth, has one vote only, any single country’s position could be decisive. China has enjoyed the most valuable support, understanding and solidarity from developing countries in the UN on such issues as human rights and Taiwan. Developing countries have provided a strong guarantee for China’s success in resisting the political pressure from the West. Second, developing countries are a major force against unipolarity and for a multipolarity world structure. The US and some other countries have attempted to build a unipolar world, which has met with strong resistance from Third World countries — in particular, regional powers in the Third World. Third World countries could be a force for China to rely on in order to expand the room for diplomatic maneuvers and push the world toward multipolarity. Third, developing countries are main areas for China to expand its diplomatic space mainly in two aspects, namely, China’s reunification and the building of China’s international image. At the economic level, developing countries are an important pillar for China’s peaceful development. First, they constitute an important part of China’s external market. With more than five billion people living in over 160 countries in the Third World, developing countries present a huge market with great potential. Yet China’s trade volume with Third World countries is still relatively small and is incompatible with the political relations between the two sides and their economic size. Therefore, there is a huge potential for trade and economic cooperation between the two sides. Second, developing countries could supply China with important resources, such as crude oil, resources that are in increasingly greater demand in China as its economy develops. With the widening gap between the oil supply and demand at home, China will have to rely on oil import for easing the ever-growing shortage. Most oil exporters are developing countries in

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the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Third, developing countries are natural allies in building a new international economic order. They have a strong desire to have the old international economic order changed and participate in setting the new international rules and establishing a more equitable and fair new international economic order. Lastly, providing suitable and necessary economic assistance is part of China’s relations with developing countries. Many developing countries are underdeveloped and their people have extremely low living standards. They cannot lift their economy out of backwardness without foreign assistance. China has made remarkable progress in economic development since reform and opening up and has the capability to offer them economic assistance necessary for their economic development. This is also helpful for China to find a market for its products in the Third World and to import raw materials from the Third World to meet its domestic market demands. With an all-round development of relations between China and other developing countries, their relationship has entered a new stage of development, that is, to develop institutionalized mechanisms, such as the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the China–Arab States Cooperation Forum and the China–Latin America Forum. Here is a brief account of the development of FOCAC and its role in promoting the institutionalization of the relations between China and other developing countries. Since the end of the Cold War, the international situation has undergone drastic changes and China–Africa relations have had new opportunities and new challenges. FOCAC is a new model of cooperation that the two sides have created in the new situation. Being the first of its kind in the history of China–Africa cooperation, FOCAC has provided a platform for both sides to have dialogue and cooperation and address new challenges and issues of their mutual concern.73 In the past ten years since its establishment, FOCAC has effectively promoted the common development of China and Africa, helped to expand China’s international influence and its soft power in Africa, 73

Karim Bathily: China’s Cultural Strategy for Africa: Significance, Prospects and Emerging Challenges, West Asia and Africa, 2009, No. 5, p. 25.

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helped to raise Africa’s international status and pushed China–Africa relations to a new high. First, it has brought about a win-win situation for the China–Africa common development. Since its inception, FOCAC has committed to common development and taken it as its purpose. Over the years, Africa has offered strong political support to China for its peaceful development. China has realized a rapid economic development with the help of Africa’s resources and market. While pursuing its own development, China has also provided assistance to Africa as far as it can. For example, at the 1st FOCAC Conference, China announced a debt relief of ten billion yuan for the heavily indebted poor countries and LDCs in Africa. At the 2nd Ministerial Conference of FOCAC, China included the human resources development into its assistance program for Africa and offered to provide training for 10,000 African professionals of various trades. At the Beijing Summit or the 3rd FOCAC Conference, China proposed eight steps to expand its practical cooperation with Africa. At the 4th Ministerial Conference, China pledged to take another eight measures, increase its concessional loans to Africa to 10 billion USD, gradually apply zero-tariff rates to 95% of the products from the African LDCs that have diplomatic relations with China, and increase its assistance to Africa.74 The series of measures that have been taken since the founding of FOCAC have contributed significantly to the economic development of Africa. With FOCAC as an engine, China has become a new driving force for Africa’s economic development. In recent years, Africa has seen a fairly rapid economic growth with an annual growth rate of over 5%. An important contributing factor for this is the China–Africa business cooperation. In the ten years of FOCAC, bilateral trade increased from 10.6 billion USD in 2000 to 106.8 billion USD in 2008 and 115.0 billion USD in 2010. In addition, since the launch of the China–Zambia Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in February 2007 — the first of its kind between China and Africa, there have been six such economic and trade cooperation parks or zones between 74

Minister of Commerce Chen Deming’s Press Conference on China-Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation, January 22, 2010, http://www.focac.org.

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China and five African countries of Zambia, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Some of them have started to take shape and yield good economic returns. The China–Africa trade pushed up the prices of primary products of Africa. China has opened its market to African countries, which has helped promote Africa’s export. The investment and infrastructure construction projects that China has made or undertaken in Africa have also facilitated the economic takeoff in Africa. To date, there are over 1,600 Chinese companies in Africa with an accumulative direct investment of 7.8 billion USD. In 2009, while governments of Western countries slashed their direct investment in Africa and some of them even canceled their development assistance programs for Africa because of the financial crisis, China increased its direct investment in Africa against this trend, amounting to 1.36 billion USD, up by 36% over that of 2008. Second, FOCAC has helped increase China’s global influence and improve Africa’s international status. In the course of China rising to a global power, Africa has become China’s important partner. What China has gained from its relations with Africa is far more than resources. With China getting more and more involved in international affairs, it knows that it needs partners and that Africa is its best partner. The founding and successful operation of FOCAC have helped institutionalize and regularize China–Africa relations on the basis of their traditional friendship and cooperation, and have increased China’s influence in Africa and even in the world as a whole. The rapid growth of China–Africa ties has attracted much attention from the international community. Some big countries in the West have to stop casting groundless suspicions on China’s actions in Africa. They have recognized that what China has been doing in Africa has not only served the interests of China and Africa, but also those of other countries in the world, including Western countries.75 And they have started to cooperate with China on African affairs. 75 Statement by a British official at the International Symposium on Economic Cooperation and Sustainable Sino–African Relations, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, March 24–25, 2010.

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Likewise, FOCAC has also made important contribution to a higher international status for Africa and to the African integration process. This is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, FOCAC has become a successful example of international cooperation in Africa. It has drawn much attention from other countries and has encouraged big powers to readjust their policies toward Africa. The EU convened the 2nd EU–Africa Summit in December 2007 which had been postponed for as long as six years and which decided to establish EU– Africa partnership on the basis of equality. In May 2008, Japan held the high-profile 4th International Conference on African Development and pledged to double its aid to Africa within five years. In July 2009, US President Obama visited Ghana and publicly announced the US intention to establish a partnership with Africa “grounded in mutual responsibility and mutual respect”. The emerging powers have also stepped up their cooperation with Africa. In April 2008, India hosted the 1st India–Africa Summit. Russia, Brazil, the Republic of Korea and other countries have also taken encouraging steps to enhance cooperation with Africa. All in all, the successful convocation of FOCAC has encouraged big powers (including emerging powers) to pay more attention to Africa and to readjust their policies toward Africa. All this has landed Africa in a better position in the North-South dialogue, helped expand South-South cooperation and has improved Africa’s international status on the whole. Second, FOCAC has enhanced the collective identity of Africa as a whole. Through participating in a series of summit meetings between China and Africa, African countries have come to realize that they lack a unified policy and need to have a strong common position and policy in response to the complete and comprehensive policies that other countries have adopted toward Africa. This understanding has, to a certain extent, helped African countries to strengthen their unity and has enhanced their awareness of becoming strong and seeking development through their own efforts and through their joint efforts. It has thus helped promote Africa’s integration. Third, FOCAC has helped China to improve its Africa policy system and has pushed China–Africa relations to a new high.

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The creation of FOCAC has played a positive role in coordinating China’s Africa policy and integrating various resources. As a result, China has a better Africa policy. Since its establishment, FOCAC has conscientiously kept pace with the times and has had distinctive features for every session. As of the 2nd Ministerial Conference in 2003, FOCAC has added the Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, providing a bridge for business cooperation between the two sides. The 3rd Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs attracted more than 1,000 business people to the conference. The 3rd Ministerial Conference and the FOCAC Beijing Summit in 2006 introduced another innovation to the cooperation mechanism, namely, regular political consultations between Chinese and African foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. In addition, the Senior Officials’ Meeting, the consultation between the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee and the African Diplomatic Corps in China, and other mechanisms and procedures have also been introduced. At the 4th FOCAC Ministerial Conference, the two sides agreed to convene the China–Africa Cultural Ministers’ Forum at a proper time and enhance regular consultation between their cultural departments. The effective functioning of the above-mentioned mechanisms has gradually expanded China–Africa cooperation from bilateral areas only to include multilateral areas as well, thus raising China– Africa relations to a new high. The 2000 FOCAC Conference identified the China–Africa relationship as “a new type of stable and long-term partnership featuring equality and mutual benefit”, the 2003 FOCAC Conference defined it as “a new type of stable and long-term partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit and comprehensive cooperation” and the 2006 Beijing Summit unanimously agreed on establishing “a new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges”. This evolution testifies to the ever-deepening and steady development of China– Africa relations.

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5.4. Advancing Multilateral Diplomacy in a Pioneering and Innovative Spirit Multilateral diplomacy is an important part and a key component of China’s overall and all-dimensional diplomacy. China’s participation in multilateral diplomacy has a great deal to do with its diplomatic strategic options and with the development of its foreign relations. It is also closely related to China’s diplomacy theory and its perception of the outside world. Since the founding of the PRC to date, China’s participation in multilateral diplomacy has gone through a process from staying out of the international multilateral diplomacy, passive involvement in the early days of New China, low-level participation after China‘s seat in the UN was restored to it, active involvement at a later stage, to an all-round participation in the building of multilateral diplomacy since the end of the Cold War. It can be concluded that similar to what it has done in developing relations with other developing countries, China has paid more attention to introducing the CPC values and the Chinese views on diplomacy in its multilateral diplomacy and has given more emphasis on moral significance than material importance.

5.4.1. The Period of Passive Involvement From the founding of the PRC in 1949 to the end of the 1960s, China remained a revolutionary in the international community. It took a fairly negative attitude toward international multilateral diplomacy and therefore it dissociated itself from various multilateral diplomatic activities for a long time. In spite of its involvement in a few important multilateral diplomatic events, China was in reality still a passive participant in the international system and multilateral diplomacy. From the birth of the PRC in 1949 to the restoration of China’s seat at the UN in 1971, China did not give enough importance to multilateral diplomacy. The several multilateral diplomatic activities that China took part in were mainly organized by developing countries, the socialist camp or the international communist movement. On the

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whole, China’s attitude toward multilateral diplomacy was quite negative and passive, which had a lot to do with the domestic and international environment at that time. On the one hand, the Cold War structure of confrontation made it extremely difficult for China to participate in multilateral diplomacy. The world’s most important stage for multilateral diplomacy at that time, the UN in particular, had become a venue for confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union or between the capitalist and socialist camps. Multilateral cooperation within either camp must serve the need of the Cold War confrontation. Under these circumstances, China, a big socialist country, was inevitably sucked into the whirlpool of the Cold War, becoming a target of containment by the US-led Western camp. This was precisely why the CPC formulated the diplomatic strategy of “leaning to one side”. As a pragmatic option, the “leaning to one side” strategy prevented the PRC from being isolated in the international community in its early days. But it also had strong ideological overtones and featured confrontation between the two camps. Therefore, it greatly restrained China’s participation in multilateral diplomacy. On the other hand, the revolutionary enthusiasm was still there immediately after the founding of the PRC. To a great extent, the idealistic perception of multilateral diplomacy and practical frustration over Taiwan’s illegal occupation of China’s legitimate seat at the UN made China a “revolutionary” of the international system. China’s idealistic perception of the international system, especially salient during the Cultural Revolution, contributed to China’s negative attitude toward multilateral diplomacy, even when it participated in the multilateral diplomacy within the socialist camp. It was a fact that China did not join the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact even in the years of close relations between China and the Soviet Union. The only multilateral events that China took part in were world conferences of communist and workers’ parties. But the massive verbal attacks against the Yugoslavian Communist Party and later against the CPC at these conferences as well as very limited interactions did not leave much good impression on the Chinese. In the meantime, as a developing country, China had all

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along believed that the old international political and economic order, which came into being after the end of World War II, was dominated by developed countries, helped developed countries to exploit developing countries and reflected relations of serious inequality. In reality, Taiwan continued to occupy the UN seat and the Korean War served to push the UN to oppose China. The government of New China believed that the UN had been “degraded as a tool for the US-led imperialist clique to expand wars of aggression”.76 Consequently, the Chinese had held a negative view of the UN for a long time. Nevertheless, China pursued an independent foreign policy of peace after the founding of the PRC and made some progress in its multilateral diplomatic practice. The most important one was its participation in the Geneva Conference and the Bandung Conference. The Geneva Conference in April 1954 was the first important multilateral diplomatic event in which China took part after the founding of New China. In the early days of the PRC, due to the diplomatic strategy of “leaning to one side”, China had relatively fewer opportunities to engage in multilateral diplomacy. Thus New China lacked opportunities to present itself to the rest of the world, and the world lacked channels through which to know more about China. To a certain degree, this restrained China in pursuing an all-round development of its diplomacy. The Geneva Conference gave China an opportunity to present itself. However, it was indeed a challenge for New China, which lacked diplomatic experiences, to make its debut on the international stage. It was important not only for New China’s international image, but also for its survival and development. China attached great importance to the Geneva Conference, and sent a delegation headed by Zhou Enlai and composed of Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang and Li Kenong. China’s basic policy objectives in attending the Conference were: to deter the US policy of blockade, embargo, arms expansion and war preparedness and promote

76

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Condemning the UN Resolution on Embargo against China and the DPRK adopted by the UN General Assembly under the Manipulation of the US, in Collection of Documents of the PRC on Foreign Relations, Vol. II, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 1958 Edition, p. 27.

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relaxation of the tension in the international situation through active diplomatic activities; and to make every effort to reach some kind of agreement so as to push open the door to settling international disputes through consultation among big countries. At the Conference, China, the DPRK and the Soviet Union put forward reasonable proposals for a settlement of the Korean issue. Due to the US obstruction, the Conference could not reach any agreement on the settlement of the Korean issue. On the Indochina issue, China, the Soviet Union and Vietnam put forward a six-point proposal for its settlement, including the principle of simultaneously effecting truce and readjusting zones and implementing truce in a way suitable to the different conditions in the three Indochina countries. The Conference adopted the principles for complete truce in the three countries in Indochina. On 21 July, the Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference was issued. China’s efforts contributed to the success of the Geneva Conference in helping restore peace in Indochina and end the eight years of colonial war by France in that region. During the Geneva Conference, China made unremitting efforts for international security and world peace, showing that as a newcomer on the international stage, the PRC had already become an important force for the maintenance of world peace. China’s multilateral diplomatic practice at the Geneva Conference demonstrated that New China could not only conduct diplomacy on important international occasions, but could also play a productive role. In particular, the Chinese government vigorously advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence during the Conference. And to some extent, this started the historical process of New China integrating itself into the international community. Initiated by Indonesia, Myanmar and three other countries, the Bandung Conference was convened on 18 April 1955 and attended by 29 countries including China. This was the first international conference held by Asian and African countries independently without the participation of any Western colonialist countries. After the founding of the PRC, there were two major channels for China to participate in multilateral diplomacy. One was with the nationalist countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and the other was with socialist countries. Internationally, these two groups of countries

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were those with whom China could identify itself, as China was a country that had broken off the colonial shackles through struggles for national liberation and China was also a socialist country. In the early days of the PRC, China did not immediately start to develop its relations with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Subjectively, China gave top priority to its relations with the Soviet Union in its diplomatic work. Within the framework of “leaning to one side”, China viewed many nationalist states as members of the imperialist camp. China could not go all out to develop relations with them when these countries still maintained “diplomatic relations” with the KMT regime in Taiwan. Objectively, many nationalist countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America just shook off colonial rule. After gaining independence, on the one hand, they were still under fairly tight control of their former suzerain states. On the other hand, communist parties in some of these countries were fairly strong due to the development of the international communist movement during World War II and the period immediately after that, which threatened the interests of the ruling classes. Therefore, these countries had suspicions about developing relations with China. Having experienced a relatively difficult time in diplomacy in the early years of New China, the Chinese leaders realized that if they continued their previous way of thinking, it would not be possible to expand too much diplomatic space for China within the existing international system. They therefore went all out to develop relations with the nationalist countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In that sense, the Bandung Conference in 1955 offered China not only an important opportunity to practice multilateral diplomacy, but also to set off a wave of developing relations with nationalist countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. On 17 April 1955, the Chinese delegation, with Zhou Enlai as the head and Chen Yi, Ye Jizhuang, Zhang Hanfu and Huang Zhen as the delegates, arrived in Bandung. For the purpose of expanding the united front for peace, promoting the national independence movements and creating conditions for establishing and enhancing its relations with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, China worked hard to ensure a complete success of the Conference. As one of the two

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socialist countries attending the Conference (the other being Vietnam), China became the focal point of controversy. Delegates from Iraq and other countries asserted that communism was a subversive religion and a new form of colonialism. Delegates from Pakistan and the Philippines claimed that communism presented a threat and called on Asian, African and Latin American countries to unite to prevent the threat of communism. In this context, Zhou Enlai made it clear at the Conference, “the Chinese delegation has come here to seek unity and not to quarrel. We communists do not hide the fact that we believe in communism and that we consider the socialist system a good system. There is no need at this Conference to publicize one’s ideology and the political system of one’s country, although differences do exist among us.” Zhou Enlai believed that there were two types of countries in Asia — those that had gained “independence from colonialist rule” and those “led by communists or nationalists”. He said, “We have to admit that we Asian and African countries do have different ideologies and different social systems, but this does not prevent us from finding common ground and seeking unity.” He believed that there exists common ground between China and Asian and African countries, that is, “the overwhelming majority of the Asian and African countries and peoples have in modern history suffered and are still suffering from the calamities of colonialism… If we seek common ground in doing away with the sufferings and calamities under colonialism, it will be easy for us to have mutual understanding and respect, mutual sympathy and support, instead of mutual suspicion and fear, mutual exclusion and antagonism.” Zhou believed that at the Conference, all parties should all seek common ground while reserving differences.77 The principle of “seeking common ground while reserving differences” that Zhou Enlai proposed was widely acclaimed by delegates from various countries. Eventually on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the Conference adopted the Declaration on Promotion of World Peace and Cooperation, which laid out ten principles on peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation among all countries — the Bandung Spirit. 77

Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, pp. 121–122.

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The Chinese delegation also conducted flexible diplomacy on the sidelines of the Conference. On April 22, China and Indonesia signed the Agreement on the Issue of Dual Nationality. The signing ceremony, as short as only 20 minutes, marked the settlement of this long-term outstanding issue between the two countries. As Zhou Enlai said, “It was of important significance that this issue was settled during the Asian–African Conference. It was another good example to show that we Asian and African countries and peoples are able to settle complicated and difficult issues in the spirit of friendly consultation.”78 On April 23, Zhou Enlai talked about the Taiwan issue when heads of the delegations of eight countries met: “The Chinese people are friendly to the American people. The Chinese people do not want to have a war with the US. The Chinese Government is willing to sit down and enter into negotiation with the US to discuss the question of relaxation of the situation in the Far East, particularly the relaxation of the tension in the Taiwan Strait area.”79 Though extremely brief — at only 69 words in Chinese, this statement was called by Western reporters “the most phenomenal news event during the Bandung Conference”. The participants viewed this as a significant move toward peace. After the Bandung Conference was concluded, the Chinese delegation visited Indonesia and furthered the bilateral relations between the two countries. Then Premier Zhou Enlai’s extraordinary diplomacy and China’s correct policy ensured China’s success at the Bandung Conference, which “fully demonstrated the style and features of China’s diplomacy, and enhanced China’s international status and prestige”.80 China accumulated valuable experience from the success at the Asian– African Conference for its future participation in multilateral diplomatic activities. In addition to the Geneva Conference and the Asian–African Conference, China also took part in a number of multilateral

78

Wang Shengzu: History of International Relations, Vol. VIII, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 1997 Edition, p. 256. 79 Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, p. 134. 80 Pei Jianzhang: A Diplomatic History of the People’s Republic of China (1949–1956), Beijing: World Affairs Press, 1995 Edition, p. 253.

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diplomatic events. For example, the Chinese government hosted and attended the Conference of Trade Unions of Asia and Oceania in Beijing from November 16 to December 2, 1949. And 117 delegates from more than ten countries attended the Conference. This was the first international conference that New China attended. The Asian Women’s Conference was held in Beijing on December 10–16 the same year and 165 delegates from 14 countries attended the Conference. In May 1950, China announced its decision to join the Universal Postal Union, which was the first international organization that New China acceded to. In 1952, China announced its accession to the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. It was the first international convention that New China acceded to. In October 1952, the Peace Conference of Asia and Pacific regions was held in Beijing at the initiation of Soong Ching Ling, Guo Moruo and other social activists. Delegates from 37 countries attended the conference. Although these agreements, organizations and conferences that New China subscribed to were limited in scope, it demonstrated that New China unfolded its diplomacy both multilaterally and bilaterally.

5.4.2. The Period of Active Participation From the restoration of China’s legitimate seat in the UN in 1971 through the last days of the Cold War, China gradually stepped up its multilateral diplomatic practice and took a more active part in various multilateral diplomatic events. This laid a solid foundation for China to engage more actively and comprehensively in multilateral diplomacy, the international system and the building of a new international order. The transformation in China’s multilateral diplomacy took place against the complicated domestic and international backdrops. First, since reform and opening up, economic development has been placed at the core of China’s various policies. This has naturally made it imperative for China to integrate itself more thoroughly into the international system and international mechanisms, and to more actively participate in multilateral diplomacy. As Deng Xiaoping point out, “To achieve the four modernizations, we must be adept at learning from

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other countries and we must obtain a great deal of foreign assistance. As a starting point in our development, we should introduce advanced technology and equipment from the rest of the world.”81 With increased and stronger links with the outside world, China gradually realized that although the current international political and economic order was still dominated by the West and had various elements of inequality, the only way to gradually and constructively transform it into a fair, rational and democratic order is to join the existing international order. Thus, China turned itself from a challenger of the international system into a participant in the system. By the 1980s, China had not only steadily expanded its opening up, but also enhanced economic and trade cooperation through multilateral cooperation. Multilateral cooperation became an important channel for China to access international economic and technological resources. Second, the fundamental shift in China’s perception of the international situation and the themes of the times, especially from “war and revolution” to “peace and development”, helped advance China’s multilateral diplomacy. As of the 1980s, China changed its theories and believed that peace and development were the two main themes in today’s world. While the forces for peace continued to grow and it was possible to maintain peace, multilateral cooperation became an effective way to promote exchanges and safeguard peace, and China would have a role to play in multilateral diplomacy. In the meantime, on the one hand, the rapidly growing globalization after the 1970s and 1980s has brought the world even closer, in which no country can possibly stay in isolation of the framework of the existing international system and international mechanisms. All countries must seek cooperation for their own development. On the other hand, some issues with global implications have become more pronounced, such as the environmental degradation, international terrorism and transnational crimes. None of these can be settled by one or two countries. Their solutions call for global cooperation. It is against this backdrop that China engaged itself in multilateral diplomacy and became increasingly more active in multilateral diplomacy. 81

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, p. 133.

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Third, with rapid increase in its national strength, China has had a solid foundation for a bigger role in multilateral diplomacy. Throughout the 1980s, China achieved an average annual economic growth of about 10%, becoming another rapidly rising economy in Asia after Japan in the 1960s and the “Four Asian dragons” in the 1970s. This in reality enhanced China’s weight in the international community and placed China in a better position for multilateral diplomacy. During this period, China made remarkable achievements in multilateral diplomacy and it was a very active and important player in all fields of multilateral diplomacy. Of course, China’s multilateral diplomacy in this period could be further broken down into two stages. The first stage was the entire 1970s before the CPC adopted the reform and opening-up policy. After its seat in the UN Security Council was restored to it in 1971, China’s approach toward multilateral diplomacy could be described as “more about abstract discussion of principles or often as an onlooker rather than an actual participant”. According to the Security Council’s voting records from 24 November 1971 to 22 December 1976, China’s abstention or non-participation in the voting was as high as 39%.82 The core issue for China’s multilateral diplomacy at this stage was how to make choices in face of the labyrinth of agencies, conferences and organizations of the UN system after its legitimate seat in the UN was restored. Having studied thoroughly the instructions from Beijing, the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN formulated the following guidelines and thoughts on its tasks in the first few years after the restoration of China’s legitimate seat in the UN: (1) The UN provided a podium. And it was an important one, because if you spoke here, the world would hear it. But if you spoke in Beijing, the world might not necessarily hear it. (2) China would firmly support the Third World in its struggle against imperialism, colonialism, racism, and hegemonism. (3) China would implement the policy of opposing the two superpowers within the UN, in particular the Soviet revisionism. (4) China 82

Samuel S. Kim: China, the United Nations and World Order, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979 Edition, p. 209.

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would remain detached in the UN on issues that were inconsistent or in conflict with China’s principles, such as human rights and peacekeeping.83 On that basis, China quickly resumed its multilateral diplomatic activities in specialized agencies of the UN system. In its UN-centered multilateral diplomatic activities, China showed the features outlined below. First, China always presented itself as representing the interests of Third World countries on various multilateral diplomatic occasions. It firmly supported Third World countries not only on peace and security issues related to them, but also in their efforts to establish a new international economic order. One of the guiding principles for China at the time was to firmly support Third World countries in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, racism and hegemonism. Under this guiding principle, China joined the Special Committee on Decolonization (Committee of 24) and later the UN Seabed Committee. However, being soberly aware of its weak strength, China was more inclined to offer moral support in multilateral diplomacy. China’s role therefore should not be magnified. Second, China emphasized the moral principle on political and security issues in multilateral diplomacy. Take the UN Commission on Human Rights as an example. The Chinese government believed that as the Western and Marxist human rights concepts were absolutely irreconcilable like water and fire, there was no need for China to join the Commission. The peacekeeping notion was in conflict with the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs that China always advocated. Since the UN budget covered expenses for peacekeeping operations, the contribution of member states to the UN budget also went to peacekeeping operations at the same rate as the scale of assessments for member states to the UN regular budget. Since peacekeeping operations were inconsistent with the non-interference principle that China had always adhered to, China not only refrained from taking part in peacekeeping missions, but also refused to pay its share of contribution to 83

Wu Jianmin: Multilateral Diplomacy Is the Platform for Building a Harmonious World, Foreign Affairs Review, 2006, No. 4, pp. 11–12.

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peacekeeping operations. When the Security Council considered resolutions on extending the mandate of a peacekeeping mission, the Chinese delegation would stay away from those meetings and would not participate in the voting. Third, China was active in social and cultural areas, but its participation in the economic field was limited. This was due to its domestic policy at the time. The Chinese government was very proud of owing no national and international debt. Therefore, it would not accept any loans, though it could accept assistance gratis from within the framework of the UN system. By 1977, China had joined as many as 21 international organizations, almost all international organizations within the UN system or associated with the UN, but it did not join the three key international economic organizations — the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and GATT. Since the CPC shifted its central task to economic construction at the 3rd Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee, China’s multilateral diplomacy formally entered an active stage. China began to participate in all fields of the UN work. The Report on the Work of the Government adopted at the 4th Session of the 6th National People’s Congress in 1986 stated: “China has observed the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, supported the various work by the UN in the spirit of the Charter and has taken an active part in the activities conducted by the UN and its specialized agencies that are conducive to world peace and development. China has joined various international organizations, actively conducted multilateral diplomatic activities, and endeavored to promote cooperation among all countries in all areas.”84 After the 1980s, China promptly transformed its multilateral diplomacy following the readjustment of its domestic policies. By 1989, China had joined 16 inter-governmental organizations and nearly 600 international NGOs, and acceded to more than 80 important international conventions.85 What was notable in this period was

84

Han Nianlong: Diplomacy in Contemporary China, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1989 Edition, p. 384. 85 Xie Yixian: A Diplomatic History of China (1979–1999), Zhengzhou: Henan People’s Publishing House, 1996 Edition, p. 217.

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that China joined the World Bank, the IMF, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It applied for resumption of its founding membership in the GATT in 1986. And it attended the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1978 to 1982. All in all, since reform and opening up, China expanded its multilateral diplomacy in a wide range of areas, conducted more effective cooperation with multilateral organizations, enjoyed an increasingly important position in international organizations and hosted more international conferences and multilateral diplomatic events. This period mainly witnessed the following achievements in China’s multilateral diplomacy. First, China gave more emphasis on multilateral diplomacy in the economic field. It tried to acquire capital and technology through multilateral cooperation to support its domestic economic development. Since joining the World Bank and the IMF in 1980, China had secured a large amount of loans from the two international organizations even though it did not have much say in them. Second, while still basing its diplomatic work on enhancing unity and cooperation with Third World countries, China tried to establish a new type of mutually beneficial relations and cooperation with these countries on the basis of the four principles of “equality and mutual benefit, stressing on practical results, diversity in form and striving for common development”, instead of “giving aid” to them only. China set the national interests as the criteria for it to conduct multilateral diplomacy, and at the same time, it also offered Third World countries strong moral support in the UN and on other multilateral diplomatic occasions. Thus, China did not compromise its consistent image in multilateral diplomacy. Third, multilateral diplomacy was no longer just a supplement to its bilateral diplomacy or a podium for China to state its positions. It had become an important component in China’s diplomacy. After China reformed its foreign policy in 1982, it was a more active in the activities of the UN and its specialized agencies and other international organizations. China’s status and role started to draw attention from all sides.

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5.4.3. The Period of Active Participation in Building the International System Since the 1990s, China has gradually created conditions, both subjective and objective, for its vigorous conduct of multilateral diplomacy, and has thus opened a new chapter of unprecedented multilateral diplomacy. The main features of China’s multilateral diplomacy during this period are as follows. On many major regional and global issues, China has been an important participant and China’s attitude and position have a considerable weight. Chinese leaders have more and more frequently taken part in multilateral diplomatic activities in and outside of China and discussed with leaders of other countries on major international issues. Multilateral cooperation has enhanced. China‘s participation in multilateral diplomacy has gradually expanded from the political and security issues to economic, disarmament and arms control, human rights, environmental protection, social development and other issues. The cooperation between China and multilateral organizations has become more and more effective and fruitful, and an increasing number of Chinese have taken up such important offices in international organizations as the president, vice president, under-secretary-general and judge. It has become quite common for China to host important regional and global conferences and international events. China has integrated itself into the international community on all fronts and has been more active in multilateral diplomacy during this period, which has had a lot to do with the international environment that China has been in. First, the end of the Cold War and the bipolar world structure provided a vast space for multilateral diplomacy. The end of the Cold War order has significantly raised the status of the multilateralismbased UN, placing it almost at the center of the world stage. This has been in bold relief when the international community has given unprecedented attention to the UN reform and relevant countries have been engaged in fierce competition over the UN reform in recent years. In addition, the end of the Cold War and the bipolar world structure have brought about tremendous changes to the environment

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on which international politics depends for its survival, and these changes are conducive to the development of multilateral diplomacy. Second, the world has become multipolarized, which is a most direct consequence of the disintegration of the bipolar world. The end of the bipolar world has made it possible for multilateralism and multilateral diplomacy to truly fulfill their “multilateral” obligations and functions. Although the Cold War has ended with the US being left as the only superpower, the EU, Russia, China and Japan are forces that cannot be ignored. The diverse world is evolving into a number of groups of regional economic cooperation and the world is moving irresistibly toward multipolarity. With growing national strength, China, being one of the “poles”, will integrate itself more comprehensively into the international community and play its due role in international affairs. Third, there has been deepening globalization which has brought along with it global issues. Although the first upsurge of globalization started in the 1970s, the end of the Cold War has afforded an opportunity for globalization to move further ahead. Globalization has made the world’s countries more interdependent and their interests more intertwined. Global economic cooperation calls for coordination through multilateral diplomacy. The founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the making of WTO rules were a result of such coordination. However, in the process of globalization, environmental issues, resources issues, regional conflicts, transnational crimes and other global issues have cropped up. Solutions to these issues call for consensus and full cooperation among world countries through multilateral diplomacy. Globalization has brought the two parallel world markets back to one single world market and has given rise to greater interdependence and increased common interests among countries, which are the very basis for the multilateral regime to work. Global economic cooperation requires coordination through multilateral diplomacy. All these factors have not only changed the international political and economic landscape, but also the environment in which every country makes its foreign policy. China, which is a developing country, has also found itself under the challenge and impact of globalization. In the meantime, China, which is a

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responsible country, will surely take an active part in multilateral international organizations and accede to international treaties so as to make contribution to the settlement of global issues. In face of the post-Cold War international environment, China has, as Jiang Zemin notes, unswervingly pursued the opening-up policy, adapted itself to the economic globalization, taken an active part in international economic cooperation and competition, and made full use of all the favorable conditions and opportunities brought about by economic globalization. At the same time, China must also be soberly aware of the risks that might come along with economic globalization.86 During this period, China has joined more international organizations and international mechanisms, expanded its all-round diplomacy, integrated itself more comprehensively into the international community, and made remarkable achievements in all these areas. First, the number of inter-governmental international organizations that China joined jumped from 21 in 1977 before reform and opening up to 37 in 1989 before the end of the Cold War. This same period saw an increase in the number of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that China joined from 71 to 677. By 1997, the number of these two categories of international organizations of which China was a member had increased to 52 and 1,163 respectively.87 In terms of international treaties and agreements, China acceded to more international legal instruments covering a wider range of specific functional areas. By the end of 2003, China signed 273 international treaties, conventions, agreements and protocols. Among those that China had signed, 45 were signed or recognized by China between the founding of the PRC in 1949 and the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy in 1979, 112 between 1979 and the end of the Cold War, and 116 between the end of the Cold War and 2003. These international treaties and agreements that China had signed cover a wide range of functional fields with rich contents and geographical areas. This was a snapshot of China’s

86

Jiang Zemin Making Important Remarks during His Meeting with Representatives of the Diplomatic Envoys’ Conference, People’s Daily, August 29, 1998. 87 Zhang Qingmin: An Analysis of the Features of China’s Participation in Multilateral Diplomacy after the End of the Cold War, International Forum, 2006, No. 2, p. 56.

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participation in multilateral mechanisms. China’s activities in the UN are a typical example of its performance in many international organizations. Being the largest multilateral institution in today’s world, the UN has made an impact in the political, economic, security, human rights, social and other fields after the end of the Cold War. More importantly, the many resolutions and conventions that it has adopted have been regarded as the norms regulating the activities of the international community in today’s world. China has attached importance to the role of the UN, taken an active part in the UN work in all fields and areas, and supported the UN in playing its due role. China has also actively participated in the UN-initiated global actions and has offered reasonable proposals in a timely manner. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China holds the veto power. The veto-power arrangement for the five permanent members (P5) was made in light of the contribution by the five countries to world peace during World War II and the post-war international situation with a view to highlighting their responsibilities for world peace and the need to reach consensus. Practice has proved that consensus among the P5 on major international issues is helpful for the successful implementation of the Security Council resolutions. The veto system may encourage the P5 to try their uttermost to come up with collective decisions through consultation and consensus while avoiding a division of the Security Council. It also helps to restrain superpowers from abusing their veto power or making decisions that might damage the interests of other countries or encroach upon the independence and sovereignty of other countries. In the 1990s, China used its veto power several times to effectively defeat Taiwan’s attempt to expand its “international space” in defense of China’s sovereignty and dignity. China has also been extensively involved in the work of various UN specialized agencies. It has taken an active part in relevant international conferences and in the drafting and consultation of relevant documents in many multilateral areas such as food, environment, crime prevention, fighting drugs, refugees and women. By so doing, China has made its due contribution to the settlement of many major international issues facing mankind. China has taken an active part, though with reservations, in international nuclear control mechanisms with the UN disarmament

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regime playing a dominant role, including the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). On 29 July 1996, China announced a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. China’s efforts have promoted the cause of international disarmament and international peace. More importantly, it has helped to protect China from potential nuclear threats in the long run and increase common strategic understandings with the US and other big countries. China has also moved closer toward the UN-sponsored international human rights mechanisms. By October 1998, China had acceded to 19 international human rights conventions. While continuing to respect the collective human rights, the economic right and the right to development, China has also embraced the universality of human rights. This has given China flexibility in its diplomacy with the US and other Western countries and has significantly improved China’s international image. At the UN Millennium Summit, then President Jiang Zemin stated, “We need to firmly defend the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, continue to have the UN and its Security Council play a positive role in managing international affairs and safeguarding world peace, and ensure all member states the right to equally participate in world affairs.”88 With China’s initiation, the first UN P5 Summit was held and a summit document was issued at the end of the Summit. At China’s request, the document included the commitment of the P5 to defend the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, ensure UN’s authority, and enhance its role. Second, in terms of the range of the international organizations and their activities, China has been part of the international security and political mechanisms as it has joined the UN, its Security Council and the International Court of Justice, and has participated in peacekeeping, disarmament, human rights and other activities within the UN system. China has also been part of the international economic mechanisms in that it has joined the IMF, the World Bank and the 88

President Jiang Zemin Delivering an Important Statement at the UN Security Council Summit, People’s Daily, September 8, 2000.

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WTO. In addition, it has taken an active part in many regional multilateral mechanisms such as APEC and 10+3 as well as inter-regional multilateral mechanisms such as ASEM and the East Asia–Latin America Forum (ELAF). In short, China’s multilateral diplomacy features an all-round participation in international multilateral mechanisms at all levels. From the geographical perspective, China’s multilateral diplomacy more or less falls into two categories: one is regional, and the other is inter-regional. From the perspective of thematic issues, the regional multilateral mechanisms started mainly with security issues and have gradually expanded to other areas while inter-regional multilateral mechanisms started with dialogue and cooperation in the political and economic fields and have gradually expanded to security, cultural and other fields. In this process, China has gradually turned a negative and passive participant to an active participant and even a proponent of multilateral diplomatic mechanisms. It has not only actively participated in the existing multilateral mechanisms, but has also vigorously promoted the establishment of new multilateral mechanisms and the convocation of new multilateral conferences. In international organizations and on multilateral occasions in particular, China has no longer just accepted the existing rules as it did in the past. Now, it has offered many useful and constructive ideas and proposals on global issues which bear on the future of world development. They include: establishment of a new international political and economic order; maintaining the diversity of the world; democracy in international politics; development of a comprehensive security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination; handling human rights issues in a balanced manner; and building a harmonious world. All this has testified to the changing status of China and its higher position in the international community, as well as its bigger role in the building of international mechanisms today.

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CHAPTER SIX

China’s Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas YU Hongyuan

Today, the entire world is facing a number of major issues, such as rising prices of energy resources, financial crisis, ecological degradation, environmental pollution, the health of population, hunger and poverty, the gap between the North and the South, serious natural disasters and global climate change.1 At the same time, world peace, regional stability and national and public security are confronted with new threats. Unlike traditional areas we have discussed in previous chapters, problems in non-traditional areas are more of “low-level political issues” in political science, which may impact all and should be addressed by all, from individuals and communities to multinational organizations, countries and even the entire planet. Nontraditional issues cover a wide range of areas, including not only scientific and technological advancement, globalization and sustainable development of human society and nature, but also threats and challenges posed by non-state actors to the international order or international stability.2 Diplomacy in non-traditional areas should resort more to multilateral mechanisms and the international community, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and crossfield and interdisciplinary technological forces. Their final solutions necessarily lie with a settlement model of “treating a disease by looking into both its root cause and symptoms”, as most of these problems are not generated by contradictions between states, but rather by those 1 2

Lu Zhongwei: On Non-traditional Security, Beijing: Shishi Press, 2003 Edition, p. 33. Zhu Feng: Analysis of Non-traditional Security, China Social Sciences, 2004, No. 4, p. 140.

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between man and nature, within the social systems and within a country. They may come up suddenly and have profound natural, institutional and structural causes. China is an emerging socialist developing country and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. As such, it shoulders major responsibility in areas such as global environmental protection and disease control, international security and international trade, prevention against financial risks and establishing a new concept of development and security. For China, the 21st century is a new century in which the Chinese nation realizes an all-round development, its national revitalization and full integration into the world and plays the role of a responsible power. With the growth of China’s comprehensive national strength and with problems in non-traditional areas increasingly becoming the focal points of the international community, China has entered into a rocking period of readjustment for its interests and recognition in the international arena.3,4 China should take a more active part in activities in non-traditional areas, play a role in the global governance and in world affairs, and achieve its own national interests. It should also build a new diplomacy concept and a new security concept mainly through public diplomacy, which may help to ward off all kinds of “China threat” advocacies and create an image of a responsible big country. Its active participation in global governance may also help to eliminate the negative impact of the ideological differences between China and the West.5 The Chinese government is fully aware of the fact that issues in non-traditional areas are more closely linked with the practical issues of a country in the political, economic and social areas.6 Wen Jiabao affirmed that China adopted a cooperative attitude in 3

Zhao Kejin: The Rise of China and Adjustments in Foreign Policy Strategy, Social Science Journal, 2010, No. 9, pp. 27–29. 4 Xiao Xi and Zhou Xuliang: China’s International Role and Structural Cognition, Seeker, 2010, No. 8, pp. 88–92. 5 Sun Yingchun: The Cultural Structure of State Image of China, Teaching and Research, 2010, No. 11, pp. 31–36. 6 Cui Liru: The Era of Globalization and Multi-polar World, Special Issue of the Contemporary International Relations marking the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, 2010, pp. 1–4.

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addressing non-traditional security issues and made significant contributions to the world peace and prosperity through scientific development.7 Global governance is an important topic for China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas. Yang Jiechi pointed out that what was at the core of “global governance” was to conduct consultation on an equal footing and cooperation for win-win results through the platform of multilateral mechanisms represented by the UN in accordance with the universally recognized international law and the norms and established practices of international relations. The core task of China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas is to promote universal participation by all parties of the international community, and hence universal benefit from it, and to create more favorable conditions and environment for the development of the vast number of developing countries.8

6.1. Foundation for Pursuing Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas The report to the 17th CPC National Congress pointed out: “Traditional and non-traditional threats to security are intertwined. All these pose difficulties and challenges to world peace and development.” With the development of the economy, technology and globalization of the human society, interdependence among countries has steadily intensified and gone beyond the political, economic and military scopes; security crises caused by non-traditional factors have gradually become globalized9 and global governance in various countries and international organizations has shown a trend toward accommodation and

7

Wen Jiabao Expounded on China’s Peaceful Development Road from Ten Aspects, Xinhua News Agency, March 14, 2006. 8 Remarks of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the Press Conference during the 4th session of the 11th National People’s Congress, Xinhuanet, March 2011, http://www. xinhuanet.com/politics/2011lh/zhibo/wziz/wmtbwwz.htm, accessed May 3, 2010. 9 Andrew Mack: Concepts of Security in the Post-Cold War, Working Paper, 1993/8 (Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, 1993).

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adaptation.10 It has become an important task of the contemporary Chinese diplomacy to actively engage in international cooperation in non-traditional areas. The report to the 17th CPC National Congress explained China’s contribution to the world and to the human society for the fourth time. It stated: “China’s development has not only enabled its people to move steadily toward prosperity and happiness, but also contributed substantially to the growth of the world economy and the progress of human civilization.”11 By 2020, China will become a country which will “make greater contributions to human civilization”.12 Therefore, China’s diplomacy has started to give more and more attention to non-traditional issues and has entered into new areas such as ecological environment, public health and epidemic prevention, disaster reduction and the curbing of transnational crimes. Unlike traditional diplomacy as elaborated in previous chapters, diplomacy in non-traditional areas may not be led by career diplomats, with a view to better responding to issues in new areas. Generally, there are multiple actors for non-traditional diplomacy, involving the government, the business sector, NGOs and others. Due to the diversified actors of diplomacy, more attention is gradually given to public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy in terms of the form of non-traditional diplomacy. As Yang Jiechi puts it, “An important aspect of diplomatic work is to enhance understanding and friendship among the people of different countries and to lay a solid foundation in public opinions for better state-to-state relations through diversified and colorful activities in public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy.”13 Nontraditional diplomacy is not only conducive to protecting the common interests of all countries in the world and the human society, but is also 10

Xu Huabing: Deal with Non-traditional Security Issues in China with Crisis Mechanism, Seeker, 2005, No. 2 (February), pp. 91–95. 11 Ibid. 12 Hu Jintao’s Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, Xinhuanet, October 24, 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-10/24/content_6938568.htm, accessed June 10, 2010. 13 Yang Jiechi: Safeguarding World Peace and Promoting Common Development — Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Diplomacy of New China, Qiushi, 2009, No. 19, p. 23.

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directly relevant to China’s own interests of security, development and its international image.14

6.1.1. Development of China’s Understanding of Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas In July 2001, Jiang Zemin pointed out in his speech at the meeting celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China that CPC leaders have not made exactly the same assessment of the international situation for different periods due to different backgrounds. These different assessments of the international situations precisely reflect that “Marxism develops with the advance of the times in terms of theory”.15 It follows naturally that the CPC has given different characteristics and contents to the nontraditional security issues at different times. Before 1949, capitalist powers of the world stepped up their export of commodities and capital into China and foreign capital had controlled the lifeline of China’s economy. Between 1920 and 1936, foreign investment in China increased by 2.88 times, of which industrial capital increased 3.3 times. Foreign capital had a dominant position in many important industrial sectors in China and it monopolized the lifeblood of the modern Chinese economy.16 This monopoly was seen in major economic sectors, such as the steel, energy, some light industries, insurance, foreign trade, and water, air and rail transportation. In the semi-colonial China, diplomacy in non-traditional areas was out of the question. Non-traditional diplomacy can only be conducted by the New China under the CPC leadership. After the founding of the PRC, the CPC has believed that socialism should seek to develop the productive forces internally and stand for 14

Peaceful Development and Win-win Cooperation for Mutual Benefit — Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi’s Interpretation of China’s Diplomacy, World Affairs, 2008, No. 2, pp. 16–17. 15 Jiang Zemin’s Speech at the Meeting Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, People’s Net, July 2, 2001, http://www.people.com. cn/GB/shizheng/16/20010702/501591.html, accessed June 21, 2010. 16 Song Fu and Xu Shihua: The Contemporary History of China, Vol. I, Beijing: China Archives Press, 1995 Edition, p. 244.

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peace externally. The Chinese history and cultural traditions that the CPC has identified itself with is “nothing is more precious than peace”, “harmony in diversity”, “good faith and good neighborhood”, “treating neighbors as friends” and “do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you”. The CPC fully understands the aspirations of its nation and its people. That is, to get rid of poverty and backwardness, build China into a strong and prosperous country, achieve national rejuvenation, build a harmonious society and ensure people happiness.17 With the gradual increase in the comprehensive national strength, China’s international status has gradually risen, though with ups and downs in the process. Its contacts with the outside world have clearly been selective and constrained, which has hindered it from achieving the status of a big power. After the founding of New China, China made a complete break with the old diplomatic relations established by the semi-colonial China. “Putting the house in order before inviting guests” and “starting anew”, China decided to establish diplomatic relations with other countries on a new basis. In the 1950s, due to the Cold War and the blockade and containment of China by Western countries, China implemented the “leaning to one side” policy in its external relations. The Sino–Soviet split in the 1960s extricated China out of external constraints and enabled China to take an independent path of development. In the 1970s, China had its permanent seat in the UN Security Council restored to it. China adjusted its relations with Western countries and began to move toward the goal of becoming a global power. Since the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the CPC has made it clear that the goal of its external work is to promote a healthy development of international relations, create a favorable international environment for China’s reform, opening up and the socialist modernization drive, and make more contribution to the cause against hegemonism and for world peace and development of mankind. Deng Xiaoping has proposed the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and at the same time he has identified the 17

Zheng Bijian: The Direction in which the Communist Party of China Will Move Forward in the 21st Century, People’s Daily, November 2, 2005.

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international strategy and foreign policy for China in the new period of socialist construction. In this context, China has shifted the focus of the national work to economic development and formulated the basic policy of China’s opening up. It is on the basis of opening up that resources, environmental issues and other non-traditional security issues have begun to attract China’s attention in diplomacy. Since the end of the Cold War, China has introduced major adjustments in its foreign policy strategy with new changes in the themes of the times — peace and development. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “The world needs peace. The people want cooperation. Nations aspire for development. Society seeks progress. This is the trend of our times.”18 He further elaborates: “The questions of peace and development are in essence the question of North and South. If developed countries can effectively support and assist developing countries in their economic and cultural development under the principle of equality, justice, reciprocity and mutual benefit and help the latter shake off poverty as soon as possible, there will be an important foundation for the settlement of the issues of peace and development.”19 With a substantial increase in China’s comprehensive national strength, China has begun to play the role of a responsible big country in the global arena in handling diplomatic issues in many nontraditional areas. There has been increasing interdependence between China’s economy and the world economy. China has seen its international status substantially upgraded. With the style of a big responsible country and its outstanding performance, China has become a key force in the global governance in non-traditional areas. In view of various complex international issues in the 21st century, former President Hu Jintao unequivocally put forward the idea of building a “harmonious world” on the podium of the UN in September 2005. The White Paper on China’s Peaceful Development Road devotes Section 5, “Building a Harmonious World of Sustained Peace and Common Prosperity”, to the connotations of the concept of a harmonious 18

Jiang Zemin’s Speech at the Meeting Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, People’s Net, July 2, 2001, http://www.people.com. cn/GB/shizheng/16/20010702/501591.html, accessed June 21, 2010. 19 Jiang Zemin on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, 2002 Edition, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, p. 543.

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world in four aspects, namely, the political, security, economic and cultural aspects. It stresses that the harmonious world should be “democratic, harmonious, just and tolerant”. Thus, the harmonious world theory has greatly enriched and developed the theory of socialist diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. China has continuously advocated for building a harmonious world through enhanced public diplomacy, dialogue and cooperation, in an attempt to create a favorable international environment for building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

6.1.2. Changes in Diplomatic Thinking from Traditional to Non-traditional Diplomacy In terms of the understanding of the themes of the times, diplomacy in non-traditional areas has experienced changes in the themes of the times in three stages, from the “war and revolution” period, to the “peace and development” period and then to the period of “peace, development and cooperation”.20,21,22,23,24 In the period of war and revolution, there was no diplomacy in the non-traditional areas of security to speak of. In the period of the “Big Triangle Strategy” and the “Theory of Three Worlds”, China paid much attention to military diplomacy and traditional diplomacy. But after the 14th CPC National Congress proposed the theory of a harmonious world incorporating the “new concept of world order, new concept of development, new concept of security and new concept of civilizations”25, China has made much progress in diplomacy in non-traditional areas (Table 6.1). 20

Ye Zicheng: Inheritance, Development and Reflection of Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Thinking in New Situations, World Economics and Politics, 2004, No. 11, pp. 8–14. 21 Xiong Guangkai: The Road of Peaceful Development Determines a Peaceful, Open and Cooperative Development in China, Study Times, December 28, 2005. 22 Liang Shoude: Deng Xiaoping’s Theory and the Contemporary International Relations of China, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2003. 23 Liang Shoude: China’s International Outlook and New Thinking on Diplomatic Strategy, World Economic and Political Forum, 2004, No. 3, pp. 12–29. 24 Editorial Group: Study Guide on Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Thinking, World Affairs Press, 2000 Edition. 25 Li Zhaoxing: Peace, Development and Cooperation — The Banner of China’s Diplomacy in the New Era, People’s Daily, August 22, 2005.

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Table 6.1.

Viewpoints Related to Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas in the Reports of Successive CPC National Congresses.

CPC National Congress (NC) th

11th NC

12th NC

13th NC

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(Continued)

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10th NC

The Chinese revolution is part of the cause of the international proletarian revolutionary. The CPC and the Chinese people must fulfill their proletarian internationalist obligations and carry through to the end the great struggle against imperialism, modern revisionism and the reactionaries of all countries together with the world’s people. There are four main contradictions in the contemporary world: the contradictions between the oppressed nations and imperialism and social-imperialism; between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie within capitalist and revisionist countries; between the imperialist countries; and between the socialist countries and imperialism and social imperialism. The existence and development of these contradictions will inevitably give rise to revolutions. While the revolutionary factors continue to grow, factors for war have also increased significantly. People around the world want peace. The Chinese people also want to have a peaceful international environment. It is necessary to unite all the forces to form the broadest united front against the main enemy. It is China’s firm strategic principle to carry out the policy of opening up to the outside world and expanding economic and technological exchanges with foreign countries in accordance with the principles of equality and mutual benefit. It must speed the entry of Chinese products into the world market and vigorously expand foreign trade. China will steadily continue to pursue its independent foreign policy of peace and to develop relations of friendship and cooperation with all other countries in the world on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Together with all peace-loving countries and peoples around the globe, it shall work to promote the development of the international situation in a direction favorable to the world’s people and to international peace.

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8 NC 9th NC

Main Propositions

CPC National Congress (NC) 14 NC

16th NC

17th NC

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The questions of peace and development remain the two top priorities on the international agenda today. Faced with the new international situation, CPC, the Chinese government and the Chinese people will continue to develop their relations with foreign countries, to seek a favorable international environment for China’s reform, opening up and modernization and to make their own contributions to world peace and development. Peace and development are the main themes of the present era. The trend toward multipolarity has further developed globally or regionally in the political, economic and other fields. World forces are experiencing a new division and realignment. Peace and development remain the themes of our era. To preserve peace and promote development bears on the well-being of all nations and represents the common aspirations of all peoples. It is an irresistible trend of history. The elements of traditional and non-traditional threats to security are intertwined, and the scourge of terrorism is more acutely felt. The world today is undergoing tremendous changes and adjustments. Peace and development remain the main themes of the present era, and pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become an irresistible trend of the times. China must take both the domestic and international situations into consideration, develop a global and strategic perspective, be good at seizing opportunities for development and coping with risks and challenges in a changing world, and work for a favorable international environment. Sharing opportunities for development and rising to challenges together so as to further the noble cause of peace and development of humanity bear on the fundamental interests of the people of all countries and meet their common aspirations. China maintains that the people of all countries should join hands and strive to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. To this end, on environmental issues, they should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation efforts to take good care of the earth, the only home of human beings.

Source: Authors’ compilation on the basis of the relevant reports at the CPC National Congresses.

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15th NC

Main Propositions

China’s Diplomacy

th

(Continued)

336

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Table 6.1.

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Although it was a continuous process for the CPC to improve its understanding of the themes of the times, it was still the theoretical basis and starting point for China’s diplomacy26,27,28 in the “period of strategic opportunity” to realistically assess the peaceful development environment.29,30 From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, the CPC believed that the theme of the times was to seek peace through national liberation movements and the revolutionary struggle. Even in 1977, the CPC still believed that: “While factors for revolution have continued to grow, factors for war have also increased significantly.” After the end of the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping made new analyses and judgments of the international situation in light of the changed international situation. The third generation of the CPC central collective leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core, firmly believing in the growing trend of world multipolarization and economic globalization, advocated active participation in international exchanges and cooperation and the building of an all-round, multi-level diplomacy structure. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary has held high the banner of peace, development and cooperation and has proposed major strategic ideas, including the path of peaceful development, an opening-up strategy for mutual benefit and win-win results and the building of a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity. China’s all-directional and holistic diplomacy has continuously made new headway.31

26

Yu Hongjun: China’s Diplomacy in Post-Cold War Era: Strategies, Tactics and Achievements, Journal of Beijing Union University, 2003, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 57–62. 27 Wang Fuchun: 16th CPC National Congress and China’s Diplomatic Strategy in the Early 21st Century, International Politics Quarterly, 2003, No. 1, pp. 63–68. 28 Qu Xing: Diplomatic Strategy of Keeping a Low Profile and Playing a Role, Journal of Renmin University of China, 2001, No. 5, pp. 5–12. 29 Ruan Zongze: Safeguarding World Peace and Promoting Common Development — Formation and Rich Connotation of Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Thinking, International Studies, 2004, No. 6, pp. 7–12. 30 Ye Zicheng: Inheritance, Development and Reflection of Deng Xiaoping’s Diplomatic Thinking in the New Situation, World Economics and Politics, 2004, No. 11, pp. 8–14. 31 Yang Jiechi: Diplomacy of New China Continues to Win Victories under the CPC Leadership, Party Building Studies, 2009, No. 10, pp. 2–6.

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In view of the issues in non-traditional areas, Deng Xiaoping significantly upgraded the status of science, technology and economy in diplomacy. He believed that when peace and development became the main themes of the times, both the economy and technology gained an increasingly prominent position in the world competition. Furthermore, he advanced the scientific thesis that “peace and development are the two main themes in today’s world”.32 Deng Xiaoping believed that when peace and development became the themes of the times, the economy and technology acquired an increasingly prominent position in the world competition.33 Building on Deng Xiaoping’s theory, diplomacy in nontraditional areas made enormous progress. In terms of its diplomatic thinking, China gradually moved away from distinguishing friends and foes by ideologies.34 Instead, it considered the national interests as the fundamental core of China’s diplomacy. China started to orient its diplomacy “toward people” and regard the interests of the people as the interests of the state in its diplomacy. Internationally, China tried to find converging points for common interests through diplomacy.35 Faced with the trend of rising status of non-traditional security following the end of the Cold War, Jiang Zemin continued to emphasize the universal security and proposed the security concept based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. In his speech before an assembly gathered to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, Jiang Zemin pointed out that: “The international community needs to set up a new security concept with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration at its core.” In view of challenges caused by non-traditional security issues after the Cold War, Jiang stressed the necessity for the international community to work together to meet the challenges to humans’ survival and development.36 History has 32

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 353. 33 Ibid., p. 279. 34 Cao Yongxin: On the Formation and Development of China’s Peaceful Diplomatic Strategy, Studies on Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theories, 2002, No. 6, pp. 81–90. 35 Evan S. Medeiros and M. Taylor Fravel: China’s New Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, 2003, Vol. 82, No. 6, 25–32. 36 Let Us Create a Better World Together: Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Vol. I, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2006 Edition, p. 481.

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repeatedly proved that global issues require all countries to work out solutions together and global challenges require all countries to take up in cooperation. No single country or force can or has the ability to accomplish this alone. Without the democratic participation of all countries in seeking solutions to global issues, achieving a proper solution would be hard. The CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary held high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping’s theory and the important thought of the “Three Represents” has summed up China’s development practices, drew on foreign experience in development and proposed the major strategic concept of the scientific outlook on development on the basis of the basic national conditions in the primary stage of socialism, in order to meet the new development requirements. The scientific outlook on development stresses the need to put the people’s interests first, establish a concept of comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development and promote an allround development of the economic and social undertakings, as well as that of the people. This outlook has played a major facilitating role in the development of China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas. Hu Jintao delivered a speech at the UN summit marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN on September 15, 2005, entitled Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity, in which he proposed the idea of building a “harmonious world” with lasting peace and common prosperity. The “harmonious world” as proposed by General Secretary Hu Jintao calls for building the international community with a sustainable development in which man can live in harmony with the earth, and for the protection of the natural and ecological environment through international cooperation and through developing and utilizing global resources rationally so that man can coexist with nature in harmony and enjoy sustainable development. General Secretary Hu continued to say that China must “enhance its capacity to respond to climate change and make new contributions to protect the global climate”.37 37

Hu Jintao’s Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, Xinhuanet, October 24, 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-10/24/content_6938568. htm, accessed June 10, 2010.

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There has been a steady increase of the public diplomacy element in China’s diplomatic thinking. Tang Jiaxuan proposed to promote the overall diplomatic work by prioritizing diplomatic efforts in inter-party external exchanges, people-to-people exchanges and economic ties.38 As it developed, China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas focused more on amending and improving the existing global governance regulations in relevant areas and on formulating new ones. Starting from the basic rules, efforts should be made to promote global governance and the building of China’s image through perfecting mechanisms and regulations so as to ultimately achieve the goal of building a rational, fair and harmonious world in the interests of all mankind.

6.1.3. External Driving Force and Importance of Diplomacy in Non-traditional Areas 6.1.3.1. International rules and interdependence — External driving force for China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas Globalization, liberalization and interdependence have become main features of international relations. In an increasingly interdependent world, economic growth and development are influenced by the process of globalization and liberalization. The international community has entered a new and challenging phase in which international cooperation must be facilitated in order to inject vitality into development. To increase the benefits from globalization, liberalization and interdependence, people have increasingly recognized the need to enhance international cooperation to facilitate development. With the development of reform and opening up starting from the late 1970s, there has been an increasingly deeper interdependence between China and the world. The existing international norms and mechanisms have increasingly influenced and pushed China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas. In general, there are three levels of international norms and mechanisms. The norms and mechanisms at the first level refer to the most 38

Tang Jiaxuan: Continuously Improve the Capabilities to Respond to International Situations and Handle International Affairs, Qiushi, 2004, No. 23, pp. 3–6.

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common technical rules to regulate inter-state contacts of a technical nature, such as aviation administration and postal services. Those at the second level are rules of a cultural nature for the social rights of the people, such as human rights, women’s rights and the rights of minority people. Those at the third level are institutions for economic and political activities, or institutional arrangements for inter-state interests, such as the UN, World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund. In general, a large number of international rules and norms in non-traditional areas have been formulated since the 1970s. For many of them, China has been involved in their formulation. Therefore, these rules and mechanisms have in turn facilitated the development of China’s diplomacy in non-traditional areas. For example, the Declaration of the UN Conference on Human Environment called for extensive cooperation among nations and for actions by international organizations to the benefit of common interests: “The conference calls upon all governments and peoples to exert common efforts for the benefit of all the people and for their posterity.” The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development states: “Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.” States shall strengthen international cooperation in the fields of environment and development and work together for the goal of “establishing a new and equitable global partnership”. The UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development made it clear that peace, stability and prosperity are indivisible. In the context of economic globalization at present, all countries are more closely linked with each other than ever before. The global nature of the crisis requires us to take swift, decisive and concerted actions to eliminate its root causes, mitigate its impact and strengthen or establish mechanisms necessary to help prevent similar crises in the future.

6.1.3.2. Strategic significance of diplomacy in non-traditional areas The diplomacy in the non-traditional areas of security is an important part of the state development strategy and provides support for

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building a “harmonious society” internationally. The 17th CPC National Congress injected new connotations to the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by 2020. In this context, the energy and environmental protection diplomacy is directly relevant to sustainable development, the economic development strategy, ecological civilization and the building of a moderately prosperous society, and is an external condition for achieving “a fast and sound development”. A review of the reports of the 14th to 17th CPC National Congresses and other important documents since 1992 tells us that General Secretaries Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have both paid close attention to issues in non-traditional areas. They have advocated a new security concept centering on “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation” and they are fully aware of the new situation in which “traditional security threats are intertwined with nontraditional security threats”. The report to the 17th CPC National Congress called for “overall consideration” and for “taking both the domestic and international situations into consideration”39, and stressed the need to give consideration to both traditional and nontraditional security issues.40 The reform of the system of global governance is closely linked with China’s diplomacy in the non-traditional areas of security. Yang Jiechi remarked: “With global issues such as climate change, energy and resources security, food security, public health and safety becoming more prominent, no country can cope with them alone. More and more countries have realized that the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game are outdated and that mutual help, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation is the only way to survival and development. It has become the general consensus on inter-state relations to cooperate with each other in competition and to seek development through cooperation.”41 39

Hu Jintao’s Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, Xinhuanet, October 24, 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-10/24/content_6938568.htm, accessed June 10, 2010. 40 Zhang Tuosheng: China’s Views on International Security Order, International Politics Quarterly, 2009, No. 4, pp. 8–19. 41 Yang Jiechi: Deepen Understanding and Consensus and Promote Cooperation and Development, Chinese Concept of Development, 2010, No. 10, pp. 54–55.

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In the context of imbalances in the global supply of resources, aggravating financial risks and obvious impact of climate change, to improve the system of global governance has become a focal point in the diplomacy of major powers while multilateral dialogue and negotiations on rules and institutions have always been the top priority, which often result in the establishment of principles, rules and institutions for solving non-traditional security issues. China has gradually shifted its position from that of learning and adapting itself to global governance, and finally, to that of active participation in the rulemaking process, playing a role in it and seeking a guiding role. Former Premier Wen Jiabao indicated: “China is both the participant in and defender of the international system.”42 China has not only actively participated in the existing international system, but has also provided a number of products for global governance and has worked together with other countries to “jointly take care of the earth on which mankind depends its survival in the spirit of helping and cooperating with each other”. For example, from 2005 to 2009, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and other principal Party leaders repeatedly called on the international community to pay more attention to climate protection (Table 6.2), which ultimately resulted in the convocation of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. It is the inevitable choice of China’s diplomacy in the era of interdependence and globalization to seek common ground while preserving differences and to enhance win-win cooperation. To address diplomatic issues in non-traditional areas, it takes greater mutual understanding and cooperation to create a situation of cooperation rather than confrontation, and dialogue rather than blame, as well as seek greater common interests with more understanding. The Chinese government has actively responded to various “China threat” arguments through public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and other forms of diplomacy. It has participated in the efforts to improve global 42

Premier Wen Jiabao’s Remarks at the Press Conference of 4th Session of the 10th National People’s Congress, The Central People’s Government of the PRC, http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/ content/2006/content_268767.htm, accessed June 15, 2010.

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Table 6.2. Important Speeches by Chinese Leaders to Systematically Expound China’s Positions on International Cooperation for Climate Protection. Time July 2005

September 2007 November 2007 July 2008

November 2008

September 2009 December 2009

Occasion The Dialogue Meeting between the Leaders of G8 and Developing Nations The 15th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting The 3rd East Asia Summit

Speaker

Titles

Hu Jintao

Working Together Toward a Common Future Through Win-Win Cooperation

Hu Jintao

Remarks at the 15th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Work Together to Ensure Long-term Sustainable Development Remarks at the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change Strengthen International Technology Cooperation and Address Climate Change Actively

Wen Jiabao

The Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change High-level Conference on Climate Change: Technology Development and Technology Transfer The UN Climate Change Summit

Hu Jintao

The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit

Wen Jiabao

Wen Jiabao

Hu Jintao

Work Together to Address the Challenges of Climate Change Build Consensus and Strengthen Cooperation to Advance the Historical Process of Combating Climate Change

Source: Compiled by the author.

governance and has made the “China threat” theory unpopular by introducing the “China contribution” theory. Proceeding from the common interests of human society and all countries, China has increased communication and exchanges with other countries, sought their understanding and cooperation, and proceeded with win-win

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cooperation. China has tried to eliminate misunderstandings through enhanced communication in public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and other forms of diplomacy, has fulfilled its obligations through its integration into the international system and has contributed to the “China contribution” theory in the collective global actions.

6.2. Energy Diplomacy Possession of abundant natural resources is an important factor for the political and economic development of a country. It not only lays a solid material foundation for the economic development of the country, but also helps to increase its comprehensive national strength, which enables the country to pursue an independent foreign policy and to have extensive influence in international politics. In today’s international politics and economy, energy, as an important natural resource, has an increasingly prominent role and status and hence a more visible impact on the diplomacy of a country that has energy. Energy is the basis of modern economic and social development. With its special status and role, energy is not just an ordinary commodity — it has increasingly acquired political attributes. The two energy crises in the 1970s have brought home to all countries the strategic importance of energy and the great impact not having a stable supply of energy has on the economy. With the end of the Cold War, the military position in national security has declined relatively, but the status of economic security and energy security has steadily risen, instead of declining. In the international vicissitude, any issue involving energy becomes more sensitive and any struggle around energy becomes more intense. The 15th and 16th CPC National Congress both proposed that the gross national product should double that of 2000 in the first decade of the 21st century and it should quadruple that of 2000 by 2020. The goal of “doubling the gross domestic product (GDP) of 2000” had been achieved in 2006 earlier than planned, thanks to sustained rapid economic growth after the 16th CPC National Congress. The report of the 17th CPC National Congress replaced the “total GDP” with “per capita GDP” in defining the goal of “quadrupling the GDP of 2000”. It read: “We will quadruple the per capita GDP of the year 2000 by 2020

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through optimizing the economic structure and improving economic returns while reducing consumption of resources and protecting the environment.”43 This newly defined goal has set a higher requirement for economic and social development and for building a moderately prosperous society. Optimizing structure, improving efficiency, reducing consumption and protecting the environment are all closely related to international cooperation in energy and energy diplomacy.44 Energy diplomacy impacts the external environment which is essential to the goal of quadrupling per capita GDP. China has conducted energy diplomacy and energy cooperation mainly in four areas. First, geopolitically, energy diplomacy and cooperation may help ensure security and stability of the oil-producing and oil-transporting regions. Second, they may help guide oil prices and ensure orderly functioning of the international energy market. Third, they may help increase technological cooperation in oil exploration technology, energy conservation, increased energy efficiency and energy-related environmental protection and control. Fourth, they may help with active participation in and close integration into the energy mechanisms.

6.2.1. China Facing Internal and External Energy Pressure The energy consumption in China has mainly come from coal. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, especially since the 1990s, China’s energy structure has generally been optimized (see Table 6.3). However, China is still facing serious problems in energy and energy efficiency (Table 6.4). China’s energy efficiency is only one third that of the US, one fifth that of Europe and one ninth that of Japan. At the same time, its energy security has continued to worsen with continuingly greater dependency on external energy supplies. Its dependency on external energy sources will reach 75 percent for oil in 2030, nearly 40 percent for natural gas and close to 10 percent for coal.

43

Hu Jintao’s Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, Xinhuanet, October 24, 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-10/24/content_6938568.htm, accessed June 10, 2010. 44 Thomas Friedman: The Post-post Cold War, New York Times, May 11, 2006.

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Table 6.3. Consumption Structure of Primary Energy Sources as a Percentage of Total Energy Consumption (%) in China. Year

Coal

Petroleum

Natural Gas

Hydropower, Nuclear Power, Wind Power

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

72.2 75.8 76.2 74.6 67.8 66.7 66.3 68.4 68.0 69.1 69.4

20.7 17.1 16.6 17.5 23.2 22.9 23.4 22.2 22.3 21.0 20.4

3.1 2.2 2.1 1.8 2.4 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.8 3.0

4.0 4.9 5.1 6.1 6.7 7.9 7.7 6.8 7.1 7.1 7.2

Source: Jiang Zemin: Reflections on China’s Energy Problems, Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2008, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 345–359.

Table 6.4. Report on International Comparison of Energy Efficiency Indicators (IEA).

Country

GDP/ (million, USD)

Consumption of Primary Energy (million tons)

Energy Consumption Per Unit GDP (tons/10,000 dollars)

China India Indonesia Russia Japan US Germany World

2,668,071 906,268 364,459 986,940 4,340,133 13,201,819 2,906,681 48,244,879

1,697.8 423.2 114.3 704.9 520.3 2,326.4 328.5 10,878.5

6.36 4.67 3.14 7.14 1.20 1.76 1.13 2.25

Per Unit GDP Energy Consumption Comparison (China/ Other countries) 1.00 1.36 2.03 0.89 5.31 3.61 5.63 2.82

Source: IEA Data, http://data.iea.org/ieastore/statslisting.Asp.2009–4–1, accessed December 2009.

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Being the world’s second largest energy consumer, China is confronted with energy threat theories, such as “China pushing up world oil prices” and “China playing a revolutionary role in the world energy system”.45 All this has brought huge pressure on China. In the coming 20 years, China will face not only the competitive pressure from the growing energy demand of developed countries, but also huge energy demand for external energy sources by India and other emerging economies. The existing international energy monopolies have made it very difficult for China to get energy resources from other countries. The uneven distribution of energy resources, the monopoly of energy resources and energy supply by Western developed countries and the complex geopolitical factors have landed China in an extremely severe situation in terms of obtaining energy from other countries. The energy market mechanism that has been established with developed countries playing a leading role has led to greater uncertainties in the future international energy market. China will pay a higher cost for energy and development.46 At the same time, however, China will continue to have a high demand for energy, given its continued rapid economic growth. It has been and will continue to be a “strategic buyer” on the international energy market. As such, no international energy entity can afford not to pay serious attention to China’s growing influence. Therefore, there is still room for China to significantly expand its energy diplomacy.47

6.2.2. China’s Energy-related Foreign Policy The Chinese Government has always regarded the issue of energy security as of strategic importance, made efforts to fulfill all international commitments, actively participated in the building of the future international energy security system and played a significant role in 45

Peter Cornelius and Jonathan Story: Energy: China Revolutionizes Energy Markets, Far Eastern Economic Review, 2005, Vol. 168, No. 9, pp. 9–18. 46 Four Major Risks Facing China’s Energy Security in the Next 20 Years, Xinhua News Agency, November 8, 2010. 47 Wang Haiyun: Seize the New Opportunities of International Energy Cooperation, China National Petroleum Industry Bulletin, 2009, No. 12, p. 19.

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safeguarding global energy security and in establishing a new global energy order. Then President Hu Jintao told the G8 Summit in 2005 that the basic elements in China’s energy strategy included giving top priority to energy saving and conservation, basing itself on domestic and diversified energy sources, protecting the environment, enhancing mutually beneficial international cooperation and striving to build a stable, economical and clean energy supply system. In terms of the international energy security strategy, he offered three specific suggestions. First, enhance cooperation for mutual benefit in energy development and utilization. Second, put in place a system for research and development (R&D) and the extension of advanced energy technologies. Third, maintain a sound political climate favorable to energy security and stability.48 With regard to the first suggestion, the Chinese government has actively advocated the development of a new concept of energy security. Hu Jintao proposed to develop and implement a new energy security concept that calls for mutually beneficial cooperation, diversified forms of development and common energy security through coordination.49 To safeguard global energy security, Hu Jintao proposed to the G8 Summit to develop and implement a new energy security concept that calls for mutually beneficial cooperation, diversified forms of development and common energy security through coordination. This new energy security concept contains profound connotations.50 First, the new concept calls for enhancing cooperation for mutual benefit in energy development and utilization. According to this new concept, it is important to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between energy exporters, transporters and consumers, as well as between major energy consumers in all aspects from energy exploitation to its utilization, so as to ensure global energy security, mutual benefits and a win-win situation for all. With regard to the second suggestion, the new concept calls 48

Hu Jintao’s Written Statement for the G8 Meeting, People’s Daily, July 26, 2006, http://www.state.gov/s/d/rem/53682.htm, accessed May 27, 2011. 49 Ibid. 50 Hu Jintao Delivered an Important Speech for the G8 Meeting, Xinhuanet, July 18, 2006, http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2006-07/18/content_4847524.htm, accessed April 23, 2010.

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on the international community to strengthen the R&D of energy-saving technologies and their dissemination. The international community should promote and support all countries in their efforts to enhance energy efficiency and to conserve energy, promote international cooperation in renewable energy and nuclear power and build a future global energy supply system that provides clean, safe, economical and reliable energies. With regard to the third suggestion, the new energy security concept requires all countries to join hands to safeguard stability of energy-producing countries and regions, the Middle East in particular, so as to ensure security in international energy shipping routes and prevent geopolitical conflicts from disrupting energy supply. It is important to abandon the old traditional pragmatic mentality of looking at energy issues and of focusing on how to share the existing energy market and maintain vested interests. Instead, we should adopt a new energy security concept. Energy issues should not be politicized, less so should countries willfully resort to force in tackling energy issues. All countries should try to resolve differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation and should strengthen cooperation and join hands to effectively safeguard the security of the energy-producing places and energy shipping routes.51 China has emphasized global energy cooperation. The 2007 White Paper on China’s Energy Conditions and Policies pointed out that energy security is a global issue. Every country has the right to rationally utilize energy resources for its own development, and the overwhelming majority of countries could not enjoy energy security without international cooperation. To realize a steady and orderly development of the world economy, it is necessary to promote economic globalization to develop in a direction featuring balance, universal benefits and a winwin situation. First, China seeks to ensure a stable supply of energy through long-term energy supply agreements with energy-producing countries. China has conducted diversified energy diplomacy and enhanced energy cooperation with oil-exporting countries in Africa and 51

Information Office of the State Council: China’s Energy Conditions and Policies, The Central People’s Government of the PRC, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/ 2007-12/26/content_844159.htm, accessed April 23, 2011.

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Latin America as well as with Russia. Second, China has also conducted various forms of energy dialogue with energy-consuming countries with a view to establish mutual trust in the long-term.

6.2.3. Main Areas of Energy Diplomacy In recent years, the main emerging developing countries (countries that are at the industrialization stage), with China as their representative, have seen a rapid economic growth and have hence markedly increased their energy demand, which has attracted the extensive attention of developed economies. While the deteriorating climate change has prompted a shift in the development of the global economy to a low-carbon, green economy, traditional energy sources and new energy technologies have received close attention from major economies in the world. The fluctuations of oil prices at the high level have forced oil-supplying countries and oil-consuming countries to sit down and discuss how to stabilize the global energy market and create a favorable market environment for development.52

6.2.3.1. Maintain coordination and cooperation of the world’s primary energy consumer countries Currently, with the global economy on the rise, all the main powers are in need of a stable and reliable energy supply. This is the biggest converging point of interest for various countries on energy issues. It is possible to stabilize the international energy market, should China and the main forces in the world coordinate their energy policies within a multilateral framework and cooperate with other countries in energy dealings. China and the US are both the largest energy consuming countries in the world and have had long-term cooperation with each other in the field of energy consumption with marked progress in energy cooperation since the Obama administration (Table 6.5).

52

Yang Yufeng, Han Wenke, Miao Ren and An Qi: The New Trend in the Current International Energy Economy, Macroeconomics, 2010, No. 7, pp. 9–13.

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Table 6.5. Main Official Documents between China and the US on Energy Cooperation. Documents

Signature Level

The Protocol of Sino–US Cooperation in the Field of Fossil Energy Research and Development and Utilization (1985) The Protocol for Sino–US Cooperation in the Fields of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technology Development and Utilization (1995) The Statement of Intent on Cleaner Air and Cleaner Energy Technology Cooperation between the State Development Planning Commission of China and the US Department of Environment (1999) The Joint Statement on Cooperation in Environment and Development between the US and China (2000) The Green Olympic Protocol for Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games (2004) The Ten-Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework between China and the US (2008) The Memorandum of Understanding to Enhance Cooperation on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment (2009) China–US Joint Statement in 1997 and 2010

Ministerial Level Ministerial Level

Ministerial Level

Ministerial Level Ministerial Level Vice Premier Vice Premier

Head of State

Source: Compiled by the authors.

China and the US signed Framework Agreements on EcoPartnerships and identified seven pairs of ecological partners as the first group. “Cooperation in energy efficiency” has been identified as the sixth goal of the Framework Agreement. During a visit to the US by China’s then President Hu Jintao as the head of a Chinese delegation in 2011, the Sino–US energy cooperation was one of the highlights and the brightest spot. Companies of the two countries signed several cooperation agreements. The China–US Joint Statement also stressed the importance of cooperation in energy and environment and technological R&D. In face of the growing trend of energy consumption in the Asia–Pacific, the APEC Energy Working Group is playing a positive role within the framework of APEC. China, the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and India, among others, have also

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put in place the Asia–Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate Program. The US Department of Energy and the Development and Reform Commission of China have instituted a dialogue mechanism between them. All these have provided effective mechanisms for international cooperation on energy efficiency.53 The Asia–Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate provides a framework that is different from the Kyoto Protocol. The new partnership program aims to establish a voluntary, non-legally binding framework for international cooperation, through which to promote the development of partner countries and the transfer of high-efficiency and cleaner technologies. In terms of its cooperation with Europe, China has actively involved itself in the cooperation of the international Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) since 2005 and has become the country with the largest number of CDM projects in the world. China and Europe launched the Clean Energy Center on 30 January 2009, which has helped China to develop a more sustainable, environment-friendly and efficient energy industry and has provided China with a better access to policies, legal frameworks, technologies, experience and best practices in the world, especially in Europe, so as to increase the use of clean energy.

6.2.3.2. Oil-producing countries The volatile political environment and destabilizing factors in major oil-producing regions have not only threatened China’s oil supply, but have also challenged its diplomatic and security strategies. President Hu Jintao pointed out that to “maintain a sound political climate favorable to energy security and stability”, all countries should “join hands to safeguard the stability of energy-producing countries and regions, the Middle East in particular”.54 China is also 53

Robert Zoellick, US Deputy Secretary of State, made a special mention of cooperation in clean energy in his speech “Whither China: From Membership to Responsibility?” at the National Committee on US–China Relations, September 21, 2005. 54 Hu Jintao’s Written Statement for the G8 Meeting, People’s Daily, July 26, 2006, http://www.state.gov/s/d/rem/53682.htm, accessed May 27, 2011.

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trying to ensure that there is always enough oil in the international market so that major oil-consuming countries will get an adequate supply of oil. Therefore, China, US, Europe, Japan and other countries should conduct international energy cooperations to maintain a stable supply of oil. 1. The Gulf region More than half of all crude oil imported by China is from the Middle East. In recent years, China has had fruitful cooperation with Gulf countries in energy and in other areas and has started the energy dialogue mechanism with them. Negotiations for a free trade agreement are underway. China has successively attained big energy projects in Saudi Arabia and Iran. There is a good prospect for energy cooperation between China and the Gulf region.55 Thanks to Saudi Arabia’s strong support, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and China have entered into official exchange relations. The first China–OPEC Energy Roundtable was held in April 2006. 2. Africa China has carried out energy cooperation with Africa in the principle of equality, mutual benefit and win-win results. To import oil from African countries and increase investment in the local oil industry in Africa will not only meet China’s rapidly growing energy needs, but also facilitate Africa’s independent development. First, China–Africa energy cooperation is a win-win cooperation for all parties involved. There are rich petroleum resources in the poor African continent. The influx of Chinese money and technology into Africa will inevitably facilitate the exploitation and development of oil fields in African countries and their economic development. At the same time, China will have a stable supply of crude oil. Africa is now the largest source for China’s overseas import quota for crude oil. Second, Chinese enterprises have set up, in Africa, an integrated oil industry system from downstream to upper-stream, including exploration and development of crude oil, oil pipelines, oil refining and the petrochemical industry. They have trained local technicians and stimulated the 55

Shui Mo: Golf: Source of China’s Future Energy Supply, Arab World, 2005, No. 1, pp. 28–29.

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development of the local tourism industry. This has not only avoided the repeat of past experience in which some European countries and the US once engaged in predatory exploitation of Africa and has prevented African countries from over-reliance on energy resources, but has also helped African countries to upgrade their industries and increase their economic vitality. Third, the main form of energy cooperation between China and Africa is the “equity for oil source” program, by which China helps African countries to improve their agriculture, power and communications industries, amongst others, in exchange for the right to oil exploration and development. The direct oil trade between the African suppliers and the Chinese buyers may prevent speculation by European and American financial speculators and help diversify the oil investment in Africa.56 3. Central Asia China has continued to strengthen energy cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). China and India, a SCO observer state, have gradually become the largest oil-consuming countries within the SCO, while Iran, Russia and Central Asian countries are the most important OPEC members. The 11 participating countries at the SCO conference should discuss how to improve the efficiency of cooperation and to put in place some kind of regional energy mechanism (or regional consultations and arrangements for consumption, production and transportation, etc.), which will have an important impact on the future international energy system. To enhance energy cooperation within the framework of the SCO is not only conducive to materializing China’s energy diversification strategy, it may also facilitate Sino–Russian energy cooperation. Once the Sino–Kazakh oil pipeline project is completed, Central Asian countries will increase their oil exports to China. Russia will also inject oil to this pipeline so as to make up for the inadequate rail capacity to ship its energy exports to China. Work is being done to extend this pipeline to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries. The Sino– Kazakh oil pipeline will also be linked with the Russia–Iran oil 56

Yu Hongyuan: Seeking China–African Energy Win-win Cooperation, 21st Century Business Herald, November 6, 2006.

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pipelines. By then, there will be an oil shipping network conducive to multilateral energy cooperation within the framework of the SCO. In addition, the gas pipelines from Turkmenistan to China under the plan will run through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which may make it easy to link with the natural gas pipelines between China and Central Asian countries and between China and Russia. Central Asian states, rich in oil and gas resources, are close neighbors of China. Their importance in the world energy politics is reflected not only in being the new sources of energy supply in the world, but also in their important role in the regional energy linkage.57 The Iranian President suggested at the SCO summit held in Shanghai that it was necessary to convene an Energy Ministers’ Meeting of Central Asian countries, China and Russia, to strengthen energy cooperation. In addition, China has also engaged in energy cooperation with Latin America in a series of energy projects.58 A diversified oil and gas trading strategy should incorporate both aspects of “going abroad” and “inviting in”.59 In this regard, we should redouble our efforts in energy diplomacy, handling energy diplomacy as a vital part of China’s overall diplomacy and regard the vigorous promotion of oil and gas cooperation between China and countries rich in oil and gas resources as an important part of its diplomatic work. China will strengthen cooperation and coordination with large oil-consuming and oil-exporting countries in the world. It will import oil and gas through mutually complementary arrangements, which is the only way to achieve long-term mutual benefits. It must have a bigger economic and trade picture in mind when conducting cooperation with countries rich in oil and gas resources, rationally take advantage of the weight of China’s market and enhance the bargaining position of Chinese oil companies in their cooperation with foreign companies in the field of oil and gas resources. 57

Luo Xiaoyun: Trial Analysis of Opportunities and Challenges of Energy Cooperation between China and Central Asia, Southeast Asia Coverage, 2003, No. 6, pp. 61–62. 58 China and Venezuela Set Up $6 Billion Energy Fund, Asian Finance, March 27, 2007. 59 Choice of Oil and Gas Strategy from a Globalization Perspective, China’s Oil and Gas Industry Bulletin, 2009, No. 6, pp. 9–10. See Section 6.6.3.2 in this chapter for more details on the strategies of “going abroad” and “inviting in”.

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6.2.3.3. Safeguard energy shipping routes More than 85% of the petroleum imported to China is shipped through the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea route, which is most vulnerable and could easily be blocked and controlled. Most of the oil trade in the world is transported by sea. To ensure safety and freedom in sea navigation, particularly security and safety in the key international waterways, China has conducted cooperation with various countries in countering maritime terrorism and sea piracy.

6.2.3.4. Strengthen relations with the International Energy Agency With regard to cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA), China is not an official member of IEA, though it represents the interests of energy consumers around the world. IEA is positively considering incorporating China, India, Brazil and other emerging energy-consuming nations into it as a dialogue partner or even as a full member. In face of the growing trend of energy consumption in the Asia–Pacific, the APEC Energy Working Group is playing a positive role within the APEC framework. China, US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and India have all entered the Asia–Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

6.2.4. Main Contribution of Energy Diplomacy Thanks to China’s oil diplomacy in the Middle East region, the Middle East has become China’s largest oil supplier with steadily increasing oil imports from the region into China. China’s energy diplomacy has achieved remarkable results in Africa in a short space of several years, with Africa becoming China’s fourth largest oil import source. China’s energy diplomacy has been fruitful in Russia and Central Asian countries, though it started later than in the Middle East. China’s oil import from them has been steadily growing. China has engaged in cooperation with a number of energy-exporting countries through political, diplomatic, economic and other channels and has diversified its energy import sources. Its energy diplomatic efforts have ensured

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stable oil imports for China and hence its oil security. The changes and drastic fluctuations in the world energy politics and energy economy have not stopped China’s economic growth. Instead, it has kept a growth rate of above 7%. China has maintained an incremental development trend and is moving toward the strategic goal of becoming a moderately developed country. All this could not have been achieved without an abundant oil supply or without effective energy diplomacy. Energy diplomacy has contributed to the growth and expansion of petrochemical companies in China. Powerful petrochemical companies are an inherent requirement for greater energy security for China. Energy diplomacy may help China’s oil companies to conduct international operations, increase their capital gains and enhance their international competitiveness. The Chinese government has encouraged domestic oil companies to vigorously develop themselves. At the same time, China has actively engaged in energy diplomacy to create a favorable political environment for the international operations of Chinese oil companies. As a result, three major petrochemical companies in China have grown in strength.

6.3. Environmental Diplomacy Since the 20th century, mankind has created unprecedentedly abundant material wealth on the one hand, and has caused a rapid population growth, waste of resources, environmental pollution, ecological damage and a series of resources and environmental problems, posing a serious threat to the survival and development of the world’s countries on the other.60 The UN Security Council included the environmental issues into its agenda and held an open debate on the relations between energy and climate change for the first time on 17 April 2007, which showed that environmental issues had been politicized at a level not seen before. The Chinese party and state leaders have attached great importance to environmental issues. Hu Jintao said: 60

Yu Hongyuan: Environmental Change and Power Transfer: Systems, Competition and Response, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2011 Edition, pp. 73–78.

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“To properly address climate change bears on the overall interests of China’s economic and social development, the immediate interests of the people and the fundamental interests of the state.” Wen Jiabao stated that China would make sure that its development would not impact the world through its efforts in saving resources and energy and protecting the environment.61 China, a developing country, represents the positions and interests of the vast majority of developing countries. It has relied on the “77 + 1” group, actively carried out environmental diplomacy and constructively participated in international environmental cooperations. Since its participation in the UN Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972, China has made significant progress in its environmental diplomacy. As a developing country, China is fully aware of its responsibility and role in promoting a healthy growth of the world economy and protecting the global ecological environment. The main purpose of its environmental diplomacy is to safeguard national interests, seek international assistance and promote the cause of environmental protection at home. Proceeding from this purpose, China has paid close attention to addressing the environmental problems that have occurred in the process of economic and social development on the one hand and has also attached great importance to and has actively participated in international cooperation in the areas of environment and development. China has vigorously conducted environmental diplomacy multilaterally and bilaterally and its environmental diplomacy has become a prominent part of the world’s environmental diplomacy.

6.3.1. Development and Evolution of China’s Environmental Diplomacy With the growth and development of China’s environmental protection cause, international cooperation in the environment has become an important part of China’s environmental protection cause. A pattern of 61

Wen Jiabao Expounding China’s Peaceful Development Road from Ten Aspects, Xinhua News Agency (Chinese News), March 14, 2006.

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comprehensive, multi-layered and wide-ranging international cooperation in environmental protection has since emerged in China. As China is a developing country and a big country rich in environmental resources, the Chinese Government has always attached great importance to environmental diplomacy. Many state leaders have made environmental protection an important item in the agenda of their overseas visits.62 Former Premier Zhou Enlai attached great importance to the first UN Conference on the Human Environment and sent a delegation to the conference held in Stockholm, Sweden. The Chinese delegation played an active role in the conference, whose purpose was to reach consensus and develop agreed principles to give people of all countries an inspiration and guidance for the conservation and improvement of the human environment. While taking a series of measures to address its own environmental problems, China has actively participated, in a pragmatic way, in international cooperation in the field of environmental protection and has made unremitting efforts for global environmental protection as a common cause. In order to further enhance international cooperation in the field of environment and development, China established the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development in April 1992.63 Then President Hu Jintao, then Premier Wen Jiabao and other state leaders participated in international exchanges and cooperation activities for the environment eight times in 2007. Hu Jintao put forward four principles for the efforts to address climate change at the APEC summit in 2007. They were: a coordinated response through cooperation; sustainable development; a dominant role given to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; and technological innovation. At the sixth collective study meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in June 2008, Hu Jintao stressed that: “We must unswervingly take the road of sustainable 62

They mainly include the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Vienna Convention/Montreal Protocol, the Basel Convention/Liability and Compensation Protocol and the Oceans Global Plan of Action. 63 Information Office of the State Council of the PRC: Environmental Protection in China, The Central People’s Government of the PRC, http://www.gov.cn/ zwgk/2005-05/25/content_970.htm, accessed May 20, 2010.

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development and build up our capacity to respond to the climate change.” He went on to say: “To properly address climate change bears on the overall interests of China’s economic and social development, the immediate interests of the people and the fundamental interests of the state.”64 At the 2009 UN Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, then Premier Wen Jiabao worked with all parties concerned in an attempt to reach consensus, enhance cooperation and jointly advance the historical process of addressing climate change. He also used his good offices to reconcile the differences between developing countries and developed countries and contributed to the ultimate signing of the Copenhagen Agreement.65 The Chinese government has actively participated in negotiations on various international conventions and made efforts to join the multilateral conventions on the environment so as to promote China’s national interests. This is of significance to China. Proceeding from the purpose of safeguarding national environmental rights and interests, fulfilling international obligations and promoting international environmental cooperation, China has signed more than 50 multilateral environment-related agreements of 14 categories, including the hazardous waste control; the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals; the safe use of chemicals and environmental management; ozone layer protection; climate change; biodiversity conservation; wetland protection; desertification control; the international trade of species; the marine environment and resources protection; the prevention of nuclear pollution, the Antarctic protection; protection of natural and cultural heritage; and protection of international environmental rights.66 During the 64

Hu Jintao Presiding over the Sixth Collective Learning Session of Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee on 27 June, 28 June, 2008, The Central People’s Government of the PRC, http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2008-06/28/content_1030165.htm, accessed July 13, 2009. 65 Zhao Cheng, Tian Fan and Wei Dongze: Green Mountains Cannot Block Sunlight and Rivers Flow Eastward — A documentary of Premier Wen Jiabao’s attendance of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, People’s Daily, December 24, 2009. 66 The list of International Environmental Conventions that China has signed can be found on http://www.jshb.gov.cn, accessed May 23, 2013.

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negotiations for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, China played an important role in the establishment of the financing mechanism. With China’s initiative, the Multilateral Fund was eventually established. While actively accessing multilateral conventions, China has also actively participated in regional multilateral diplomacy and cooperation activities for the environment, such as the APEC Center for Environmental Protection, Environmental Cooperation in Northeast Asia, the East Asian Seas Action Plan (COBESA) and Northwest Pacific Action Plan. China has had close ties with the UN Environment Programme, Global Environment Facility, the Multilateral Fund and many other multilateral institutions for environmental protection.67 China has always tried to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with vast developing countries, especially in the course of negotiations over conventions and their related issues. At the Developing Countries’ Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Beijing in 1991, the majority of developing countries and China formed a common position on environmental protection and adopted the Beijing Declaration. In the previous multilateral and bilateral diplomatic negotiations concerning the environment, especially at the Rio Conference on Environment and Development and at the Summit on Sustainable Development, China stuck to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and stressed that developed countries should fulfill more obligations than developing countries in environmental protection and should take the lead in taking action to protect the global environment. China has increased and facilitated cooperation with neighboring countries and relevant regions and has been actively involved in the establishment of regional cooperation mechanisms. The China, Japan and Korea Tripartite Environmental Ministers Meeting (TEMM) has been established for exchanges on policies and discussions of

67

During the trial run of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), China secured six projects from the GEF for a total funding of $54.61 million from the GEF, the biggest share among all recipient countries. Since it became fully operational, China has obtained eight projects with GEF funding totaling $126.42 million.

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environmental issues of common concern on a regular basis. The China–EU Ministerial Dialogue on Environmental Policy and Cooperation mechanism and the China–EU Environmental Co-coordinators Meeting mechanism has also been put in place. The first China–Arab Conference on Environment Cooperation has been held. China has also actively engaged itself in bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection and has signed bilateral agreements or memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on environmental protection and cooperation with 42 countries, including the US, Japan, Canada and Russia, and has made continuous efforts for China–Africa cooperation in environmental protection.68 Table 6.6 shows how the Chinese government has actively participated in the building of international mechanisms for environmental protection and has maintained the interests of developing countries.

6.3.2. Principles for Developing China’s Environmental Diplomacy Some well-known Western scholars hold the view that China began to noticeably step into the international environmental political arena in the 1980s. China has been widely involved in various environmental mechanisms and has hosted many international conferences on environment. China has had close ties with all important international environmental NGOs.69 An American scholar has summed up three principles in China’s environmental diplomacy: First, environment and development are inseparable. Second, developed countries should first bear the historical responsibility for global environmental disasters and should 68

Information Office of the State Council of the PRC: Environmental Protection in China (1996–2005), June 2006, The Central People’s Government of the PRC, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005-06/02/content_3618.htm, accessed May 20, 2010. 69 Alastair Iain Johnson: China and International Environmental Institutions: A Decision Rule Analysis. In Michael B. McElroy, Chris P. Nielsen and Peter Lydon (ed.), Energizing China, Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Committee on Environment, 1998 Edition, p. 555.

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Table 6.6. Chinese Participation in the Formulation of International Environmental Standards. International Documents

Time

Focal Points

Report of the UN Conference on the Human Environment

1972

Report of the UN Conference on Environment and Development

1992

UN Millennium Declaration

2000

Declaration of the UN Conference on the Human Environment is the main result of the conference, which listed 7-point consensus and 26 principles reached by participating countries and international organizations to inspire and guide the efforts to protect and improve the human environment. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development adopted by the Conference, also known as the Earth Charter, contains 27 broad legally non-binding principles to guide environmental policies. The principles include: “States have the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other states; environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process; and the needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority.” In the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, 189 member states adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, in which they committed to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals before 2015. The declaration contains eight chapters, including: 1.Values and principles; 2. Peace, security and disarmament; 3. Development and poverty eradication; 4. Protecting our common environment; 5. Human rights, democracy and good governance; 6. Protecting the vulnerable; 7. Meeting the special needs of Africa; 8. Strengthening the UN. (Continued)

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(Continued)

Time

Focal Points

2002

The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development is a political declaration by the governments of participating countries. The declaration contains specific targets and a timetable for priorities of global sustainable development. It reviews and sums up efforts made by the international community in environment and development after the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference on Environment and Development, identifies major challenges facing the international community, reiterates the commitment to sustainable development, clearly mentions multilateralism as the path forward for the human society and calls on all states to take effective action and strive to achieve the goal of sustainable development. The declaration states: “Recognizing that it is a grave challenge as well as pressing task for humanity to achieve sustainable development, ASEM partners are willing to strengthen cooperation in a mutually beneficial manner and work toward a win-win solution so as to make positive contributions to sustainable development. All nations should, whilst pursuing economic development, strive to maintain environment quality and take full account of the needs of future generations. Economic development, social progress and environmental protection are three mutually reinforcing and interdependent pillars of sustainable development.”

Beijing Declaration 2008 on Sustainable Development

Source: Compiled by the author.

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provide technical and financial assistance to developing countries in environmental protection. Third, the principle of state sovereignty should be respected in the international environmental protection.70

6.3.2.1. Economic development and environmental protection are inseparable Environmental protection and economic development are an organic whole. The purpose of protecting the environment is to promote a sustained economic development. The economic development itself builds up capacity for environmental protection. Economic and social development must be based on the sustainable use of natural resources and the maintenance of a good ecological environment. The global climate can only be protected through social and economic development. We should neither stress the protection of the climate and improvement of the environment to the neglect of development, nor blindly pursue development in disregard of the sustainability of the ecological environment. The vast number of developing countries, in particular, can only seek ways and methods to protect the global climate and solve environmental problems in light of their national conditions and as part of the development process, provided that they have achieved moderate economic growth. Global environmental problems are closely related to the longstanding irrational and unjust international economic order. Therefore, it is advisable to talk about both international environmental cooperation and international economic cooperation; it is important to establish a fair international economic order conducive to sustainable development. At present, there are conspicuous gaps between developing and developed countries in terms of the level of economic development and their per capita energy consumption. All countries have a shared desire and demand for development. Furthermore, international actions should be taken to protect the global climate, provided that they would not prejudice the moderate economic growth, reasonable per capita energy consumption or economic development of developing countries. 70

Elizabeth Economy: China’s Environmental Diplomacy. In Samuel Kim (ed.), China and the World: Chinese Foreign Policy Faces the New Millennium, Boulder: Westview Press, 1998 (4th Edition), pp. 271–272.

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China believes that while exploiting energy and developing new energy technologies, efforts should be made to reduce greenhouse emissions and prevent climate change. These two aspects should be considered in a holistic manner. By doing so, it would benefit both economic development and environmental protection. Then Premier Li Peng attended the UN’s Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 and offered five proposals with respect to the world’s environmental and development issues: there should be a balanced and coordinated development of the economy and environmental protection; mankind should take up the common task of protecting the environment; the international community should conduct environmental cooperation without prejudicing the state sovereignty of any country; environmental protection and development would be impossible without world peace and stability; and considerations should be given to the real practical interests of the individual countries and the long-term interests of the world while handling environmental issues. Former President Hu Jintao announced at the UN Summit on Climate Change in September 2009 that China would further incorporate its response to climate change into its economic and social development plan and continue to take forceful measures in this regard. First, China will intensify efforts to conserve energy and improve energy efficiency, and endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by a notable margin from the 2005 level by 2020. Second, China will vigorously develop renewable energy and nuclear energy. China will endeavor to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumptions to around 15 percent by 2020. Third, China will energetically increase forest carbon sink and endeavor to increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters from the 2005 levels by 2020. Fourth, China will step up effort to develop a green, low-carbon and circular economy, and enhance research, development and dissemination of climate-friendly technologies.71

71

Hu Jintao: Work Together to Address the Challenge of Climate Change — Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the UN Summit on Climate Change, Xinhuanet, September 22, 2009, http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-09/23/content_12098887.htm, accessed April 12, 2010.

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Environmental and ecological civilization is an important manifestation of the coordination between environment and development and a major strategic idea put forward by the 17th CPC National Congress with a vision from the high ground of the history. The report to the 17th CPC National Congress called upon the Party to “promote a conservation culture by forming an energy-efficient, resource-efficient and environment-friendly structure of industries, pattern of growth and mode of consumption”. It also stressed that “awareness of conservation will be firmly established in the whole of society”.72 In fact, from the 12th to the 15th CPC National Congress, the CPC had always stressed the importance of advancing the socialist material civilization and the socialist cultural progress. The report to the 16th CPC National Congress built on the previous reports and put forward the “socialist political civilization”. The report to the 17th CPC National Congress proposed for the first time the “ecological civilization”, which represents a significant sublimation of the scientific outlook on development and the theory of building a harmonious society. How to build an ecological civilization has become a major issue and energy played an important role in the ecological civilization. To achieve an ecological civilization, we must, by and large, have in place the industrial structure, growth models and consumption patterns that are conducive to the conservation of energy resources and protection of ecological environment; we must develop clean energy and renewable energy sources, protect land and water resources, introduce a scientific and rational system for the utilization of energy resources, and improve energy efficiency. Obviously, energy is a vital link in the bigger picture of the ecological civilization. To put in place an industrial structure, growth model and consumption pattern that are conducive to the conservation of energy resources and the protection of the ecological environment, as well as to substantially increase the share of renewable energy are both the goal of the ecological civilization and the means, measures and ways to achieve an ecological civilization. 72

Hu Jintao’s Report at the 17th CPC National Congress, Xinhuanet, October 24, 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-10/24/content_6938568.htm, accessed June 10, 2010.

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6.3.2.2. Safeguarding the interests of developing countries The goal of protecting the global environment cannot be achieved without the participation of developing countries where the vast majority of the world’s population lives. Currently, the vast majority of developing countries are still at the development stage of meeting the basic needs of people and they are under the dual pressures of environmental protection and economic development. However, developing countries, which are vulnerable to climate change, especially island countries, lowland countries, countries with long coastlines, as well as agriculture-based developing countries, suffered the most from the adverse effect of climate change. The global climate change has threatened their very survival. China has therefore tried, through a variety of mechanisms, to ensure that developing countries can fully and effectively participate in international environmental cooperation. China has always attached importance to greater solidarity and closer cooperation with developing countries, especially in the course of negotiations of various conventions and their related issues. In 1991, China and most developing countries reached a common position on environmental protection and adopted the Beijing Declaration at the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development. In the previous multilateral and bilateral diplomatic negotiations over environment, especially in the Rio Conference on Environment and Development and the Summit on Sustainable Development, China had insisted on the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” and proposed that developed countries bear more responsibilities for environmental protection than developing countries and should therefore take the lead in taking actions for the protection of the global environment. China has believed that the right of developing countries to development should be protected. Environmental threats have increasingly become economic, political, security and strategic issues. Developed countries have been profoundly impacted by environmental threats, though there is a trend in which environmental threats are shifting to developing countries. Environmental threats themselves are asymmetrical, but their impact is often global

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and their solutions should also be global. With regard to actors in the system of environmental protection and control, everyone should participate — not only the developed countries in the North, but also the vast number of developing countries, China and India in particular, and even NGOs and individuals. Practice has proved that the globalization of environmental threats has greatly worsened the plight of those countries who have failed in the economic competition. As a result, “failed countries” have failed more miserably. How to help those countries with the most vulnerable ecosystems and the least developed societies using knowledge and technology will be an important task for us in the future.73 Otherwise, the international system will bring irreversible disasters for the environment. China has encouraged developed countries to provide additional financial assistance and the preferential transfer of technology to developing countries, believing that to help developing countries is an investment by developed countries in the common interests of mankind, in their own interests and also a kind of compensation for their past actions that have caused serious pollution and destruction of the environment. The unequal and unjust international economic order has caused sluggish development, shortage of funds and technological backwardness in developing countries for years. This will no doubt impede international cooperation and coordinated action in the protection of the global climate. Therefore, while providing financial assistance and technology transfer to developing countries, efforts should also be made to establish a just economic order, remove any possible adverse impact by the deteriorating external economic conditions, increase the technical and economic strength of developing countries and hence their capabilities to support the protection of the global climate. In addition, the BASIC countries74, the core group of developing countries, have become a main force in the field of environmental pro-

73

Zhou Guomei and Gao Yan: To Respond to the Environmental Challenges Posed by Globalization, We Need to Build a New Environmental Control Model, The Economic Parameters, April 11, 2008. 74 BASIC refers to an abbreviation for Brazil, South Africa, India and China, with the first letter taken from each country respectively.

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tection. After the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali adopted the Bali Road Map, the main developing countries such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa frequently exchanged views and coordinated actions with a view to safeguard the interests of developing countries in the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Representatives from China, India, Brazil and South Africa, the four most important developing countries, met in Beijing, China from 26 to 27 November 2009 on the eve of the Copenhagen Conference to discuss and coordinate the basic positions to take at the Copenhagen Conference. At the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, BASIC Countries united as one and collectively voiced their views on major issues such as the “single track” or “dual-track”, and “Danish text” or “Copenhagen Agreement”, through which they jointly advanced the Copenhagen Conference in the correct direction and exerted strong influence. Razin de Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said on 23 December, 2009 that the BASIC countries became an important force in the Copenhagen Conference and that they might lead the way in future climate negotiations.

6.3.2.3. Insisting on environmental negotiations within the framework of the UN China’s environmental diplomacy has effectively upheld the authority of the UN and the UN Framework (Convention on Climate Change). In the process of UN negotiations over climate change, the Chinese draft paper on the Convention on Climate Change was first taken by the Group of 77 as its basic document for coordinating positions and it later became the basis on which the UN Framework was negotiated. Prior to the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 1995, the Chinese delegation proposed to further negotiate quantifiable emission reduction indicators for developed countries and identified specific elements, which later became an important basis for the subsequent negotiations and for the development of the provision of the Kyoto Protocol, i.e. quantifiable emission reduction indicators set only for developed countries. At the Montreal Climate Change Conference in 2005, the motion by the Chinese delegation for negotiations on quantifiable indicators of the second commitment period of the

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Kyoto Protocol was adopted by the conference, which laid an initial foundation for the Bali Road Map. Developed countries have not only committed to the quantifiable mitigation targets in the first phase and will also continue to commit quantifiable mitigation targets on the model of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. The Kyoto Protocol has established an important model: only developed countries need to commit to specific quantifiable mitigation targets while developing countries are under no obligation for quantifiable mitigation targets. What the Protocol does is simply reiterating the principled and general commitments and obligations to address climate change that the convention had committed to. The principles and provisions of the convention and the protocol are very favorable to China and other developing countries. They are an outcome achieved through joint efforts and tough negotiations by China and other developing countries in unity and cooperation. At the Bali Conference in 2007, the Chinese delegation made important contributions to the Bali Road Map. In a broader sense, the Chinese delegation proposed that the purpose of starting the negotiation process of the convention was to enforce the convention and continue to implement the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility”. In a narrow sense, the Chinese delegation proposed that the four wheels of “mitigation, adaptation, technology, and finance” should run in parallel, though independently. The delegation stressed the extreme importance of “technology and finance” in helping developing countries to cope with climate change. All these elements have been reflected in the Bali Action Plan. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, once specifically stressed that China was the key to the success of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. He said that China was already a global power. Global powers should assume global responsibilities. Without China, it would be impossible to achieve successes in the negotiations for a new global climate framework this year. The Chinese government released on 20 May 2009 the Implementation of the Bali Road Map — China’s Position on the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. In this document, the Chinese government put forward four principles: to adhere to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the basic framework of the Kyoto Protocol, strictly abide by the mandate of the Bali Road Map, and commit to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. China

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held that “developed countries shall take responsibility for their historical cumulative emissions and current high per capita emissions” and it called on developed countries as a whole to “reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% below their 1990 level by 2020” and to take appropriate policies, measures and actions to this end.75 All in all, since the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in March 2008, China’s environmental diplomacy has become a highlight. For a long time, China was only generally involved in environmental diplomacy and it has now become an “indispensable” and efficient participant through its environmental diplomacy. As a developing country, China is fully aware of its responsibility and the role it could play in promoting a healthy growth of the world economy and in protecting the global environment. The main starting point of China’s environmental diplomacy is to safeguard national interests, seek international assistance and promote the development of its environmental protection cause. From this end, China has worked hard to address environmental problems that have occurred in the process of its economic and social development on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has also attached great importance to and actively participated in international cooperation activities in the fields of environment and development. It has vigorously carried out multilateral and bilateral environmental diplomacy, which has made China’s environmental diplomacy a prominent force in the world’s environmental diplomacy. Some internationally renowned scholars believe that China has always faithfully fulfilled its obligations under the international environmental agreements that it had joined76 and China has played a very important role in the negotiations on international environmental protection rules.77 75

The Department of Climate Change of National Development and Reform Commission: Implementation of the Bali Roadmap — China’s Position on the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, May 20, 2009. 76 Michael Palmer: Environmental Regulation in the People’s Republic of China: The Face of Domestic Law. In Richard Louis Edmonds (ed.), Managing the Chinese Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 83. 77 Lester Ross: China: Environmental Protection, Domestic Policy Trends, Patterns of Participation in Regimes and Compliance with International Norms. In Richard Louis Edmonds (ed.), Managing the Chinese Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 89.

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6.4. Counter-terrorism Diplomacy International terrorism refers to the systematic use of violence in the international community in order to achieve a political purpose. But terrorism has been defined in many different ways. There are more than 100 definitions of terrorism with a certain influence.78 The most commonly described terrorism features include violence or use of force; imposing fear or terror on the international community; and achieving a goal by use of violence or fear.79 Since the 9/11 incident in 2001, global terrorism has become a common challenge for humanity and has increasingly become an important factor affecting regional and world peace, stability and development. Terrorism has not only threatened a country’s economy, culture, its people’s lives and property, but also its political stability. With the growth of globalization, the world has become smaller and smaller. The scientific and technological innovations, global economic integration and frequent exchanges of goods and people are a double-edged sword, bringing both benefits and harms. Terrorists have tried not only to become the center of the mass media coverage (television, newspapers, internet, etc.), but also to proliferate weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological weapons, etc.).80 In 2004, Hu Jintao stated on a number of international occasions that terrorism still posed a serious threat to world peace and development and that to succeed in counter-terrorism, it was imperative to strengthen international cooperation and unite all countries in a joint effort to fight terrorism. He pointed out that terrorism should not be equated with a specific nation or religion and that it was necessary to adopt a holistic approach in order to resolve regional conflicts, eliminate poverty, solve other issues and hence remove the root causes of terrorism.81 The 78

Yang Jiemian et al.: International Cooperation in Counter-Terrorism: Thinking Beyond Geopolitics, Beijing: Shishi Press, 2003 Edition, p. 16. 79 Robert G. Picard: Media Portrayals of Terrorism, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1993, p. 11. 80 Hu Jintao: No Double Standards in Combating Terrorism, Wen Wei Po (Hong Kong), June 19, 2004. 81 Speech by President Hu Jintao of China at the 12th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Xinhuanet, November 21, 2004, http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2004-11/22/ content_2244549.htm, accessed April 12, 2009.

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report to the 16th CPC National Congress reiterated: “We stand for the fight against terrorism of all forms. It is imperative to strengthen international cooperation in this regard, address both the symptoms and root causes of terrorism, prevent and combat terrorist activities and work hard to eliminate terrorism at root.” To combat terrorism has become an important part of China’s non-traditional diplomacy.

6.4.1. Basic Position in Counter-terrorism Diplomacy The basic stance that China has taken on counter-terrorism is: “Oppose terrorism in any form; the fight against terrorism should not have double standards. It should be conducive to safeguarding peace and safety of the human beings and promoting the advancement and prosperity of the social civilization. Counter-terrorism should be conducted according to the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law. We oppose the practice of linking the issue of counter-terrorism with a specific religion or nation. Besides, to completely eradicate terrorism requires the elimination of its root causes. We need to treat the symptoms and causes of terrorism.”82

6.4.1.1. Opposing all forms of terrorism There are four types of terrorism at present: ideological, separatist, organized criminal and global terrorism. Ideological terrorism embraces the extreme left-wing and extreme right-wing. The extreme right-wing terrorist organizations are often state-funded terrorist organizations. This type of terrorist organizations is mostly right-wing terrorism while the separatist type of terrorism is aimed at splitting from the home country and forming an independent state. Among separatists, some are radical, who have a fanatic passion for their ethnic group, religion and culture and are ready to use extreme means to achieve their purpose.83 There are many types of separatist terrorism, for 82

Remarks of the Spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, at a Press Conference on September 8, 2005, Xinhua News Agency Economic Information, September 9, 2005. 83 Christopher C. Harmon: Terrorism Today, London: Frank Cass, 2000, p. 20.

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instance, ethnic or religious terrorism. But the most common ones are separatist terrorists for religious reasons. The Moro National Liberation Front in the southern Philippines is one such example. Most global separatist terrorist organizations are also set up for religious reasons.84 Organized criminal terrorism is another type of terrorism of significant influence. Many terrorist organizations have accumulated funds through criminal activities (kidnapping, drugs and gun smuggling, money laundering, human smuggling and forging documents).85 Global terrorist organizations extend their tentacles to many countries and they do not limit their actions and organizations within one country. Some have even become international organizations of a multinational nature. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda is a most typical example. China has condemned and opposed all forms of terrorism. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “The international community should make joint efforts and be determined to condemn and crack down on terrorism no matter when and where it occurs, who it targets, or what form it takes.”86 The Chinese government is even more resolutely opposed to terrorist activities for political purposes and it is opposed to terrorist violence by any country, organization, group or individual in violation of universally accepted norms of international law.

6.4.1.2. Opposing double standards After the 9/11 incident, the international community has had a broad consensus on working together to combat violent terrorist activities,

84

According to the study of the Rand Corporation of USA, none of the 11 global terrorist organizations was set up out of religious motives in 1968. By 1980, following the Iranian Revolution, only 2 out of the 64 global terrorist groups were religious terrorist organizations. However, according to the 1992 statistics, 11 out of 48 international terrorist organizations were religious terrorist groups, accounting for nearly one quarter. After the 1990s, there has been an increase in terrorist activities for religious purposes. 85 Maxwell Taylor: The Terrorist, London: Brassey’s Defence Publishers, 1988, p. 50. 86 Jiang Zemin: Work Together to Create a Peaceful and Prosperous New Century, Guangming Daily Net, April 10, 2002, http://www.gmw.cn/01gmrb/2002-04/ 11/01-C4C6E10922E2251248256B970081C08B.htm, accessed May 12, 2009.

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but has retained vastly different stances on how to define terrorism. In this regard, Jiang Zemin pointed out: “There cannot be double standards in the fight against terrorism.”87 There is no good terrorism or bad terrorism to speak of. All forms of terrorism are the public plague of the international community. The main terrorist threats that China is faced with at present are from the “East Turkistan” terrorist forces within China and beyond, as well as terrorist activities carried out by international terrorist organizations and individual terrorists. The US and other Western countries have often had different views on the terrorist activities by the “East Turkistan” terrorist forces, Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA), the extreme nationalist organization in Spain, the Chechen rebel group in Russia and the Kosovo Liberation Army, either out of the need for seeking hegemony through counter-terrorism or out of considerations for their own strategic interests. They do not define these activities by terrorist forces as terrorist activities that should be firmly condemned and cracked down. They even go as far as to define them as “human rights” or “national self-determination” issues that should be encouraged and supported.

6.4.1.3. Insisting on treating both the symptoms and the root causes of terrorism The Chinese Government has consistently advocated that the international community should identify the root causes and social basis of terrorism and address its root causes in real earnest, while making efforts to prevent and crack down on terrorism. To fight terrorism, it is necessary to address both its symptoms and its root causes, and to simultaneously solve the immediate problems and seek long-term solutions. To address the development issues and to narrow the North-South gap is an important condition. In the new situation, the international community should have a greater sense of urgency in addressing development issues. Military means can only help us to remove the symptoms of terrorism. If we want to eliminate terrorism once and for all, we must eradicate the “soil” or the root causes 87

Ibid.

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of terrorism. In other words, we must solve deep-rooted problems of terrorism, by focusing on the real and immediate terrorist threat and also on the long-term eradication of terrorism. In order to eliminate the cultural and ethnic root causes of terrorism, China has firmly stood for fairly and rationally handling the clashes between civilizations, for enhanced mutual understanding between different nations and countries, and for increased dialogue among civilizations, instead of provoking confrontations between different civilizations. National governments should realize the importance of seeking security through cooperation, dialogue, mutual trust, and development, and should make joint efforts to combat terrorism.

6.4.2. Practices in Counter-terrorism Diplomacy China has actively called for including the issue of terrorism in the important international political agenda and has vehemently condemned and resolutely opposed all forms of terrorism. China is a victim of terrorism and it is faced with threats from various terrorist activities by the “East Turkistan” terrorist forces within China and beyond, and by international terrorist organizations and individual terrorists. The “East Turkistan” elements who have staged terrorist activities in the Chinese territory have long been trained, armed and financed by international terrorist organizations, in particular, by al-Qaeda. To crack down on the “East Turkistan” terrorist forces is in fact part of the international effort to combat terrorism. Hu Jintao stressed at the APEC Summit in 2004 that: “Terrorism is our common enemy. The international community have exerted positive efforts and strengthened cooperation in eliminating the threats posed by terrorism. However, terrorists never miss any opportunity to conduct terrorist activities and the international counter-terrorism situation remains very grim. We, the international community, sharing the same hatred against terrorism, should resolutely fight the common enemy of terrorism.”88

88

Speech by President Hu Jintao at the 12th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Xinhuanet, November 21, 2004, http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2004-11/22/content_ 2244549.htm, accessed May 21, 2010.

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6.4.2.1. Promoting global cooperation against terrorism Terrorism has increasingly become more dangerous and has become one of the most prominent and real global threats that the human society will face for a long time to come. It is the general consensus of the international community that terrorism is a public plague of the human society. China has vigorously promoted international cooperation against terrorism. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “The international community should increase dialogue and consultation, develop cooperation and fight international terrorism together.”89 Then Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a speech entitled New Challenges and New Concepts — International Fight Against Terrorism and China’s Policy at the Munich International Conference on Security Policy in February 2002 and then Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan also expounded the principles of international cooperation against terrorism at the foreign ministers’ meeting of the UN Security Council on counter-terrorism in January 2003. There are six forms of international cooperation against terrorism: to crack down on al-Qaeda, destroying all its bases, leadership and organizational structure; to seize overseas bank accounts of terrorist organizations to cut off their sources of funding; to establish inter-state anti-terrorist coalition to strengthen cooperation against terrorism; to put in place a government-led national counter-terrorism emergency mechanism to build up counter-terrorism capabilities; to resolutely combat terrorist organizations without relaxing efforts once a clue is found; and to seek a fair, all-round and lasting solution to territorial and ethnic disputes that might trigger off terrorism.90 In terms of the global counter-terrorism cooperation, China has acceded to 10 out of the 13 international conventions against terrorism and signed two of them. China has actively participated in the process of international legislation against terrorism and contributed to the establishment of the international counter-terrorism legal regime. China has not only enhanced its counter-terrorism cooperation with the US and other big powers, but has also strengthened exchanges and 89

Jiang Zemin: Work Together to Create a Peaceful and Prosperous New Century, Guangming Daily, April 10, 2002. 90 Counter-terrorism: The New Task of the World, Global, 2004, September, pp. 4–10.

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cooperation with law enforcement agencies of Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries in the fields of counter-terrorism and law enforcement.91

6.4.2.2. Consolidating the legitimate position of the UN in combating terrorism International cooperation against terrorism within the framework of the UN is the ultimate direction that China has pushed for. Jiang Zemin affirmed: “In the fight against terrorism, we must abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the established norms of international law and make full use of UN and its Security Council. All actions should be conducive to the long-term interests of safeguarding regional and world peace.”92 The UN has an increasingly important role to play in the international anti-terrorist struggle. China has repeatedly stressed that only when the UN plays a leading role in the international cooperation against terrorism, can we effectively curb the spread of terrorism and eradicate this bane endangering the international community. China has, on many international occasions, called on the UN to play a bigger role in the international cooperation against terrorism, instead of listening to one or two big powers. Since the early 1960s, the UN has played a coordinating and leading role in the international counter-terrorism efforts. Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN, told the UN Summit marking the 60th anniversary of its founding that terrorism was the scourge of the world and all countries must unite and take joint actions against terrorism. The UN developed 12 UN conventions and protocols specifically on combating hijacking, explosion, hostage-taking and other acts 91

Zhao Yongchen, Deputy Director-General of Anti-terrorism Department of Ministry of Public Security in China, addressed the 22nd Congress on the Law of the World under the agenda item of international terrorism in August 2005, entitled: Ministry of Public Security: China Faced with Terrorist Threats, Ming Pao (Hong Kong), August 31, 2005. 92 Jiang Zemin: Work Together to Create a Peaceful and Prosperous New Century, Guangming Daily, April 10, 2002.

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of terrorism. They covered almost all forms of terrorist acts. However, the US and some other countries launched the Iraq war against terrorism on 20 March 2003, bypassing the UN, undercutting the UN’s status and role in the fight against terrorism. China, Russia and European countries all stressed that the UN should be the core for the global counter-terrorism efforts and the management center for this cause. The UN should play a triple role in the fight against terrorism: First, to promote the international cooperation against terrorism and make counter-terrorism the common agenda of all countries. Second, to strengthen the international legislation against terrorism and gradually improve the system of international law on combating terrorism. The 60th session of the UN General Assembly in 2005 was expected to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism and to reach a consensus on the political definition of terrorism and on other terrorism-related issues. Third, to carry out specific counterterrorism cooperation with various countries and regional and international organizations through the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and to provide assistance to those developing countries without an adequate capacity to fight terrorism.

6.4.2.3. Enhancing counter-terrorism functions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) signed the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism in 2001 when the SCO was established. In June 2004, the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was officially launched in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbek, and started its operations. Foreign ministers of the SCO member states signed the Joint Declaration of the SCO Foreign Ministers and adopted the decision to set up a counterterrorism emergency response mechanism. The SCO summit in Tashkent in 2006 officially launched the RATS which started to perform the counter-terrorism functions. The SCO recently launched joint counter-terrorism exercises and military exercises through cooperation between law enforcement and security departments of member states in order to enhance capabilities for combating terrorism in

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collaboration and cooperation. Hu Jintao delivered a speech at the SCO summit in Tashkent in June 2010, stressing that: “The Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism and other SCO documents on cooperation must be implemented and that member states should effectively increase their ability of fighting the ‘three forces’ in the region.”93 With vigorous efforts made by China, SCO member states have worked in close cooperation and scored great achievements in the fight against the three cross-nation terrorist forces (separatism, extremism and terrorism), including the separatist forces working for “East Turkistan independence”. At present, joint counter-terrorism military exercises within the SCO framework have gradually become institutionalized. In 2002, China and Kyrgyzstan conducted a joint counter-terrorism military exercise, the first such joint exercise involving Chinese and foreign soldiers. In 2003, China and other SCO member states conducted the first joint multilateral counter-terrorism military exercise. In 2006, China had a joint counter-terrorism military exercise with Tajikistan and conducted a series of joint counter-terrorism military exercises in the name of a “mission of peace” with Russia and other SCO member states.94

6.4.2.4. Innovations in other bilateral and multilateral counter-terrorism mechanisms In the area of bilateral cooperation, Sino–US cooperation against terrorism has become an important part of Sino–US relations. It not only bears on the national security and social stability of China and the US, but also on the regional and global peace and prosperity. At the APEC summit held in Shanghai shortly after the 9/11 incident, heads of states of China and the US reached a consensus on cooperation against terrorism. Former President George W. Bush maintained that as international terrorism was a threat facing both China and the US, the two 93

Hu Jintao: No Double Standards in Combating Terrorism, Wen Wei Po (Hong Kong), June 19, 2004. 94 Information Office of the State Council: China’s National Defense in 2010, White Paper, March 2011, http://news.xinhuanet.com/mi1/2011-03/31/c_121252253. htm, accessed September 12, 2011.

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countries should cooperate with each other in addressing the common threat. Then President Jiang Zemin responded, saying that China and the US might establish a medium- and long-term counter-terrorism cooperation mechanism.95 In 2005, Hu Jintao and George W. Bush both stressed the need to strengthen the Sino–US counter-terrorism consultation and cooperation mechanism. With regard to cooperation with the EU, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the ASEM Conference on Counter-terrorism mechanism (ASEM CCT) are important platforms for China–EU cooperation against terrorism. The counter-terrorism strategy of the ASEM summit includes a series of measures, such as preventing radicalization, cutting off sources of funding for terrorist activities and strengthening dialogue between different religions, among others. The conference welcomed the ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation among ASEM member states and held that they should continue to strengthen cooperation in combating organized crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal arms trade and human trafficking so that the ASEM dialogue mechanism could play an effective role in this regard.96

6.5. Diplomacy in Epidemic Prevention and Disaster Relief The world has witnessed many unexpected sudden disasters, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina which hit the US, the Wenchuan earthquake in China, the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster, etc. Epidemic diseases tend to cause inconceivably more deaths than wars. In modern times, Stream A influenza, avian flu and swine flu have brought about panic, whose intensity is no less than the shadow of wars. The adverse impact of these issues on the economic

95

Chen Youwei: Anti-terrorism Cooperation and China–US Relations, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 29 October 2001. 96 Asia-Europe Summit Agreed to Strengthen Cooperation Against Terrorism, Wen Jiabao Proposed Eight Recommendations for Deepening Cooperation between Asia and Europe, Ta Kung Po (Hong Kong), September 11, 2006.

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development and social stability of the region and the world can never be underestimated.97 In the increasingly interconnected world today, in face of all sorts of threats caused by diseases, disasters and other factors, China, which is a responsible big country, cannot afford to be interested only in improving itself, but rather it should collaborate with the international community. Hu Jintao pointed out: “We should strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in the field of disaster prevention and disaster reduction, and in international humanitarian assistance, and make a positive contribution to the prevention of and response to natural disasters of mankind.”98 For this reason, China’s diplomacy has played an increasingly important role in preventing disasters and responding to epidemics.

6.5.1. Epidemic Prevention and Disaster Relief Becoming Important Issues of Social Concern Since the early 1990s, the international community has began to study the concept of “disaster diplomacy”. Some have analyzed how to generate more diplomatic opportunities by taking advantage of disasters and others examined how to improve disaster relief work when faced with international political obstacles and to upgrade state-to-state relations through disaster relief. More importantly, the international community must provide economic and technical assistance to countries hit by unexpected large-scale natural disasters or epidemic diseases, especially developing countries. Therefore, disaster relief and disease prevention are very often seen as big events for inter-state cooperation.

6.5.1.1. Greater importance of disease prevention and disaster relief among international issues With climate changes and frequent outbreaks of extreme events, epidemic diseases and natural disasters have made the human society 97

Hu Jintao’s speech at the 13th APEC CEO Summit, People’s Daily, November 18, 2005. 98 Hu Jintao’s Remarks on the Occasion Marking the 1st Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake, Wen Hui Bao, May 12, 2009.

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one of high risks. For example, AIDS is a common challenge facing humanity. Since 1981 when it was first discovered and identified, this disease has engulfed as many as 25 million lives. Hu Jintao pointed out that the spread of AIDS and other major infectious diseases had seriously impeded the development of the vast number of developing countries.99 For another example, the H1N1 flu (or swine flu) epidemic and other epidemic diseases posed a serious threat to the whole world in recent years. An effective prevention and control of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 bears on the people’s health and on the economic and social stability of all countries. According to the estimation made by the Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd (generally known as Swiss Re), natural disasters and man-made accidents in 2010 caused economic losses amounting to about 222 billion USD, much more than any other previous period. Swiss Re further estimated that approximately 222,000 people lost their life in the Haitian earthquake. Accordingly, it was estimated that nearly 260,000 people could have been killed in all sorts of natural disasters in 2010, the highest disasterrelated death toll since 1976. Wenchuan earthquake inflicted a huge loss of over 500 billion yuan to Sichuan and its surrounding areas, which was equivalent to 3 percent of China’s GDP.100 In 2003, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) broke out in the Asia– Pacific region. This epidemic caused a total death toll of more than 8,000 people and forced the tourist industry and economic exchanges in the Asia–Pacific region to stop for nearly six months with a total economic loss of at least $40 billion.101 Avian flu has always lingered in the Asia–Pacific region. In the same vein, Wen Jiabao stressed: “The spread of the bird flu in some countries and regions not only impacted

99 Hu Jintao’s Speech at the UN High-level Meeting on Financing for Development Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of UN, People’s Daily, September 15, 2005. 100 Wenchuan Earthquake Will Not Change the Fundamentals of China’s Economic Operation, Xinhua News Agency Daily Financial Analysis, May 27, 2008. 101 International Experts Agree that the Fight Against SARS Calls for Worldwide Cooperation, People’s Daily, June 5, 2003.

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the economy and social development, but also severely endangered the health and lives of the local people, and even threatened regional and global security and stability. Therefore, the effective containment of the disease has become a common task for the international community.”102 In addition, the international epidemic prevention and disaster relief have become international issues of short-term focus, as these issues tend to attract attention and responses from the general public of the entire international community. Reactions and responses made by various countries to such incidents would be under the focus of the international media and would directly impact a country’s image and soft power. Disease prevention and disaster relief have become a new diplomatic means to shape a country’s image and to influence the world’s opinions about the country. If it wishes to enhance its capacity for international activities and its international influence, shape a good country image and increase its soft power, it is absolutely necessary to make vigorous efforts for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance activities as the content and form of its diplomacy.

6.5.1.2. Epidemic prevention and disaster relief reflecting people-oriented thinking and a scientific outlook on development With regard to the scientific outlook on development, its fundamental goal is to seek development, its core is to put the people first, its basic requirement is to pursue a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development and its fundamental approach is to reach the goal in a holistic manner. By putting the people first, it means that the right of the people to development and survival must be respected, and efforts must be made to build a harmonious world in which peace and harmony are considered most important, all people respect and love each other, and there is harmony between people and nature. China’s

102

Premier Wen Jiabao’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Ministerial Meeting of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, People’s Daily, January 19, 2006.

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people-oriented diplomacy is reflected by the protection of the real interests of the Chinese citizens and the people of Chinese origin living abroad and it is also reflected in China’s participation in the international disaster relief work in the spirit of “sharing the same feeling as those who are hungry or drowning”, as a big socialist country with a high sense of responsibility. The people-oriented principle has become one of the basic principles of China’s diplomacy in the new era. It is an extension of the “people-oriented” scientific outlook on development advanced by former General Secretary Hu Jintao on diplomacy. It is an important component of the scientific outlook on development and an important new development of China’s diplomatic theories. China is one of the countries that have been most seriously affected by various disasters in the world. In recent years, China has experienced rapid economic growth, but at the same time it has been hit by disasters at a greater frequency and with greater losses, which has seriously impeded its social stability and economic development. The Chinese government has put in place a sound peopleoriented disaster mitigation system and has, on this basis, actively participated in international disaster relief and mitigation actions.

6.5.2. Diplomatic Practice in Epidemic Prevention and Disaster Relief As sudden natural disasters and epidemic diseases have become a more serious problem, it is difficult for any single affected country, region or international organization to handle them alone. International relief, cooperation and coordination are the only way to help mankind take up this new challenge of our times. To make diplomatic efforts for the prevention of epidemic diseases and disaster relief is a new diplomatic means to help shape the image of a country and to influence the public opinions of the world. To provide assistance to the countries in the disaster-affected region mainly reflects the humanitarian spirit that mankind shares. While helping affected countries to tide over the difficult period, one may also help itself to establish a good international image both internally and externally and enhance a sense of international responsibility. China has firmly shouldered

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responsibility in various crises in recent years and has in the process shown the world a humane and compassionate China. Culturally, it is the fine tradition of the Chinese nation to “help those in distress, aid those in peril” and “render each other assistance and protection”. Over the past 60 years since the New China was founded, China has consistently and actively participated in the international disaster relief in the international humanitarian spirit.103 As a responsible developing power, China has participated in the prevention of global epidemics and disaster relief work and it has made universally recognized contributions to these efforts.

6.5.2.1. Bilateral international rescue and relief First, China has set up an international rescue team. Since its inception in April 2001, the Chinese international rescue team has conducted international rescue and relief operations in Algeria, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Haiti, New Zealand and Japan. The Chinese international rescue operation in the South Asia earthquake and tsunami relief is particularly worth mentioning. The Chinese international rescue team gave medical care and treatment to a total of over 10,000 wounded people. In the Haitian earthquake in 2010, the Chinese international rescue team saved and treated more than 2,500 people.104 Secondly, China has provided a large amount of financial and technical assistance to the disaster- or epidemic-hit regions. After the strong earthquake and subsequent tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean in late 2004, the Chinese government and civil society effected the largest ever disaster relief actions with both bilateral aid and multilateral assistance being almost all made available to the affected countries and people. The grants and assistance by private donors have been used for rehabilitation and reconstruction projects of the 103

Wen Jiabao’s Speech at the UN High-level Plenary Meeting on the MDGs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, September 23, 2010, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/ pds/ziliao/zvjh/t754970.htm, accessed December 12, 2010. 104 Wang Longqin and Zhang Guowang: The International Relief Operations in which the Chinese International Search and Rescue Team Has Participated, China Social Newspaper, March 15, 2011.

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affected countries. All assistance both in goods and in money has amounted to 687.63 million USD.105,106 After the earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005, the Chinese government provided Pakistan with assistance gratis of $26,730,000 in three successive tranches.107 When Hurricane Katrina hit the US in 2005 causing serious casualties and property losses to the southern US, the Chinese government immediately provided 5 million USD in relief aid to the affected American people in the disaster areas and subsequently dispatched additional supplies which were urgently needed, reflecting the humanitarian spirit of the Chinese people. In addition, the Chinese government has offered $10 million for the establishment of a multilateral aid funds framework for avian influenza prevention and control.108 In order to eradicate AIDS and malaria in African countries, Hu Jintao proposed that China would offer African countries drugs, including anti-malaria drugs, and help them to establish and improve medical facilities and train their medical personnel, which were to be implemented through the China–Africa Cooperation Forum and other mechanisms through bilateral channels.109 Thirdly, the Chinese army has spared no efforts in participating in disaster relief work. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has completed 28 missions of international humanitarian emergency assistance, providing 22 affected countries with relief supplies, such as tents, blankets, medicine, medical equipment, food and power 105

The Chinese State Leaders and People from All Sectors Making Donations to the Earthquake-stricken and Tsunami-affected Areas of the Indian Ocean, People’s Daily, January 1, 2005. 106 More Than 1.2 Billion Yuan Donated by the Chinese Government and People to the Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster Areas, People’s Daily (Overseas Edition), September 23, 2005. 107 China Successfully Completed Emergency Aid Supplies to Pakistan, People’s Daily, November 11, 2005. 108 Premier Wen Jiabao’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Ministerial Meeting of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, People’s Daily, January 19, 2006. 109 Hu Jintao’s Speech at the UN High-level Meeting on Financing for Development Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the UN, People’s Daily, September 15, 2005.

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generators with a total value of more than 950 million yuan.110 During the Haitian Earthquake, eight Chinese peacekeepers unfortunately lost their lives. China has proved with its actions that China is a positive force for safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.111

6.5.2.2. Promote the building of international cooperation mechanisms In order to jointly prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases, China has appealed to the international community for extensive cooperation and for adopting prevention and control measures and for formulating a joint prevention and control mechanism by taking advantages of a variety of regional and sub-regional mechanisms. China has always stood for a positive role by the UN and relevant international organizations in the international efforts for epidemic prevention and disaster relief. China has established close partnerships with the UN Development Programme, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and other institutions in the field of disaster relief and epidemic prevention. China has been actively involved in cooperation for disaster reduction within the framework of the UN. China has actively promoted the establishment of a dialogue and exchange platform for disaster reduction among Asian countries. Wen Jiabao stressed that the UN should give full play to its political advantage and enhance policy coordination for international cooperation in the bird flu prevention and control. The World Health Organization 110

Information Office of the State Council: China’s National Defense in 2010, White Paper, March 2011, http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-03/31/c_121252253. htm, accessed September 12, 2011. 111 Yang Jiechi: Deepen Understanding and Consensus, Promote Cooperation and Development, China Development Observation, 2010, No. 10, pp. 54–55.

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should increase technical support to developing countries for the purposes of the prevention and control of bird flu.112 In respect to AIDS prevention, Wen Jiabao proposed that: “The World Health Organization, the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other international institutions should step up coordination, mobilize resources from multiple sources and make good use of their professional expertise to help developing countries, sub-Saharan African countries in particular, improve HIV/ AIDS prevention and control.”113 With regard to the regional response mechanism, China has emphasized on better coordination with ASEAN countries to jointly respond to regional epidemic diseases and at the same time attached great importance to the role of APEC. In order to stop the global spread of the SARS, the Chinese government proposed to strengthen coordination and cooperation with ASEAN countries, including instituting an information mechanism for the epidemic prevention and treatment, exchanging experience and conducting cooperation and research, to accelerate the cooperation process in the field of public health, to coordinate with each other on immigration control measures and to make efforts to reduce the adverse effect of SARS as much as possible, among others. These proposals have attracted attention and appreciation from ASEAN countries.114 Then Premier Wen Jiabao attended the Special China–ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on SARS held in Bangkok in April 2003, which laid the foundation for joint efforts by China and Southeast Asian countries to combat SARS. Hu Jintao stressed that China supported APEC in enhancing cooperation in the prevention and control of infectious diseases through frequent 112

Premier Wen Jiabao’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Ministerial Meeting of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, People’s Daily, January 19, 2006. 113 Wen Jiabao’s Address at the AIDS Plus Millennium Development Goals: Delivering Results Toward Our Shared Commitments during the UN High-level Plenary Meeting, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, September 22, 2010, http://www.fmprc. gov.cn/chn/pds/ziliao/zyjh/t754973.htm, accessed November 13, 2010. 114 Unite in a Concerted Effort to Take on Temporary Hardships, People’s Daily, May 1, 2003.

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exchange of information and technical cooperation and in helping member economies to improve their public health systems.115 In respect to exchanging experiences in epidemic prevention and disaster relief, China has intimately involved itself in coordination and communication with relevant countries and international organizations and has contributed to the building of regional disaster response mechanisms and personnel training. It has held seminars on humanitarian relief and disaster mitigation together with the armies of the US, Australia and New Zealand, organized a workshop of the ASEAN Regional Forum on the Legal Procedure Construction for the Armed Forces in international disaster relief and held ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) Workshops on Disaster Relief by Armed Forces.116 The 2005 China–US Forum for Prevention and Control of Commutable Diseases provided an important professional platform for professionals of the two countries to pool wisdom and efforts for the crisis prevention and monitoring of avian influenza. The Concept Paper on the China–US Joint Actions on Avian Influenza in 2005 made it clear that it was necessary to strengthen bilateral professional cooperation.117

6.5.2.3. Rapid and positive response for epidemic prevention and disaster relief Natural disasters and epidemic diseases feature great uncertainties and suddenness, but their impacts are often beyond national borders and they are dynamic. They are likely to escalate into big turmoil and even local political events if not properly addressed through cross-border real-time cooperation. The Indian Ocean 115

Speech by Hu Jintao at the 12th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Xinhuanet, November 21, 2004, http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2004-11/22/content_ 2244549.htm, accessed May 21, 2010. 116 Information Office of the State Council: China’s National Defense in 2010, White Paper, March 2011, http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-03/31/c_121252253. htm, accessed September 12, 2011. 117 China–US Concept Paper on China–US Joint Actions on Avian Influenza, People’s Daily, November 21, 2005.

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tsunami disaster caused unprecedentedly grave consequences rarely seen in history, and the scale on which the international community organized the international crisis rescue, its ability to coordinate disaster relief efforts and the speed at which all these international efforts were made were also unparalleled. Just over one week after this catastrophe occurred, leaders of over 20 countries and international organizations, including ten ASEAN countries, China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, the US, Japan, the EU, the UN and the World Health Organization (WHO), gathered in the Jakarta Convention Center in the capital of Indonesia and discussed policies and principles on coordinating and harmonizing relief efforts and reached a preliminary consensus on mechanism and framework. With the Chinese government’s positive efforts and coordination, China provided food, emergency shelter and medical services to millions of disaster victims in a short space of several weeks and encouraged the international community to commit relief funds totaling 11 billion USD.118 Soon after the outbreak of SARS epidemic in China in 2003, the Chinese government had the Special China–ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on SARS held in Bangkok in April 2003. Then Premier Wen Jiabao announced several measures that the Chinese government would adopt to prevent the crisis and release information at this meeting. Once cases of foot and mouth disease were detected in parts of China in 2005, the Chinese Ministry of Health quickly reported them to the WHO and invited WHO experts to China to assist the Chinese side in handling the epidemic. As a result, the disease was quickly brought under control. After the earthquake took place in Wenchuan, China in May 2008, the Chinese government immediately decided to open up to international relief supplies and personnel. After the earthquake in Indonesia in May 2005, China was the first country to honor its aid commitments to Indonesia. In order to make timely responses to crisis, the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs introduced a 24-hour on-duty mechanism so as to promptly respond to emergency situations, especially natural disasters. 118

Post-tsunami Reconstruction Will Take 10 Years, Xinhua News Agency (Chinese News), June 25, 2005.

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6.5.2.4. Image of an active, responsible big country Currently, China is trying to gradually shape an international image of a responsible big country that “treats its neighboring countries as its friends and partners and pursues peaceful development”. China could take the disaster relief and epidemic prevention as one of the primary means to build its international image, fulfill its responsibilities and exert its influence.119 President Hu Jintao said that China’s overseas relief operations showed the firm belief and sincere wish of the Chinese people to tide over the difficulty together with African and Asian people.120 To deliver relief supplies to the earthquakeaffected South Asia in 2005, Wen Jiabao specially instructed to load emergency relief supplies onto his special plane which he took to Jakarta for the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on Aftermath of Earthquake and Tsunami.121 The media in France, UK, the US and other foreign countries were of the view that China’s disaster relief initiatives had greatly improved China’s image and soft power. They believed that China, as the world’s largest developing country and the most populous country, was playing an increasingly important role on the world stage of disaster relief and showed great political influence.122,123 Mr. Serge Abou, Ambassador of the European Commission to China, maintained that the Chinese government has a responsibility not only for its own nationals but also for the well-being of the world.124 Mr. Ban Ki-moon spoke highly of China’s active

119

Joseph S. Nye: Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs, 2004, p. 12. 120 Hu Jintao: From the Glorious Past to a Bright Future: Building a New Type of Strategic Partnership between Asia and Africa — Speech at the Asian–African Summit, People’s Daily, April 23, 2005. 121 Wen Jiabao Instructed to Load His Special Plane with Emergency Relief Supplies, People’s Daily, January 6, 2005. 122 Another Awakening of China — French Papers Commenting on China’s Active Participation in the South Asia Disaster Relief, Reference News, January 10, 2005. 123 China Substantially Increased Aid to Tsunami-affected Countries, Overseas Opinions Appraised This Move of Great Political Significance, Reference News, January 2, 2005. 124 China Is Becoming a New Provider of Public Goods in International Relations, Xinhua News Agency (Chinese News), March 6, 2006.

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participation in the international rescue and relief operations in South Asia. He said that China displayed a lofty international humanitarian spirit in reaching out to other countries while it was hit by a devastating earthquake in Wenchuan. After the nuclear accident in Japan in 2011, China effectively assisted Japan in disaster relief work in the humanitarian spirit and with sincere sympathy, demonstrating an unprecedented humanitarian soft power. The Chinese state leaders immediately expressed to Japan China’s care and its willingness to help. China delivered its aid to the hardest hit area in Japan earlier than other countries.

6.6. Public Diplomacy After three decades of reform and opening up, China has gathered momentum for rise and it has gradually become an important force in the international political structure. As it has gradually integrated itself into globalization and moved to the market economy, industrialization and modernization, its achievements in the economic, military, technological, social and many other fields have attracted attention from the international community. The “China model” and “Beijing Consensus” have become main models that many developing countries would like to draw upon. However, with the rapid rise of China’s strength and influence, some foreign governments and media have shown “over-concern” over China’s development, alleging that China would pose a challenge to the existing international system, disrupt the distribution of interests of international trade, resources and energy, and constitute regional and global threats in many ways. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the “China threat” theory has been heard worldwide so many times; politicians, scholars and business people have rattled on this “theory” from different perspectives, positions and experience and out of various reasons, in the new international situation of a rising China. It could be said that issues such as whether China is rising, how China rises and what impact a rising China would have on the world situation are far beyond the ordinary meanings of economics, politics, historical studies and other disciplines. Their discussions have touched upon the models and path of

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development, public opinions, social environment and culture, among others. With the evolution of its strategic position and its increasingly complicated external environment, China is surrounded by perplexed public opinions and the increasingly louder “China threat” clamors. Therefore, China must pursue its peaceful development process on the basis of fully participating in the building and improvement of public diplomacy while responding to the “China threat” theory through active, effective, pragmatic and collaborative public diplomacy. China should comprehensively promote the establishment and development of a new order that is friendly to China. Thus, the interaction between China and the international community has undergone a substantive change and has dramatically increased in breadth and depth. China has unprecedentedly accelerated its integration into the world and the world has recognized and understood China from a new perspective. Public diplomacy and party diplomacy have provided a good platform for exchanges of views on global issues by the general public of the world and by political parties of various countries. In this context, public diplomacy has impacted China’s international affairs and even its domestic affairs far more powerfully than ever before. Therefore, public diplomacy has attracted extensive and close attention of theoreticians and has produced a profound impact on China’s domestic and foreign policies in practice. Public diplomacy has become an integral part of the thinking of a harmonious society and harmonious world. Therefore, with China’s international status and influence significantly improved in the era of economic globalization, public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy are not only important to the interaction between China and the world, but have also become an important means to enhance China’s soft power and its international influence, help it to increase its say and take initiative in international affairs.

6.6.1. Connotations of Public Diplomacy Guided by the government, widely participated by people from all walks of life in the society and aided by communication, dissemination and other means of media, public diplomacy is meant to inform

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the foreign general public of the national conditions and policy ideas of a country and inform the domestic public of its diplomatic principles and foreign policies in order to obtain understanding, identification and support of both the domestic and foreign public, establish a good image for the state and the government, create a favorable environment of public opinions, and maintain and promote the fundamental interests of the country. At present, Western developed countries dominate the mainstream public opinions. In these circumstances, it is all the more necessary to promote China in the world and to let the world see the true China. It is especially important for public diplomacy to work and gain a louder voice so that the world could hear China’s voice timely, accurately and comprehensively. In the process of participating in and integrating into globalization, China has sustained a rapid economic growth which has also generated environmental, social, cultural, economic and other problems. All this has contributed to and impacted on the world, which has drawn extensive attention and have even given rise to suspicion and criticism. The “China threat” theory or the “China to blame” theory in the world has already damaged or adversely affected China’s overall interests to some extent. How should China handle various forms of misunderstanding or misreading of China by the international community? How should China draw on the public diplomacy experiences of other countries? How should China establish the image of a responsible big country with sustainable developments while continuing to enhance its soft power? All these are realistic issues that China has to face and address. Traditional diplomacy is mainly about communication between various countries and governments. Traditional diplomacy, or the maintainence of inter-state ties, is still very important today, but is far from adequate. Therefore, public diplomacy is a new way to deal with the “China threat” theory and it is of irreplaceable practical significance for China’s external exchanges and contacts today.125 Public diplomacy refers to diplomatic activities meant to influence and change the attitudes and opinions of the general public on 125

Yu Xintian: China’s Public Diplomacy and Building of Soft Power, World Outlook, 2009, No. 3, p. 3.

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foreign countries through the communication of information and viewpoints. Both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo are examples of public diplomacy at work. In both events, there were cooperation and exchanges between the government and the public, between the government and the state, between the state and the market, between the government and the business sector, and between different states. Wei Xin, Director of the Public Diplomacy Office of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, said that they conducted public diplomacy by taking advantage of important overseas visits made by state leaders, important international conferences attended by state leaders, large-scale events and important diplomatic activities at home staged by China when reviewing public diplomacy work in 2010. The Chinese Party and state leaders have attached great importance to public diplomacy and they have conducted public diplomacy themselves. They would accept interviews by the media of host countries before their overseas visits, address the public and hold press conferences during their visit to interact with local people. An information center would be set up by their delegations through which to explain China’s policy stance in plain language and show a good image of an open, cooperative and responsible China. At the same time, China has hosted a variety of large-scale events and activities, including the World Expo and the Asian Games, which offer opportunities for public diplomacy. At the World Expo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC ensured a good coverage of major activities by the state and Party leaders, kept in close contact with the media, carried out publicity and promotional activities such as Touring the World Expo with Ambassadors, who served as Deputy Chief Representatives of the Chinese government for the Expo, and conducted other public diplomacy activities while receiving foreign dignitaries during their tour of the Expo. On important diplomatic occasions such as the China–US Strategic Dialogue and Cooperation, the Summer Davos Forum and China–Arab Cooperation Forum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would brief the domestic and foreign media on the policy positions of the Chinese government, as well as measures, initiatives and achievements in the development of friendly relations and

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mutually beneficial cooperation between China and relevant countries and regions.126

6.6.2. Evolution of China’s Public Diplomacy As early as the beginning of the founding of New China, the firstgeneration of state leaders paid special attention to non-governmental diplomacy. In 1956, the communist parties from over 50 countries were invited to send their representatives to the 8th CPC National Congress. Chairman Mao Zedong told the Congress: “We do not feel isolated.” The CPC always strongly supported the national liberation movements in Asian, African and Latin American countries and had close contacts with the organizations for national independence and liberation of many countries. The big polemic in the international communist movement which started in the early 1960s led to deterioration of the relations between the Chinese and Soviet communist parties, a split in the international communist movement and a suspension of the relations between the CPC and most communist parties in the world. During the “cultural revolution”, the “Gang of Four” and the Kang Sheng clique intervened in diplomacy and implemented the policy of “supporting the left against revisionism” in the external work, which led China’s diplomacy into an increasingly narrower lane and resulting in it falling into a deep valley.127 After reform and opening up, China’s state leaders attached great importance to public diplomacy. In meeting Japanese representatives at the Second Meeting of Sino–Japanese Non-governmental Personages in June 1984, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “If there is only governmental cooperation in the absence of people-to-people contacts, the state relations between the two countries would have no solid foundation.”128 Jiang Zemin pointed out when meeting members of the 5th National 126

Sun Yuting: Public Diplomacy as Cornerstone of China–US Diplomacy, China News Service, December 21, 2010. 127 Cai Wu: Strengthening the Study on Party Diplomacy, The Contemporary World, 2005, No. 2, pp. 63–66. 128 Li Xiaolin: Embrace the World in the Tide of Reform and Opening Up — People-toPeople Diplomacy since Reform and Opening Up, Qiushi, 2009, No. 4, pp. 55–57.

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Council of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in March 1990 that “people-to-people diplomacy has a very important role to play no matter whether we look at it from the historical perspective or from the present point of view”. In May 2002, Hu Jintao pointed out when meeting members of the 8th National Council of the CPAFFC that: “In today’s world, people-to-people diplomacy has played an increasingly important role. To develop people-to-people diplomacy will help enhance friendship between peoples of all countries, facilitate economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation among countries and lay a broad social foundation for better state-to-state relations.” In contrast with public diplomacy in other countries, public diplomacy is still at a preliminary development stage in China. The Chinese government has made an effort to develop public diplomacy. In the 1950s, the Central Steering Committee for International Activities was set up. In 1980, the Central Foreign Propaganda Leading Group was established. In 1991, the Information Office of the State Council was put in place with “the main functions of presenting China to the world through Chinese media”. But it was only after 2001 that the Chinese government truly realized the importance of public diplomacy. Especially after the US has placed an increasingly greater emphasis on public diplomacy following the 9/11 incident, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken public diplomacy seriously and regarded it as an important part of foreign affairs. In 2002, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) started to include public diplomacy as a mandatory component of the advanced training course for diplomats. In 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up a functional agency specifically in charge of public diplomacy, namely, the Public Diplomacy Division (which has been upgraded to a Public Diplomacy Office). The Chinese public diplomacy has since made significant progress. In addition to continued issuance of the foreign language magazines and other publications by China International Publishing Group and continued multilingual broadcasting by China Radio International, China’s CCTV has added five foreign language channels, English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, covering all the working languages of the UN, and has had its TV programmes aired in many

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countries in the world. Over 300 Confucius Institutes have been set up in nearly 100 countries and regions and an increasing number of foreigners have learned Chinese, which has enabled them to get to know directly everything about China. The English version of China Daily, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily and other newspapers have provided the world with means to know China.129 As far as its foreign policy is concerned, the CPC has since its 13th National Congress given an important place to public diplomacy and party diplomacy (Table 6.7). Therefore, when reviewing China’s diplomatic history, former Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi pointed out: “We should vigorously develop public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy. It is an important mandate of our diplomacy to enhance mutual understanding and friendship among the people of different countries. We should vigorously conduct a variety of rich and colorful public and cultural diplomacy activities so as to lay solid public opinions foundation for the development of inter-state relations. So far, China has established 1,586 pairs of sister-province or sister–city relationship with provinces and cities of 123 countries around the world. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was a magnificent gathering of both sports and culture, and also an unprecedented event of cultural diplomacy, expanding China’s influence and enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and the people of the rest of the world.”130

6.6.3. Main Channels of Public Diplomacy After three decades of reform and opening up, it is an inevitable choice for China’s diplomacy to explore public diplomacy. The main actor of public diplomacy is the state. China should take advantage of various opportunities to conduct public diplomacy to promote China and sell China in the international community. China has come to the 129

Qu Xing: Upgrading China’s Public Diplomacy, China-Today Forum, 2010, No. 5, p. 20. 130 Yang Jiechi: Safeguard World Peace and Promote Common Development — Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Diplomacy of New China, Qiushi, 2009, No. 19, p. 23.

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National Congress (NC)

CPC National Congresses Focusing on Public Diplomacy.

Emphasis On

th

13 NC

14th NC

New type of party diplomacy

15th NC

New type of party diplomacy

16th NC

People-to-people diplomacy proposed for the first time

Quotes Together with all peace-loving countries and peoples around the globe, we shall work to promote the development of the international situation in a direction favorable to the world’s people and to international peace. The CPC has already established ties of various sorts with political parties and organizations in more than 100 countries. We shall continue to develop friendly relations with such parties in accordance with the principles of independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and to increase mutual understanding and cooperation in the spirit of seeking common ground while putting aside differences. On the basis of the principles of independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, we shall develop new types of inter-party relations of exchange and cooperation with all political parties of various countries which are ready to have contact with our Party with a view to promote state relations. We will continue to carry out extensive people-to-people diplomacy, expand cultural exchanges with the outside world, enhance the friendship between peoples and propel the development of state-to-state relations. (Continued)

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17 NC

403

(Continued)

Emphasis On

Quotes

People-oriented diplomacy and non-governmental exchanges emphasized repeatedly

Sharing opportunities for development and rising to challenges together so as to further the noble cause of peace and development of humanity bear on the fundamental interests of the people of all countries and meet their common aspirations. We maintain that the people of all countries should join hands and strive to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. We will also continue to conduct exchanges and cooperation with the political parties and organizations of other countries, and strengthen the external exchanges of people’s congresses, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) committees, the armed forces, localities and the people’s organizations, to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and the people of other countries.

Source: Compiled by the author.

center stage of the world. And it has so many ties and links with the rest of the world. On an annual average, there are 12 million Chinese people going abroad (46 million people passing through ports of exit of the mainland of China), while 24 million foreigners come to China. People-to-people exchanges and contacts have far exceeded government-to-government exchanges in terms of scope. The former represents two-way cultural exchanges in their real sense. The shift of the Chinese people’s international perspective and awareness has made the expansion of public diplomacy all the more possible. With a greater influence of China in the world, what is happening in China

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would instantly become a hot topic in the world. It is necessary for China to have a bigger say internationally through enhanced public diplomacy. The international public opinions have also wished to see China undertake considerable international responsibility.131 The following sections describe the main channels for China’s public diplomacy.132

6.6.3.1. Actors of public diplomacy: The State Council and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) The Ministry of Culture, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Education and the eight democratic parties under the CPPCC leadership, the Communist Youth League, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, All-China Women’s Federations, All-China Youth Federation, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China Science and Technology Association, All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the five major religious groups, specially invited personages from Hong Kong and Macao and independent personages without party affiliations are all actors of public diplomacy. The CPPCC-guided public diplomacy features greater flexibility, diversity and extensiveness. More importantly, Chinese leaders have displayed their personal charisma and their people-oriented style through lectures, media interviews, press conferences and close contacts with the people of the countries they visit during their overseas visits, greatly enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and the people of other countries, helping the international community to

131

Zhao Qizheng: China on the World Stage of Public Diplomacy, Office Administration, 2010, No. 6, pp. 46–47. 132 Qu Xing: Upgrading China’s Public Diplomacy, China-Today Forum, 2010, No. 5, p. 20.

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understand China’s determination to seek peaceful development and build a harmonious world.

6.6.3.2. “Going abroad” and “inviting in” By “going abroad”, China means to vigorously carry forward the Chinese culture and promote the Chinese culture in the world, among others, through public diplomacy so that the outside world may have a better knowledge of the Chinese culture. Cultural exchanges may facilitate cultural exchanges between nations and peoples. In this context, it has staged the “Chinese Culture Year”, set up the Confucius Institutes and established the Chinese Cultural Centers in many countries in the world. Among them, the Confucius Institutes and the “China Year” are most typical. Cultural and people-to-people exchanges may greatly promote the development of plural cultures and the building of a harmonious world. As of October 2010, 322 Confucius Institutes and 369 Confucius Classrooms, 691 in total, had been set up in 96 countries (or regions). Among 322 Confucius Institutes in 91 countries (or regions), 81 were in 30 Asian countries (or regions), 21 in 16 African countries, 105 in 31 European countries, 103 in 12 countries in the American continent, and 12 in 2 Oceanian countries. There were 369 Confucius Classrooms in 34 countries (there were no Confucius Institutes but Confucius Classrooms in Myanmar, Mali, the Bahamas, Tunisia and United Republic of Tanzania), of which 31 were in 11 Asian countries, 5 in 5 African countries, 82 in 10 European countries, 240 in 6 countries in the American continent and 11 in 2 Oceanian countries. An American scholar Bates Gill made a fair comment on this: “Like the British Council, the Goethe Institute, Alliance Francaise and other cultural centers, the new network platform of the Confucius Institutes is of a political nature: to establish a more friendly and warm image of China in the world.”133 China has organized the National Culture Years in cooperation with other countries and has friendly sister-cities established with their counterparts. The Ministry 133

Liu Peng: Party Diplomacy and Upgrading the State Soft Power, Journal of CPC Nanjing Municipal Party School, 2010, No. 4, pp. 79–80.

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of Culture and the CPC Publicity Department have, acting as lead agencies, organized overseas tours of cultural performances. By “inviting in”, China seeks to introduce programmes for foreign students to study in China and invite foreign delegations to visit China. On the other hand, since reform and opening up, many Chinese people and business sectors have gone abroad to learn about the world and to do business with people from other countries. But they do not realize that once abroad, they represent the country. Sometimes they do not pay adequate attention to the international etiquette and basic good living habits, which has damaged China’s image to some extent. After all, ordinary people of other countries get to know China through the Chinese people and Chinese products they have contact with. Therefore, to train its people, including business people, to be citizens with an international vision and good quality is probably an important part of its efforts to build an image of a harmonious country and should be given top priority. This will be a long historical process running through the entire modernization process.134

6.6.3.3. Means and tools The means and tools used for public diplomacy are (traditional) paper-based media plus modern media, which include the Overseas Edition of the People’s Daily, China Daily, web portals, mobile phones, the English, French and Spanish International Channels of CCTV, the Government White Papers (Green Papers), the spokesperson mechanisms and web portals of governments at all levels. In November 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce launched the “Made in China” overseas publicity and advertising campaign, entitled “Made in China, Made with the World Cooperation”, with emphasis on international cooperation. This was the first “advertisement of China’s image” by the state, which had important influence. China should take this opportunity to strengthen public diplomacy through various channels and means and create a favorable state image. Since the 3rd 134

Statistical Report of the State Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, http://www.hanban.edu.cn, accessed May 23, 2013.

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Plenary Session of 17th CPC Central Committee, the central leadership has paid greater attention to the media as a tool of public diplomacy. In 2008, Li Changchun addressed the meeting marking the 50th anniversary of the birth of China Central Television station and the founding of China’s TV industry. He said: “In the present era, those who have advanced communication means and powerful telecommunication capabilities would be able to spread their ideology, culture and values more extensively and influence the world more effectively.”135

6.6.3.4. City diplomacy China has had 1,500 pairs of sister-province or sister-city relationship established with 120 countries. China has also set up China International Friendship Cities Association to vigorously promote the friendly sister-city activities between China and other countries. The international sister-city activities have served China’s overall diplomacy and have also played an important role in promoting opening up and economic development at the local level.136

6.6.3.5. Cultural diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges Cultural diplomacy and exchanges embrace educational and cultural exchanges. They are an important part of the national development strategy and the foreign policy strategy. The development of culture and education and the promotion of external educational and cultural exchange are an important element in enhancing a country’s international competitiveness and safeguarding its national security in the era of globalization. Cultural exchanges are an important part of public diplomacy and an important means to build the cultural soft power of a country. The launch of China–US High-Level Consultation on 135

Zhang Yinzhi: The National Public Relations Gradually on the Tract — Explore the Road for China’s Public Relations or Soft Power Through Studying the Public Relations Strategy of Other Countries, People’s Daily, July 6, 2010. 136 Li Xiaolin: Embrace the World in the Tide of Reform and Opening Up — People-toPeople Diplomacy since Reform and Opening up, Qiushi, 2009, No. 4, pp. 55–57.

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People-to-People Exchange mechanism clearly shows that both the Chinese and US governments give weight to the building of their cultural soft power and development of public diplomacy. It is a good tradition of New China to attach importance to the status and role of cultural exchanges in public diplomacy. Over the past 60 years since the founding of New China, remarkable achievements have been scored in the economic, cultural and social developments, and the international community has paid increasing attention to China. However, due to historical and practical reasons, the general public in foreign countries still has biases and misunderstandings about China to varying degrees. China should conduct public diplomacy to gradually let the world know a true China, a responsible China and create a sound international environment and friendly public opinions for China’s development. After years of efforts, the Chinese public diplomacy has now produced a series of “mature public goods”. On 25 May 2010, during the second round of the China–US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the first meeting of China– US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange and signed the MOU on Establishing High-Level Consultation on Peopleto-People Exchange. At present, the Chinese and US governments intend to consolidate the mechanisms for “educational, scientific and technological, cultural, sports and other exchanges that have been covered in different mechanisms into one, that is, the new mechanism of the High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, so that the Sino–US relations will have a more profound people-to-people and culture-to-culture meaning” and hence “have a more solid foundation for a sustainable development”.137 China has also staged such activities as the “Cultural Week”, “Cultural Trip”, “Cultural Festival” and “Culture Year” in cooperation with other countries, which have greatly facilitated the enhancement of exchanges and mutual understanding between the Chinese people and people of the countries 137

Huang Renguo: Analysis of China–US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange Mechanism, Contemporary International Relations, 2010, No. 8, pp. 17–23.

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involved in these activities and have opened up new forms of dialogue among different civilizations on an equal footing.138

6.6.4. Public Diplomacy and China’s Image With a good image, a state would find it easier to get other countries to recognize its statements and actions in the international community and find it easier to influence and convince other countries, which in turn means that the country has a strong soft power and a wider space for its international activities. A good image would also enable a country to take initiative in international affairs and in international competition, enhance its diplomatic strength and its right to speak in international affairs and realize its national goals and interests. Therefore, a good image of a country, to some extent, has become “a banner of its foreign relations, a pass to the world and a booster for its social and economic development”.139 The emergence of the concept of the image of a country is not a product of globalization after the end of the Cold War. Thucydides mentioned it as early as in the History of the Peloponnesian War. However, the concept that an individual country should have a distinctive state image has been developed only in modern times. The preferred state image during the wars among big countries in the 17th and 18th centuries was a state of power and strength that had the will and ability to launch a war abroad and win victory. In the era of imperialism in the 19th century, the preferred image was that of an expansionist country mainly seeking to annex territories from other countries and merging overseas territories. By the 20th century, the two brutal world wars taught people that there should be a different state image from that of the previous centuries. Hence, to pursue peace and oppose war became the mainstream thinking. Since the 1970s, the ideal state image has been a country of economic prosperity and dynamic development in addition to standing for peace. The changes in the preferred state image testify that the connotations of 138

Information Office of the State Council: China’s Peaceful Development Road, December 2005, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005-12/22/content_134060.htm, accessed May 23, 2010. 139 Liu Jinan: The International Dissemination and the State Image, Beijing: Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press, 2002 Edition, p. 3.

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a state’s international image bear the features of the times. Similarly, earth-shaking changes have taken place in the international image of China, an ancient big nation. China led the world in economics, science and technology and as a civilization for thousands of years. It maintained an image of a strong, prosperous, civilized and advanced middle kingdom in its foreign relations and was once called the “Heavenly State”; the monarch was known as “Heavenly Khan”. In modern times, due to corruption and incompetence of feudal rulers of the Qing Dynasty, China’s state image plummeted. It was subjected to repeated aggression and humiliation by world powers and the Chinese people were once known as the “sick men of Asia” and were reduced to “Chinese and dogs not allowed”. Since the outbreak of an all-out antiJapanese war, the Chinese people, under the CPC leadership, fought a tough, tenacious and heroic struggle against the brutality of Japanese imperialism and made huge national sacrifices. China became the main battlefield of the international anti-fascist war in the East, which won it the image of one of the world’s “big four countries”. After the founding of the PRC, China put a complete end to all imperialist forces in China and formed a complete new image of an independent China relying on its own for development and improvement. Since the 1980’s, the reform and opening-up campaign under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping has led China onto a development road which suits the conditions of China and transformed its image from a closed-door, inflexible, trouble-making rebel country into an open, enterprising and dynamic country that keeps abreast of the trends of peace and development in the era of globalization. Since the beginning of the new century, China’s image suffered repeated criticism from the outside world. The clamors about the “China threat” or “China’s bankruptcy” have never stopped. The “China expansion” theory and “China plunders small countries” theory can also be heard from time to time. How should it build a new popular image of the country on the basis of consolidating the existing positive image of a peace-loving, hegemony-opposing and cooperation-promoting country? This is an issue that the new CPC collective leadership and the Chinese people must address in the new era. In the past 30 years, China’s economy has grown at a speed rarely seen in the world and with high quality. At the same time, China has

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unswervingly followed the socialist road. All this has prompted some politicians and theoreticians in the West to misinterpret China’s intention and wonder whether China would challenge the existing international order in the future and whether China would retaliate against those world powers that once harmed China. All these, coupled with the diaphragm brought about by ideological and geopolitical differences and malicious demonization of China by some individuals, have all adversely affected China’s image of a country pursuing peaceful development and have also made some countries and people worry about China. How to adapt to China’s peaceful rise seems to be number one issue for the world, particularly for those countries whose economy has been impacted by China’s economic development. The Chinese government believes in the principle of unity between national harmony and world harmony and between national interests and the common interests of all mankind that China has consistently adhered to. China has always linked its own development with common progress of humanity, taking full advantage of the opportunities brought by world peace and development to develop itself on the one hand, whilst contributing to world peace and common prosperity with its own development on the other. The concept of building a harmonious world and the outlook on development have ensured unity between China’s diplomatic thinking and its governance concept (i.e. the scientific outlook on development and the idea of building a harmonious society), clarified the diplomatic connotations of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence initiated by China, reduced the possibilities of strategic misjudgment due to uncertainties, and more clearly set out the image-shaping principle, i.e. a harmonious image of an “independent” country pursuing “reform and development” and living side by side with the world in harmony. Hu Jintao said: “China’s development is peaceful development, open development, cooperative development and harmonious development.”140

140

Hu Jintao: Work Together to Build a Harmonious World With Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — The 2006 New Year Message, Xinhuanet, December 31, 2005, http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2005-12/31/content_3994714.htm, accessed June 19, 2013.

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According to the principle, China should have a state image of a peaceful, open, cooperative and harmonious country. However, it should not stop short at formulating a principle — people in the world would not automatically accept your principle as it is. A principle must be put into practice. People would not be convinced or accept any principle unless it is tested in practice. The Chinese government believes that to implement the principle of shaping a harmonious country image for China means making efforts to build a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity or a democratic, harmonious, just and tolerant world in terms of policy practice. Only when it truly incorporates the “democratic, harmonious, just, tolerant” elements of a harmonious image into our actual policies, can the international community be convinced and can the principle be persuasive. For China, democracy means taking the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as the basic norms guiding its international behavior, complying with the UN Charter and the universally recognized international laws, making judgment on the merits and demerits of a matter itself, and taking initiative to communicate and enhance mutual trust when it encountered contradictions or problems. China believes that developing countries should enjoy the right to participation and decision-making on an equal footing in international relations. Therefore, it is opposed to unilateralism and it has advocated and promoted multilateralism. It stands for giving full play to the positive role of the UN and its Security Council in international affairs as much as possible. Hu Jintao unambiguously proposed an international strategy: “People of all countries should work together to build a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity. Politically, all countries should respect each other and conduct consultations on an equal footing in a common endeavor to promote democracy in international relations. Economically, they should cooperate with each other, draw on each other’s strengths and work together to advance economic globalization in the direction of balanced development, shared benefits and win-win progress situations. Culturally, they should learn from each other in the spirit of seeking common ground while shelving differences, respect the diversity of the world, and make joint efforts to advance the human civilization. In the area of security, they should trust each other,

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strengthen cooperation, settle international disputes by peaceful means rather than by war, and work together to safeguard peace and stability in the world. In the area of security, they should trust each other, strengthen cooperation, settle international disputes by peaceful means rather than by war, and work together to safeguard peace and stability in the world. On environmental issues, they should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation efforts to take good care of the Earth, the only home of human beings.” It was under these guiding principles that China made a tremendous contribution during the financial crises of 1997 and 2008. China announced at the China–Africa Cooperation Forum its decision to provide a number of African countries with aid and preferential measures without any conditions attached. This fully testifies to the fact that China is a good friend, good partner and good comrade of the African people and of the people of developing countries in general. By tolerance, we mean that China will not, in practice, reject, attack or even assimilate the civilization of other countries with its own Confucian civilization, nor will it engage in confrontation with those countries that practice ideologies different from the socialist and Marxist ideology that China adheres to, even less should it impose its own concepts and policies on others. On the contrary, China stands for “harmony without uniformity” and it believes that all countries should learn from each other, draw on each other’s experience and make common progress. In the process of setting up the SCO with the five Central Asian countries and Russia, the Chinese government showed the new inclusive style and spirit of respecting diversity of civilizations and diversified development paths. China has organized the Culture Year of China in France, Russia and other countries, which in turn hold their cultural years in China. Besides these, the Chinese government has also actively promoted the Chinese culture abroad and cultural exchanges around the world so as to present the colorful Chinese civilization and the historical depth of the Chinese culture to the world, to enable the world to know China and to see the inclusiveness and openness of the Chinese civilization and the vision and courage of a big socialist country.141 141

Meng Xiaosi: The Concept of a Harmonious World and Cultural Exchange in Overall Diplomacy, Qiushi, 2006, No. 20, pp. 58–60.

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Former Premier Wen Jiabao clearly stated in his report on government work at the 5th session of the 10th National People’s Congress in March 2007 that we should develop the image of China as a peaceful, democratic, culturally advanced and progressive country.142 This statement has laid an important foundation for scientifically defining China’s national image. But it does not fully reflect the nature of China as a socialist country, the essence of China’s diplomacy and the inherent requirements of China’s international responsibilities. Thus, in addition to the above-mentioned elements, China must develop the image of China as a peaceful, democratic, culturally advanced, progressive, prosperous, just, responsible and cooperative socialist big country.

142

Premier Wen Jiabao’s Report on the Work of the Government Delivered at the 5th Session of the 10th National People’s Congress, People’s Net, March 6, 2007, http:// cpc.people.conn.cn/GB/64093/64094/5443625.html, accessed June 21, 2009.

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Party Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics NIU Haibin

With in-depth development of economic globalization, there have been increasingly frequent exchanges among countries and diplomacy has gone beyond the traditional scope in terms of its means and content. Following World War II, the number of political parties in the world has increased. Political parties, as a dominant political force in modern politics, have been able to exert influence beyond the domestic political life. They may impact the external relations of their own countries, through direct involvement in both the formulation of the foreign strategy and policy and in diplomatic practices. They have steadily and increasingly enhanced their influence and role not only in their domestic politics and but also in international politics. Party diplomacy has become an important part of modern diplomacy and international relations. The combination of party diplomacy, government diplomacy, non-governmental diplomacy, parliamentary diplomacy and other means of diplomacy has contributed to the trend toward a three-dimensional contemporary diplomacy. And the CPC has developed the party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the course of leading the entire Chinese people in achieving the great national rejuvenation and building socialism with Chinese characteristics. A growing all-round, multi-channel, wide-ranging and in-depth party diplomacy structure with Chinese characteristics has taken shape. The CPC-led party diplomacy has paid equal attention to development and openness, taken the scientific outlook on

415

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development as its guide, acted in the long-term interests and in a practical and efficient manner and has thus developed steadily. It promises broad prospects.

7.1. The Content and Development of Party Diplomacy Our extensive research has revealed that the party diplomacy was first identified as one type of diplomacy only in the 1990s. The following are the general descriptions of the concept of the party diplomacy by the academic literature on China: (1) The party diplomacy is also called inter-party liaison work or external relations conducted and maintained by the Party, and it is an important part of China’s overall diplomacy and a basic aspect of China’s entire diplomatic work. (2) Party diplomacy generally refers to external contacts made by a political party or parties to promote state-to-state relations. In China, it refers to such contacts by the CPC Central Committee, which is an important part of China’s overall diplomacy. (3) From the perspective of the international communist movement, party diplomacy refers specifically to political activities that the ruling party (or parties) in the socialist countries has initiated, including contacts, cooperation and struggles with political parties of different shades in other countries for a specific purpose. This type of party diplomacy represents policy orientation, values and practice of the political group of the ruling party or parties in the course of foreign exchanges, especially contacts and relations with political parties of other countries. (4) Party diplomacy generally refers to international exchanges and cooperation among legal political parties of the sovereign states as well as the operation of international inter-party organizations. (5) Party diplomacy refers to contacts and exchanges carried out by political parties of one country, including opposition parties, with legal political parties of other major countries and international organizations in order to safeguard the national interests and to promote the relations among countries under the guidance of the country’s overall diplomatic strategy. It is subordinate to

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government diplomacy and is an important part of the state’s overall diplomacy.1,2,3,4 Party diplomacy is part of the overall diplomacy of a country. It is linked with the concepts of the political party’s external relations, inter-party relations and government diplomacy, but it also differs from them. Party diplomacy has come into being as political parties have become actors of international relations, party politics have become widespread and popular, and global issues have emerged one after another. First, party diplomacy differs from the political party’s external relations. Though both involve cross-nation contacts by political parties, the latter is extensive and covers everything. Only when a political party makes external contacts for maintaining the national interests of its country and for promoting state relations, can such contacts be considered as party diplomacy. In addition, the main body of the party diplomacy must be the legal political party or parties of a country while that of the political party’s external relations is not necessarily a legal political party of a country. Secondly, party diplomacy also differs from inter-party relations. Party diplomacy focuses more on the state interests and state-to-state relations. Political party or parties take such political actions with legal political parties of other countries. On the other hand, inter-party relations focus more on the relationship between political parties of different countries and emphasize the degree of such a relationship. Finally, party diplomacy and the government diplomacy have different objects to work with. Their working methods and content of contacts may differ to a varying degree. In government diplomacy, the subject of contacts and exchange activities is the government with their object being other states or governments. However, for party diplomacy, both the subject 1

Shi Xinhua: A Brief Discussion on Several Theoretical Issues Concerning CPC Party Diplomacy, Tian Fu New Idea, 2010, No. 3, pp. 8–21. 2 Wang Fuchun: An Introduction to Administration of Foreign Affairs, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2003 Edition. 3 Zhou Yuyun: On Party Diplomacy, World Economics and Politics, 2001, No. 7, pp. 16–21. 4 Wang Yun and Zhao Liming: Several Basic Issues in Studying Party Diplomacy, Journal of China Youth College of Political Sciences, 2008, No. 1, pp. 68–71.

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and the object are political parties. In terms of the content of the contacts and exchanges, government diplomacy deals with specific issues between states and between governments, while party diplomacy is not specifically involved in the handling of specific matters. Party diplomacy may adopt more flexible methods, free from the limitations and constraints of diplomatic relations and diplomatic protocol. To sum up, party diplomacy is a general term for external contacts and activities carried out by the legal political party or parties of a country with other countries for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of the party or parties and the state and for promoting inter-state relations at the three levels of concepts, policy propositions and practical activities. The party diplomacy in this book specifically refers to the values, policy orientation and practice that the CPC has demonstrated in making external contacts, and in particular, in its exchanges with political parties of other countries. For many years before the founding of the PRC, the CPC was not the ruling party in China and its external contacts and exchange activities before the founding of New China cannot be considered as party diplomacy. However, the CPC’s experience in that period has provided important inspiration and reference, and it has accumulated experience and brought up qualified professionals for party diplomacy after the founding of New China. In assessing the development of the CPC’s party diplomacy, its external contacts before the founding of New China have not been considered as party diplomacy, but rather just as the party’s external relations or inter-party relations.

7.1.1. The Connotation of Party Diplomacy Given the importance of the political party system in today’s politics, party diplomacy has very rich connotations. Party diplomacy covers feasibility study tours, theoretical discussions, political dialogue, seminars on economic and cultural cooperation, and any exchange of views on how to govern a country, build a prosperous nation and address international and regional issues. It also includes discussions on how to promote the development of state-to-state relations, find new ways for party self-improvement, among others. The external

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exchanges by the CPC may cover different subject matters in different historical periods. In general, they feature ever-expanding exchanges in terms of fields and subject matters. Broadly speaking, external contacts and party diplomacy conducted by the CPC in the past 90 years have the political, economic and theoretical connotations as outlined below.

7.1.1.1. Political connotations The political dialogue is an important part of the inter-party exchanges, which is decided by the property of political parties. They are the most important political forces and the ruling party or parties, in particular, are a concentrated embodiment of a country’s politics and the most direct driving force for political development. Before the founding of New China, the main task of the CPC was to complete the new democratic revolution. This task itself determined that the political line, class interests and social systems, among others, had a dominant position in the political life of the Party. This was manifested in the CPC external contacts by focusing on developing relations with those foreign political parties that had adopted a similar political line. The birth of the CPC was a result of continuously spreading of Marxism– Leninism by progressive intellectuals in China and combining Marxism–Leninism with the workers’ movements after the Chinese working class ascended onto the stage of history. The CPC attached great importance to establishing ties with the communist parties and workers’ parties of other countries after its inception. In this process, the influence of the Communist International on China was clearly visible. It can be said that the CPC was established in accordance with Lenin’s thinking on the founding of the party and the model of the Bolshevik Party.5 In the early years after its founding, the CPC, through developing relations with the Communist International, managed to win sympathy, understanding and support of the communist parties and revolutionary people of other countries for its 5

Du Kangchuan and Li Jingzhi (eds.): An Introduction to International Communist Movement, Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2002 Edition, p. 128.

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revolutionary cause and enhanced the mutual understanding and cooperation between the CPC and the communist parties, revolutionary organizations and peoples of other countries. In the contacts and exchanges between the CPC and the Communist International in those early years, the emphasis was on political guidance and dialogue, in which the CPC learnt a great deal in theory and experience, and at the same time it was negatively affected by the latter’s errors in guidance. After the Zunyi Conference, the CPC persistently combined the basic principles of Marxism with China’s realities and found a line for a new democratic revolution suited to China’s national conditions. In addition, the CPC adopted a more mature approach in handling its relations with the Communist International, stopped deifying the experience of the Communist International and that of the Soviet Union and refrained from taking erroneous instructions of the Communist International. The Yan’an Rectification Movement in 1942 combated the dogmatic tendency, which enabled the whole Party to get united under the banner of Mao Zedong Thought and to continue to lead the revolutionary cause against the Japanese aggression independently after the dissolution of the Communist International in 1943. The exchanges and dialogue that the CPC conducted with the communist parties of the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries and Asian countries before the founding of New China helped in increasing their understanding of and their support for the Chinese revolution, creating a relatively good external environment for the victory of the Chinese revolution and the diplomatic recognition of New China soon after the founding of New China. During the decade-long Cultural Revolution, the CPC’s external relations were seriously politicized. Some erroneous slogans were put forward and it was then believed that the goal and purpose of the CPC’s external work were to “support the broad masses of the left and oppose revisionism” and to “support the world revolution”. All this had adversely affected the CPC’s external exchanges. In short, before the 1970s, the CPC conducted and developed its external contacts and relations through exchanging delegations with political parties of other countries, participating in each others’ party congresses and exchanging congratulatory messages. The main purposes of these contacts and exchanges

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were to state the Party’s political positions, exchange views on major international and regional issues and expound propositions on how to develop inter-party and inter-state relations. But constrained by the domestic and international situations then and by ideological considerations, the objects of the CPC’s contacts were confined to the political parties of other countries and their international organizations with whom the CPC shared a similar ideology and political line. After the founding of New China, the CPC became the ruling party and its foreign exchanges started to assume more characteristics of the party diplomacy. In the initial years after the founding of New China, the central organs of the party and the state, especially the CPC Central Committee, were at the core of the leadership of the state political system. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its Standing Committee were the organs with which the real political power rested. The establishment of the Foreign Affairs Group of the CPC Central Committee represented the principal institution of the Party controlling diplomatic work. After the 1970s, major changes took place in the domestic and international situation. World multi-polarization and economic globalization developed amid twists and turns. Various shades of ideologies, political forces and social movements competed and coexisted with one another and the vast majority of political parties of the world, including the CPC, generally wished to strengthen their mutual communication and understanding. Deng Xiaoping pointed out on a number of occasions that the CPC, taking the socialist road, recognized disparities and even disputes existing in the social systems and ideologies in the world. Contradictions and differences should be solved peacefully through normal exchanges, dialogue and negotiations in the spirit of seeking common ground while reserving differences, not through ideological debates, and particularly not through confrontation. Jiang Zemin also stressed that political parties of all countries should increase exchanges and dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and should respect diversified development. It has become an important aspect of the CPC’s external relations in the new era to exchange experience with parties of other countries on how to run the party and govern the country. And it is an important function of the

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CPC’s party diplomacy to learn from the strong points of political parties of other countries, learn from their experiences and lessons, and build up its own capabilities of governance. Since the start of the reform and opening up, the CPC has been faced with considerably heavier tasks of economic and social development in China. Especially after the drastic changes took place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the communist parties there lost their ruling position in the late 1980s, the CPC collective leadership has made greater efforts to explore the law of governance by the ruling party and draw on and learn from the ruling political parties of other countries on how to manage the party and govern the country, including parties in developed countries and countries in transition. The CPC has studied successful experiences and failure lessons of political parties of other countries from the strategic perspective. With the significant increase in China’s aggregate national strength and its higher international status, many other countries have shown great interest in the Chinese experience and even the “China model”. They are eager to know how a rising China will look at the international system. This has presented the CPC with a new task of presenting China to the world through the party diplomacy.

7.1.1.2. Economic connotations Since the founding of New China, the CPC has shifted its main task from winning national independence to building a prosperous country. Hence, development has become an important task of the CPC in governing the country and rejuvenating the nation. An important aspect of its party diplomacy has been to increase knowledge of foreign markets, learn from the experience of other countries in economic development and promote economic cooperation with other countries. Before the reform and opening up, the inter-party contacts by the CPC were mainly for political dialogue, rarely involved in economic matters. Notwithstanding this, the economic cooperation between the New China and the Soviet Union was still the best example to show how the CPC promoted economic cooperation through party diplomacy before the reform and opening up. After the

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establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US, especially after the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, the CPC’s party diplomacy has enriched its economic connotation and has given it greater importance. With an increasingly fiercer competition for the overall national strength among countries and the rapidly rising status of economic factors in international relations, to develop the national economy of a country and strengthen one’s position in the international competition have become an important task of the ruling parties of various countries. The CPC, which advances with the times, has made development the top priority in governing the country and rejuvenating the nation. Deng Xiaoping made it very clear that “development is the absolute principle”: “If we want socialism to achieve superiority over capitalism, we should not hesitate to draw on the achievements of all cultures and to learn from other countries, including the developed capitalist countries, all advanced methods of operation and techniques of management that reflect the laws governing modern socialized production.” Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and other CPC leaders have also positively advocated that party diplomacy should serve economic development. They have emphasized that development is essential not only to the national economy, people’s livelihoods and the long-term peace and stability of a country, but also to world peace and security. Economy has increasingly become the primary and key factor in today’s international relations. And economic development has become the central task of the Party. Meanwhile, many political parties of other countries would like to add the economic agenda to the exchanges they conduct with the CPC as China has accelerated its economic development and has offered the world with broad market prospects after the reform and opening up. Against this background of the times, the CPC, conforming to the trend of the world economic globalization, has highlighted the function of economic exchanges in its party diplomacy so as to serve China’s socialist modernization drive. While creating a favorable environment for China’s economic development, the party diplomacy has added economic factors to its activities. In 1980s, the CPC expanded inter-party relations to new areas and explored and found new ways

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and new forms of party diplomacy, such as “party diplomacy setting the stage for economic and trade activities to perform”, in light of the actual needs of the reform and opening up. Between May and June of 2000, Wu Guanzheng paid an official goodwill visit, as the head of a CPC delegation, to Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela at the invitation of the Uruguay government, the Liberal Front Party (PFL) — the main ruling party in Brazil, and the 5th Republic Movement (MVR) — the ruling party in Venezuela. The economic and trade group, part of the entourage of Wu Guanzheng’s delegation, made extensive contacts with the business communities of the three countries and signed 20 economic and trade contracts, agreements or letters of intent through consultations and negotiations. This was a successful attempt to promote economic and trade cooperation through party diplomacy and also an intrinsic coordination of party diplomacy and economic diplomacy. In its inter-party contacts, the CPC has intensively studied the roads and strategies of economic development of other countries, learned their experience and lessons in economic development and their operation and reform of the economic management systems and has extensively exchanged views with political parties of other countries with a view to learning from each other. Very often, senior officials of the CPC would take business leaders from the economic sector with them during their overseas trips so as to directly facilitate cooperation between Chinese enterprises and their foreign counterparts and offer Chinese entrepreneurs and business leaders opportunities to learn and draw on the development experience of other countries. In addition, the CPC has tried to bring Chinese provinces and economic sectors into contact with their foreign counterparts for trade and economic cooperation, and to attract foreign capital, technology and talents. In sum, it has become a routine function of the CPC’s party diplomacy in the new era to learn advanced management experience of other countries in relevant industries, acquire knowledge of the international market and development policies, import advanced technologies and attract talents from abroad. To promote economic cooperation between countries has increasingly become an important part of the CPC’s party diplomacy. The CPC delegations have, during their overseas visits, focused more and

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more on understanding the national conditions of the countries they are visiting and studying their managerial experience in a wide range of diversified areas, including party self-improvement and marketing, administration, judicial, social and other fields. These overseas tours have positively helped to broaden the vision of CPC party members and to build the CPC capabilities for governance. Through party diplomacy, the CPC has — adhering to the principle of combining politics and economy and facilitating the two to reinforce each other, in support of China’s domestic economic development — tried to strike a balance between serving the domestic economic and social development and responding to the demands by foreign political parties for trade and economic cooperation, and helped build a bridge between Chinese and foreign enterprises for trade and economic cooperation. These are two-way exchanges. The CPC has also received many visiting party delegations from other countries. For example, in connection with the “vigorously developing Western China” strategy, the CPC has made arrangements for hundreds of groups of foreign political parties, groups and friendly people to visit the western part of China. They are the new practice and new results of party diplomacy. These field trips and exchanges have helped them gain a comprehensive knowledge and better understanding of the conditions in China and the CPC’s principles and policies.

7.1.1.3. Theoretical connotations To engage in theoretical discussions with foreign political parties is an important connotation of party diplomacy in the new era. With the development and changes in the international situation and with the evolution of party politics in the world, political parties of all countries are faced with many new and major theoretical issues in such areas as party building, the development of the country, international and bilateral relations and global issues. It is the general desire of political parties of all countries to discuss ways to respond to these issues, share development experience, seek consensus in theories and concepts and promote common prosperity. The CPC has held theoretical discussions with foreign political parties at both the bilateral

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and multilateral levels. Such discussions are devoted to both the internal problems of the participating countries and political parties as well as international and regional issues. The CPC has had such discussions with both the ruling parties and the parties not in power. In April 2004, for example, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP Group) in the European Parliament jointly organized the seminar on China–EU Trade Relations and the WTO to offer advice on how to better develop China–EU trade and economic cooperation after China’s accession to the WTO. In May 2007, the CPC and the United Russia jointly hosted a seminar on Sino–Russian Relations in the Global and Regional Context, which enriched the “China Year” activities held in Russia and promoted the inter-party cooperation between China and Russia. Another example was the 2nd China–US High-level Political Party Leaders Dialogue held in December 2010. The two sides had a frank, open and in-depth dialogue on the governing philosophy and practice of the political parties of China and the US, Sino–US relations and major international and regional issues of common interest. Also at the dialogue, the Chinese side briefed the US side on the main content of the CPC’s Proposal on the 12th FiveYear Plan and its significance, and also expounded the CPC’s concept and practice of scientific development, peaceful and harmonious development as well as the CPC’s policy propositions on major domestic and foreign affairs while the two US parties expressed their respective views on the current political and economic situation in the US and the main opportunities and challenges they were facing then. With the increasing importance of global challenges in the national policy agenda in recent years, theoretical discussions on global issues have become an important part of CPC’s party diplomacy recently. These discussions have played an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation between the CPC and other countries and foreign political parties of the world, improving the CPC’s capabilities for governance and broadening its international perspective. Theoretical discussions on the party building and the governance of the country have assumed much greater importance in the new era.

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The Central Party School, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and other similar organizations have attached great importance to exchanges of experience with foreign political parties in running the party and governing the country and to learn in depth the practices of the ruling parties of other socialist countries in improving themselves and in promoting the development in the economic and other fields; the causes behind the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s; reasons why some of the big political parties in countries like Mexico that had been in power for years had lost their ruling position; the pros and cons of the neoliberal reforms introduced by political parties in some Asian, African and Latin American countries; and practices of political parties in Western Europe in strengthening their party building; to learn important experiences of all types of foreign political parties in improving governance, the leadership system, working mechanisms, and ways to handle the relations between the Party and the masses, to adjust and expand the social basis of the Party; and to continuously push forward the CPC’s innovation both in theory and in practice. On the other hand, foreign political parties would also like to know more about the way in which the CPC governs the country and what is happening in China in order to learn from and draw on the CPC’s experience. Not only the ruling parties of socialist countries such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Vietnam, the Laos and Cuba, but also political parties of some developing countries and even those in some developed countries in the West have been paying more attention to the CPC’s policies and strategies for running the party and governing the country. Between 2003 and 2007, for example, the CPC and the Communist Party of Vietnam held three theoretical seminars, entitled “Socialism and the Market Economy: The Vietnamese Experience and Chinese Experience”, “Ruling Party Development: The Vietnamese Experience and Chinese Experience” and “Theories and Practice of Scientific and Harmonious Development in Socialist Social and Economic Construction”. These exchanges and discussions have contributed significantly to the promotion of learning from each other between the CPC and political parties of other countries and making common progress and they are also of

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far-reaching and positive importance in upgrading the relationship between China and other countries from the theoretical and strategic perspective.

7.1.2. The Development of Party Diplomacy The party diplomacy of China is an integral part of the rising world party diplomacy. Party diplomacy is an important channel through which the CPC observes, understands and moves to the world. It is also an important window and vehicle for the international community to get to know the CPC. Since the founding of the CPC, with the changes in the domestic and international situation, the party diplomacy has gone through a historical transition from serving the revolution to serving the construction. Having traversed an arduous journey for 90 years, the CPC has developed its external contacts, step by step, from the start-up phase to today’s institutionalized stage, from insisting on the principles of independence, equality and mutual benefit and seeking common ground while reserving differences, to the four principles governing inter-party relations, transcending ideology and subjecting inter-party relations to state-to-state relations, and furthermore to refraining from carrying the banner and taking the lead in world affairs, respecting the diversity of the world, and conducting party diplomacy for economic construction. All this has yielded rich fruits in the party diplomacy in the political, economic, military, cultural fields, amongst others. Especially since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC has developed its external relations with no consideration to ideological differences whatsoever, expanded the objects of its contacts to include all political parties that are willing to work with the CPC and shifted the focal points in its exchanges from political dialogue to economic cooperation. As a result, the CPC has seen unprecedentedly frequent high-level inter-party exchanges, a marked expansion of the functions and content of the party diplomacy, and all-round influence of the party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. After the 16th CPC National Congress, the Party expanded the scope of external contacts and relations to include regional and international organizations of political parties. The proposed concepts of

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peaceful development, harmonious world and harmonious society further enriched the content of the CPC’s external relations. Since the beginning of the new century, the CPC has been committed to conducting party diplomacy oriented toward people, for the people and for a good international image of the CPC. Overall, the CPC party diplomacy exhibits five important features: First, steadily increased objects and wider scope for CPC’s external contacts and exchanges; second, increased high-level inter-party exchanges and enhanced political mutual trust and consensus; third, enriched contents of the Party’s external exchanges, especially with regard to sharing experience in running the party and governing the country, covering an increasingly wider range of topics; fourth, focusing on the effectiveness of inter-party exchanges, promoting economic cooperation through political contacts and promoting political cooperation through economic ties; and fifth, enhanced external public awareness in the inter-party exchanges to give foreign political parties a comprehensive view of China. The CPC, the ruling party of the largest developing country in the world, has had frequent contacts with political parties and political organizations across all countries and increased dialogue and exchanges of experience with them. In this process, a pattern of party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has taken shape. The evolution and development of the CPC’s external contacts and relations over the past 90 years since its founding can be summed up in six stages by the objects and content of these exchanges and contacts, as detailed in the following subsection.

7.1.2.1. CPC’s external relations before the founding of New China The CPC was the product of combining Marxism–Leninism with the Chinese workers’ movement and was born under the influence of the October Revolution and with the help of the Lenin-led Communist International. The CPC was founded when the Chinese nation’s fate hung in the balance. As a revolutionary party, the CPC was faced with the development tasks of survival and expansion. The main purpose

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of the CPC’s external contacts and relations was to win sympathy and support of political parties and other organizations in the world for the Chinese revolution. The main objects of the CPC’s external contacts in this period were the Bolshevik Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist International under its leadership. Given the actual circumstances of the Chinese revolution at that point in time, the contacts between the CPC and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) were not made public in most cases. At the very beginning of its founding, the CPC actively sought to contact the Bolshevik Party of the Soviet Union and officially joined the Communist International in 1922 as a branch in the Far East. In the initial period after it’s founding, the CPC, through its relations with the Communist International, won sympathy, understanding and support of the communist parties and the revolutionary people of various countries for the CPC’s revolutionary cause and enhanced the mutual understanding and cooperation between the CPC and the communist parties, revolutionary organizations and the people of these countries. During the period of Great National Revolution and the Agrarian Revolution, the CPC, still in the stage of infancy, lacked revolutionary experience. And the Communist International intervened in the CPC’s internal affairs and adopted a subjective and dogmatic attitude toward the Chinese revolution. Consequently, the Party and the revolutionary cause suffered severe setbacks. Only after the Zunyi Conference, the CPC, insisting on combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s reality, gradually got rid of the absolute leadership of the Communist International and identified a line for the new democratic revolution in line with China’s national conditions. During the later period of the Liberation War in China, the two parties of China and the Soviet Union had close contacts. In January 1949, the CPSU sent Mikoyan to the CPC for a secret visit, which played an important role in enabling CPSU to have a comprehensive knowledge of the revolutionary situation in China and in enabling the CPC Central Committee to map the strategic plan for the victory of the revolution nationwide. On the eve of the founding of New China, the CPC dispatched a delegation headed by Liu Shaoqi to the Soviet Union in order to obtain the Soviet support for the New China. This visit contributed significantly to the

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deepened friendship between the two parties of the Soviet Union and China and to the recognition of and support for the New China by the Soviet Union. Though these contacts were not made public in most cases in consideration of the objective environment of the Chinese revolution, they facilitated the establishment of the international antiimperialist and anti-feudal united front and helped secure valuable international support for the victory of the new democratic revolution in China. They also offered experience and lessons in conducting external contacts for the CPC to learn, which served as a guide for its party diplomacy as the ruling party after the founding of New China, and laid a cognitional foundation for the formation of the theory of the CPC’s party diplomacy after the founding of New China.

7.1.2.2. Preliminary exploration of CPC’s party diplomacy During the initial period of the founding of New China, the main task of the party diplomacy was to consolidate the newly born government and to create a favorable international environment for the domestic economic construction. In the context of encirclement and embargo imposed by imperialists on China, the smooth conduct of the external contacts by the CPC was of great significance for consolidating its ruling position, stabilizing the domestic situation and creating opportunities for diplomacy to work. It was the imperialist siege and blockade of China after the founding of New China that prompted the central government to adopt the “leaning to one side” foreign policy, or leaning to the socialist camp. As a result, the CPC maintained contacts mainly with communist parties and workers’ parties of other countries, especially with those of the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in its external work. To consolidate the solidarity with the Soviet Union and all socialist countries represented CPC’s basic principle and its basic interests. China and the Soviet Union signed the Sino–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in early 1950, through which the two countries entered into an alliance and hence the communist parties of the two countries entered into a period of unprecedented friendship between them. In order to strengthen the relations between the CPC and the

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communist parties and workers’ parties of other countries, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee was established in January 1951, which was responsible for the CPC’s external work and which marked the start of the party diplomacy in its strict meaning. It is true that the CPC had an organ to take charge of its external contacts before that. However, the external activities conducted by the CPC before 1949 could not be considered as party diplomacy, as the CPC was not a ruling party then. In April 1955, the Steering Committee for International Activities of the CPC Central Committee was established to coordinate and give guidance to all external contacts, except for government diplomatic activities. In the context of the confrontation between the two camps, to strengthen relations with the communist parties and the workers’ parties of the socialist countries and to promote trade and personnel exchanges with these countries were of great significance for strengthening the unity of the socialist camp and breaking the economic blockade imposed on the New China by the US-led Western countries. During this period, the CPC also developed friendly relations with the communist parties of France, UK, Italy and other such countries, parties that were fairly influential in the Communist International. In addition, the CPC also had contacts with several nationalist parties in Asian, African and Latin American countries, including the Congress Party of India and the Anti-fascist People’s Freedom League of the Union of Burma. It had contacted some socialist parties in the capitalist countries such as the Labour Party of Britain and the Socialist Party of Italy. From the founding of New China up to 1956, thanks to the victory of the revolution and the smooth conduct of construction in China, the CPC enjoyed an unprecedented international prestige. The communist parties and workers’ parties from 56 countries sent their representatives to the 8th CPC National Congress in 1956, which was a grand assembly for the CPC’s external work in the early period of the founding of New China. In 1959, 61 foreign political parties dispatched their representatives to the grand ceremony in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of New China. During this period, the CPC had extensively established friendly relations with the communist parties and the progressive forces of the socialist

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countries and other countries, which helped to open a new situation for the CPC’s external relations. This was the initial phase of the CPC party diplomacy.

7.1.2.3. Zigzag development of CPC’s party diplomacy During the decade-long big polemic (1956–1965) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), due to the serious interference of the “leftist” ideology, China’s diplomacy and the CPC external relations both suffered a serious blow. In 1956, Khrushchev delivered a secret report at the 20th CPSU National Congress, which caused ideological confusion within the international communist movement. Subsequently, the ideological differences between the CPC and the CPSU continued to expand, instead of disappearing, and their conflicts continued to escalate. In 1963–1964, the two parties published a series of articles criticizing and attacking each other in their respective newspapers, resulting in the big polemic on the general line of the international communist movement and further worsening of the relations between the two parties. The CPC had no option but to refuse to attend the 23rd CPSU National Congress in 1966, marking the complete rupture of the relationship between the two parties. During the Sino–Soviet polemic period, the CPSU mustered most communist parties of the world for convergent attacks on the CPC. Consequently, the CPC’s external work was forced onto the “anti-revisionist” tract and its relations with most of the old parties of the international communist movement were erupted. The deterioration of the inter-party relations spilled over into state-to-state relations, landing China’s diplomacy in predicament. During the Cultural Revolution, the “leftist” tendency grew in the CPC’s external work, causing serious damage to the then existing CPC relations with political parties of other countries. At the same time, the CPC explored possibilities for contacts with political parties of developed countries in the West. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, a number of Western countries established diplomatic relations with China. In this context, the CPC’s party diplomacy played a role in the establishment of diplomatic relations with Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany and Australia. Before that, there were no direct

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contacts between the CPC and the political parties of these three countries. In this process, the CPC gained a deeper understanding of the political system of Western countries and the role of opposition parties in their domestic politics and accumulated valuable experience for the CPC to draw on in its later efforts to develop relations with main opposition parties of various countries. The improvement of Sino–US relations ushered in another climax of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Western countries. The CPC gradually put aside ideological differences, gave full play to the flexible features of party diplomacy and approached political parties of other countries. The CPC’s external work in this period featured both errors and achievements, and both twists and turns and development.

7.1.2.4. Readjustment and recovery of CPC’s party diplomacy After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978, the CPC shifted its focus to economic construction. Deng Xiaoping proposed that “peace and development” should be the main themes of the times, which provided a theoretical basis for the readjustment and development of the CPC external work. Correspondingly, the CPC made a major readjustment in its external work, in which the CPC’s external relations were no longer based on ideology and the identification of friends or foes was no longer based on the social system. Thus, the party diplomacy entered a period of readjustment and witnessed a quick recovery and development. The International Department of the CPC Central Committee earnestly implemented the general principles of the Party’s external work, gradually readjusted and expanded its external contacts and deepened the new type of inter-party exchanges and cooperation on the basis of the four principles of the CPC for party-to-party relations, namely, “independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in other parties’ internal affairs”, in an effort to promote the development of state-to-state relations and to serve the domestic reform and opening up, the socialist

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modernization drive, China’s overall foreign affairs strategy, the consolidation of the ruling position of the CPC and the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In April 1980, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy visited China upon invitation. During the visit, the two parties agreed to restore their relations and reached consensus on the principles on the development of their future relations. At the same time, the CPC also restored its relations with the Communist Parties of Eastern and Western European countries that had been suspended for a long time. There was an upsurge of the establishment of relations between the CPC and the communist parties of other countries throughout the 1980s. The Report for the 13th CPC National Congress further pointed out that the four principles of the CPC for party-to-party relations should apply not only to the contacts between the Marxist political parties, but also to those between the CPC and non-Marxist political parties. The CPC, freeing itself from the “leftist” thinking of the “cultural revolution” and the influence of “determining relations on the basis of one’s attitude toward the Soviet Union”, established various forms of exchanges and cooperation with the nationalist parties of Asian, African and Latin American countries, directly injected economic factors into party diplomacy and made them a new and important element in party diplomacy. Delegations of the nationalist parties of African countries visited China one after another and the CPC also paid return visits to them. During this period, the CPC got rid of the long-standing mistaken ideas of the international communist movement about the socialist parties and conducted exchanges and cooperation with socialist parties and the center-right political parties in France, Italy and other developed countries under the guidance of the four principles of the CPC for party-to-party relations. In short, the CPC not only expanded its external contacts in terms of both the nature and the quantity of the contacts, but also upgraded these contacts in terms of the substance and quality during this period. By the late 1980s, the CPC had established various forms of contacts and exchanges with more than 270 political parties from over 110 countries, which was a clear testimony to the recovery and development of the CPC external work.

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7.1.2.5. Maturity of CPC’s party diplomacy The drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe inflicted harsh setbacks to the international communist movement. And the political turmoil in China put the CPC’s external work to a severe test. Internationally, with the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the old political party pattern of the world was disrupted and a multiparty system was prevalent in Africa and Latin America. There emerged thousands of new parties in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in a short period of time. On the other hand, political parties of many countries, with scanty knowledge of China’s situation and the CPC’s practice at the time, suspended their contacts with the CPC. Even worse, this also affected the state-to-state relations and caused twists and turns in this regard. China was suddenly in a tense external environment and its economic construction was faced with enormous challenges. Under these circumstances, the CPC withstood the enormous pressure at home and abroad and adhered to its four principles for party-to-party relations and adopted the strategy of “refraining from carrying the banner or taking the lead in international affairs” in response to the situation. Following the restoration of Sino–Soviet party relations in 1989, the CPC restored its relations with the communist parties of Cuba, Mongolia and other countries. In November 1991, the CPC normalized its relations with Vietnam’s communist party. Confronted with of the “isolation” and “sanctions” imposed by Western countries on China, the CPC developed exchanges and cooperative relations with the socialist parties and the center-right political parties of developed countries in accordance with the purpose of “transcending ideological differences and seeking mutual understanding and cooperation” and gradually managed to break the Western sanctions against China. In May 1990, the CPC first succeeded in normalizing its relations with the Socialist Party of Japan. It then actively approached the socialist parties of Western European countries, engaged in exchanges with them, and had its relations with them restored and normalized. In September 1998, Pierre Mauroy, President of the Socialist International, led a delegation to China, which marked an all-round restoration and

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development of the relationship between the CPC and the Socialist International. With the rapid development of the Chinese economy and continued rise of China’s international status, the center-right political parties of Western countries gradually restored and developed their relations with the CPC. During this period, there emerged about one thousand political parties of different dimensions and shades in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe due to the changes of the political configurations of the region. The CPC gradually developed friendly relations and cooperation with political parties of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in accordance with the CPC’s four principles for party-to-party relations and in the spirit of respecting independent choices made by the people and the party of other countries. By the late 1990s, the CPC had established contacts with more than 30 political parties of CIS countries. During this period, the CPC also enhanced contacts and exchanges with nationalist and democratic parties of developing countries. In 1991, a CPC delegation visited Pakistan and India and subsequently developed various contacts and exchanges with political parties of South Asian countries. In the 1990s, the CPC built on the existing links with political parties in Africa and entered into various relationships with over 50 influential political parties in the region. The CPC’s achievements in diplomacy in the 1990s symbolized the new type of CPC party diplomacy moving toward maturity in all aspects of theory and practice and showed clearly the direction for the institutionalization of the CPC’s practice of party diplomacy.

7.1.2.6. Institutionalization of CPC’s party diplomacy Since the beginning of the 21st century, the CPC has continued to broaden the scope of party diplomacy for practical purposes on the basis of inheriting and developing the existing inter-party relations. The CPC has worked harder to develop exchanges and cooperation with political parties and organizations of various countries and regions while maintaining the flexibility of party diplomacy and has actively explored ways for institutionalizing party diplomacy.

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The CPC participated in the 1st and 2nd International Conferences of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in 2000 and 2002 and made a positive contribution to the success of the conferences. It accumulated in the process useful experience for multilateral party diplomacy. In 2004, the CPC hosted the 3rd ICAPP with more than 80 Asian political parties attending the conference. This conference helped to move the CPC’s practice of multilateral party diplomacy to a new high. At the same time, the CPC made new exploratory efforts about the modalities, forms and systems of contacts with foreign political parties and gradually formed an effective system of inter-party contacts accommodating the conditions of both sides. The CPC has established a mechanism for regular exchanges with political parties of Vietnam, the Laos, Japan and other neighboring countries, with major political parties of some European countries and with the ruling parties of some developing countries. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, with Hu Jintao as the General Secretary, has inherited and developed the party diplomacy thinking of the three generations of the CPC collective leadership and has continuously created new situations in party diplomacy under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development. General Secretary Hu Jintao and other leaders of the CPC Central Committee paid over 50 overseas visits at the head of the CPC’s delegations. About 200 delegations headed by principal leaders of foreign political parties visited China. A system of high-level inter-party exchanges has by and large taken shape. In April 2005, Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the State, proposed the idea of building a “harmonious world” for the first time at the Asia–Africa Summit. This concept has greatly enriched the connotation of the inter-party relations and set higher requirements for party diplomacy. According to statistics, since the 16th CPC National Congress, over 1,200 delegations of foreign political parties have visited China and over 600 CPC delegations have made overseas visits upon invitation, with unprecedentedly vibrant inter-party exchanges and a visible role of party diplomacy. Before and after the 17th CPC National Congress, the CPC received nearly 600 messages and congradulatory letters from foreign political parties, politicians and

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political organizations, who spoke highly of the CPC’s capabilities for governance and of its international image. At present, the CPC has maintained different forms of exchanges and contacts with more than 400 political parties and political organizations of over 160 countries and regions of the world. With the accelerated development of globalization, international organizations of political parties have an increasingly greater role to play in the international political life and NGOs have also vigorously unfolded various activities. The CPC, following the tide of history, has increased its contacts with various party organizations and other political organizations on the basis of vigorous and steady work with old and new political parties. The initial institutional network of the CPC’s party diplomacy has been in place.

7.2. Principles and Objects of Party Diplomacy The CPC has always taken the Marxist theory of political parties as the guiding principle and has actively developed multi-level contacts with political parties of other countries. Without a correct principle on the establishment and development of inter-party relations with which all parties comply, it would be impossible to ensure a healthy development of inter-party exchanges or to achieve the goal of such exchanges. The CPC has, in actually conducting inter-party exchanges over the years, constantly readjusted and enriched the principles and guidelines on inter-party exchanges with ever clearer statements of the principles and guidelines and their gradually enriched connotations, in light of the needs of the CPC’s party work, the adjusted diplomatic missions of the country and the changing international situation. Upholding its four principles for party-to-party relations of “independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in other parties’ internal affairs”, the CPC has actively developed new types of inter-party exchanges and cooperation with political parties and organizations of all countries and regions which are willing to have ties with the CPC. At present, it has established and maintained various forms of contacts, exchanges and cooperation with more than 400 political parties and organizations from over 160 countries and regions

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in the world. An all-directional, multi-channel, wide-ranging and profound party diplomacy pattern with Chinese characteristics has been formed.

7.2.1. Principles of Party Diplomacy 7.2.1.1. Exploration before the founding of New China Maintaining solidarity with the Communist International. The Communist International, founded in 1919, was an international confederation of the communist parties and communist organizations of the countries of the world created by Lenin. After the founding of the CPC in 1921, the first external objects that the CPC made contacts with were the Communist International and the CPSU. The CPC lacked experience in theoretical, organizational and personnel development and had scarce funding for its activities at that time. It was therefore highly necessary for the CPC to win sympathy and support from the progressive forces and friendly personages of other countries in addition to relying on its own efforts, if it wanted to grow stronger, take up the heavy responsibility of leading the Chinese revolution and complete the tasks of overthrowing imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratcapitalism. The 2nd CPC National Congress in 1922 adopted a decision to join the Communist International as one of its branches. For a fairly long time that followed, the CPC accepted the leadership of the Communist International, maintained unity with it, subjected its external activities to its leadership and kept its external contacts within the world system of the communist parties. Exploring the principle of independence and self-determination. The Communist International, far away from the Chinese revolutionary practice, did not have an intimate knowledge of the special circumstances in China. Therefore, while assisting and guiding the Chinese revolution, it committed many major mistakes and inflicted serious damages to the Chinese revolution. With its maturity in thinking and theory, the CPC, represented by Mao Zedong, combined the Marxist universal truth with the concrete revolutionary practice in China. In handling its relations with the Communist International, the CPC respected the organizational and ideological leadership of the

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Communist International on the one hand and independently solved many issues facing the Chinese revolution on the other hand. It was finally able to lead the Chinese people to the victory of the new democratic revolution. As early as May 1943, the CPC Central Committee issued a document about the dissolution of the Communist International in which it stated: “The CPC received much support from the Communist International. However, for a long time, the CPC has independently made its own political principles, policies and guidelines for actions according to the needs of Chinese nation and China’s actual situation.” Through its practice of maintaining contacts with the Communist International, the CPC accumulated some experience in independently handling inter-party relations in the international communist movements. Adhering to the proletarian internationalism. When German and Italian fascists invaded Spain in 1937, Xie Weijin, head of the CPC German branch, and more than 100 Chinese warriors took part in the war of the Spanish people against the fascists. After Germany launched a war against the Soviet Union in June 1941, the CPC immediately voiced its solidarity with the CPSU and issued The Decision of the CPC Central Committee about the International Anti-fascist United Front, in which it pointed out that China should “mobilize people of all countries to form an international united front and to engage in worldwide anti-Fascist struggles, and struggles to protect the Soviet Union, China and all nations pursuing freedom and independence.” The CPC sent telegrams and issued statements to voice its support to the communist parties of other countries and to the just struggle of the peoples of the world.6

7.2.1.2. Deliberation in the early years after the founding of the PRC The CPC failed to develop clear principles guiding inter-party relations due to a lack of practical experience in party diplomacy immediately after the founding of the PRC. Some scholars believe that there 6

Zhong Lianyan (ed.): The International Exchanges of CPC, Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 2007 Edition.

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were three main factors influencing China’s diplomatic system in the initial years after the founding of the PRC: First, the influence of China’s traditional social system. CPC leaders put too much emphasis on the big power status of China and on whether other countries respected China and treated it as a big power. Second, the influence of the Soviet model and the Communist International. The New China put too much emphasis on the principle of internationalism in its diplomacy, had a passion for proletarian internationalism and patriotism and pursued world peace. Third, the influence of the CPC’s practices in revolution and construction. It insisted too much on maintaining independence and keeping the initiative in one’s own hands.7 Along this line of thinking and in view of the situation at home and abroad, the party diplomacy of the CPC in early years after the founding of the PRC showed the following principles. The PRC carried forward the tradition of the revolution and war years in its diplomacy, that is, to implement the principle of the proletarian internationalism, fulfill the international obligations, establish an international united front, firmly support the great cause of the world revolution, combine patriotism with internationalism and support the just cause of developing countries for their national independence and social development. The CPC supported the struggle led by the Communist Party of Vietnam against French colonialism to the best of its abilities. First, adhering to the principle of independence and self-determination. The principle of independence and self-determination required a clean and complete breakaway from the humiliating diplomacy of the old China and an elimination of all privileges accorded to imperialists in China. The founding of the PRC was proclaimed in October 1949 and the main purpose of the CPC’s inter-party exchanges then was to create a favorable international environment for consolidating the newly born regime and building up the country. The US adopted a hostile and subversive policy against the New China and Chiang Kaishek’s Kuomintang clique attempted to make a come-back to the mainland with the help of the US forces. In view of this, the PRC 7

Zhao Kejin: Theoretical Explanation of the Change of the Diplomatic System of the People’s Republic of China, Doctoral Dissertation of Fudan University, 2005.

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adopted the “leaning to one side, the side of socialism” foreign policy and made efforts mainly to strengthen its unity with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and its cooperation with the communist parties and workers’ parties of other countries. Even when implementing the “leaning to one side” foreign policy, the CPC continued to follow the principle of independence and self-determination. Mao Zedong repeatedly stressed that “leaning to one side” or siding firmly with the Soviet Union should be equal. It is not advisable to copy blindly the experience of the Soviet Union. Both in building up the country or in conducting diplomacy, China must maintain independence and rely on its own effort. In the sidelines of the Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in 1957, Mao Zedong specifically spent some time in exchanging views with party leaders of other countries on the independence and self-determination of each party. He stressed that every party should have complete independence and should take care of its own affairs. Thanks to the efforts made by Mao Zedong and others, the principle of respecting the right of each party to independence and self-determination was written into the Moscow Declaration of the Conference. In his talks with President Ho Chi Minh of the Communist Party of Vietnam in December 1960, Mao Zedong stressed: “No state or party, big or small, should force its idea on others without discussion. Forcing one’s idea on others is an unpleasant practice.” Second, complete equality among all parties. During the early years of New China, the CPC and the CPSU enjoyed good relations between them. However, starting from the mid 1950s, the CPSU, regarding itself as the patriarchal party, interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and other parties and the CPC firmly fought against this. After the Poland Incident that happened in 1956, Mao Zedong pointed out, “The Soviet Union–Poland relationship is not a father-son kind but the relations between two countries and two communist parties. Therefore, they should be equal.” In December 1956, Mao Zedong reiterated the principle of equality between all communist parties in his essay entitled More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. With equality, he said, unity would be consolidated; without it, forcing one’s idea upon others, the unity would suffer

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seriously. An important reason for the unremitting struggle by the CPC with the CPSU in the 1960s was to fight for equality among all parties, in addition to differences between the CPC and CPSU on major theoretical issues. The CPC not only opposed the CPSU placing itself above others, but also disagreed with other parties regarding the CPC as their “leader”. The CPC never imposed its experience or the way of doing things upon others. In his meeting with a delegation from a Latin American political party in 1956, Mao Zedong pointed out that political parties of all countries should combine Marxism with the national conditions of their own countries: “Part of the Chinese experience is good and part of it is not. Even the good part may not meet the need of the actual situation of another country. Mechanical copying is a dangerous practice.” In the 1970s, the communist parties of some countries regarded the CPC as a “leading party” and held the CPC in a “special position” in the international communist movements. To this, CPC leaders did much patient and painstaking persuasion work, emphasizing that all parties, big or small, were equal and there was no leading party or to-be-led party in the international communist movements. Third, disregarding ideological differences. In the early years of New China, the CPC developed its external relations mainly with the communist and workers’ parties in other countries and at the same time it started to approach political parties that did not share the same ideology with the CPC. In the early 1950s, the CPC contacted the nationalist parties of Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Guatemala, the United Arab Republic, Guinea and some other countries in Asia and Africa. As for the Socialist Parties of Western Europe, the CPC was also prepared to develop inter-party relations with them, provided that such a relationship would not necessitate a change of one’s ideology. In meeting with a delegation of the British Labour Party in August 1954, Mao Zedong said: “We believe that different systems can coexist peacefully; we won’t fight the Labor Party or the Conservative Party.” Zhou Enlai stated this in even clearer terms: “No party or individual is to force his idea upon another party or another person. Ideological differences should never be a barrier for state-to-state or party-to-party political cooperation.” In another meeting with then Indian Prime Minister

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Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1954, Mao Zedong said: “Two countries or two parties can cooperate in spite of different ideologies and social systems. We will enter into cooperation with Churchill’s party if it so wishes.” Starting from the late 1950s, the CPC began to make contacts with political parties of Western Europe other than communist parties there. During their meetings with delegations from the British Labor Party, Italian Socialist Party and the United Socialist Party of Iceland, which visited China at the invitation of non-governmental organizations in China, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai discussed and exchanged ideas with these delegations about the coexistence of the socialist and capitalist systems, war and peace, and other international issues. The two sides reached consensus on some issues. China’s non-government organizations attached particular importance to exchanges with all kinds of political parties in Japan. In the 1950s, the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party successively sent delegations to China. The 1960s saw an increase in visits to China by all kinds of Japanese political party delegations, with the normalization of Sino–Japanese diplomatic relations put on the agenda. All these visits helped to enhance understanding and friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people. Fourth, party-to-party relations should not affect state-to-state relations. The CPC, after becoming a party in power, realized that there were both similarities and differences between the party-to-party relations and state-to-state relations. It tried to differentiate the two in practice. While meeting Burmese Prime Minister Ne Win U in December 1954, Mao Zedong said, “We won’t spread communism in your country. We will talk only about peaceful coexistence. You have a communist party in your country, and we won’t urge them to act against your government.” After the relations with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia began to deteriorate in 1956, Mao Zedong instructed that the state-to-state relations with Yugoslavia should “continue forever”. In the early 1960s, the party-to-party relations between the CPC and the CPSU gradually worsened. And the CPSU expanded the inter-party dispute to the stateto-state relations, withdrew its experts from China and scrapped all contracts signed with Chinese government. The CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong criticized the CPSU for these acts. While meeting

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Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Mao Zedong said that the state-to-state relations between the two countries should be improved in spite of fact that the “arguments between the CPC and the CPSU over principles would continue”. Liu Shaoqi also stressed, “Ideological differences between fraternal parties should be solved through discussions. If a solution is unavailable now, we may discuss them later or shelf them for future to make a conclusion. Anyway, ideological differences should not affect state-to-state relations.” The first generation of the CPC collective leadership, with Mao Zedong as the core, made continuous efforts to enrich the content and principles of inter-party relations and built a framework for the CPC as a party in power to conduct party-to-party contacts. However, constrained by the international situation and domestic tasks then, the CPC had contacts mainly with the communist parties and the workers’ parties and the party-to-party relations had a great impact on the state-tostate relations. In the 1950s and the 1960s, the CPC regarded its relations with other communist parties as a relationship of “comrades plus brothers” and considered proletarian internationalism as meaning selfless support and assistance to all the revolutionary activities carried out by fraternal parties, providing support and assistance even at the expense of its own national interests. But these painful historical lessons have told us that it is unrealistic to put the inter-party relations above the state-to-state relations and it is also contrary to the spirit of seeking truth from facts. Inter-party relations differ from state-to-state relations. The former is part of the latter. The inter-party relations should serve the national interests and should not be placed above the state-to-state relations. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), due to serious interference and influence of the “leftist” ideology, the scope of the CPC’s external contacts was significantly shrunk.

7.2.1.3. Four principles for the new type of party-to-party relations The 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee in 1978 ushered China into a period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive. The second generation of the CPC collective

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leadership, with Deng Xiaoping at the core, summed up both the positive experience and negative lessons of the international communist movements on the basis of the scientific judgment of the international situation and the characteristics of the times, inherited and developed the thinking on the inter-party relations proposed by the first generation of the CPC collective leadership and put forward the principles for the new type of party-to-party relations. In an aggregate sum, the core content of Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on the new type of interparty relations contains the following elements: First, political parties should develop a “new type of relationship” between them, or a “new, healthy and friendly relationship”. Second, a political party of any country should handle the internal affairs of its country independently and in accordance with its own national conditions, instead of in the interests of other countries or listening to others. Third, no party should judge the merits and demerits of a political party of another country on the basis of its own experience and no party should order others around. Fourth, all parties, big or small, strong or weak, in power or in opposition, should treat each other as equals, respect each other and refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs. Fifth, ideological differences should not become barriers to the party-toparty relations and all parties should carry out the new type of interparty exchanges and cooperation in the spirit of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Sixth, party-to-party exchanges and cooperation should aim at facilitating the development of state-tostate relations and enhancing the understanding and friendship between their respective countries. Seventh, all parties should take a forward-looking attitude toward historical issues in the party-to-party relations, instead of being bogged down in the past enmity or quibbling over the old account. Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on the interparty relations laid down the theoretical basis for the CPC’s external work in the new era and provided an ideological guidance for the CPC to handle its relations with political parties of other countries. The CPC subjected the inter-party relations to the overall external relations of China and opted for establishing the new type of inter-party relations with all friendly parties of the world which wished to develop contacts with the CPC.

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In September 1982, the 12th CPC National Congress officially put forward the four principles for the CPC to develop relations with communist parties of other countries, namely “independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs” and these principles were written into the CPC Constitution. In October 1987, the 13th CPC National Congress decided to extend the application of the four principles to the CPC relations with all kinds of political parties of other countries. Once the four principles of interparty relations were identified and established, the CPC completely shifted its external work from supporting the revolution to promoting the development of state-to-state relations. This marked a new development period for the CPC’s external work. First, the principle of independence and self-determination. This means that each political party should choose its own revolution model and development path in accordance with its own national reality and its own conditions. Each political party should have the right to decide and manage all the internal affairs of its own party, handle its relations with other political parties and determine its own strategies and tactics in light of the international and domestic situations. It is the consistent Marxist proposition to independently solve one’s own problems in light of the specific circumstances of its own country. Deng Xiaoping elaborated: “We have always believed that communist parties everywhere should carry forward and develop Marxism in light of the conditions in their own countries. If we disregard realities, it is meaningless to talk about Marxism. That’s why we believe that there is not, and cannot be, any centre in the international communist movement. Nor are we in favor of establishing a so-called community of nations, because only the independence of each country is a true expression of Marxism.”8 Having learned the profound lessons of the emergence of “the big community” and “patriarchal party” in the international communist movements, Deng Xiaoping proposed that China must handle inter-party relations in accordance with the principle of independence and self-determination. This principle is significant for handling 8

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1994 Edition, p. 191.

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inter-party relations at three levels: First, this principle should serve as the premise for combining the basic principles of Marxism with national realities. Second, all parties should independently choose and decide on their revolution and development path in light of the actual conditions of their own countries. Third, no party should copy the experiences or models of political parties of other countries.9 It can be said that this principle represents a major cognitional development of the CPC in correctly handling the issues related to the Chinese revolution and development, the foreign experience, and its relations with foreign political parties. Second, the principle of complete equality. Without equality among all parties, there would be no true independence and self-determination to speak of. Though there might be some differences in certain aspects between political parties of countries of different sizes, between big parties and small parties, between the ruling party and the opposition party and between parties with a long history and those with a short history, no distinction should be made for precedence or superiority among different political parties and no party should be considered as superior or inferior to other parties. An important experience that the CPC summed up in the inter-party exchanges is: “Each party, whether it is big, small or medium, should respect the experience of the others and the choices they have made and refrain from criticizing the way the other parties and countries conduct their affairs. This should be our attitude not only toward parties in power but also toward those that are not in power.”10 The successful practice of the CPC’s handling of its external relations shows that when handling inter-party relations, it is imperative to engage in exchanges and cooperation with political parties of different ideologies and more importantly to develop relations with the ruling party, the participating party and the opposition party of the same country on an equal footing. Furthermore, China should avoid the erroneous tendency of developing relations only with political parties of big powers. Instead, it should develop all forms of cooperative relations with political parties of all countries. 9

Ibid., p. 191. Ibid., p. 236.

10

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Participation in election campaigns may change the status of a political party and this happens very often. Therefore, to treat other political parties as equals and increase exchanges with them will help China to grasp the possible policy changes brought about by a change of the ruling party and allow it more room to maneuver its diplomacy. Third, the principle of mutual respect. Without mutual respect, there would be no equality and cooperation. The CPSU, long acted in its self-appointed role of “the big party” and “the paternal party” in building socialism, bossed around or ordered the communist parties of other countries and showed little respect for the right of other countries and other parties to make independent decisions. All this damaged the relations among socialist parties. And this is a profound lesson that we should draw from the practice of socialism. Mutual respect includes respecting each other’s rights and interests. In October 1954, Mao Zedong pointed out: “Experience has shown us that cooperation, whether between persons, political parties or countries, has to be mutually beneficial and should not be detrimental to any party.”11 It has remained very important to adhere to the principle of mutual respect in the new situation where the scope of the CPC’s external contacts has been extended to cover all kinds of political parties and international organizations of the world. Fourth, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. All countries should follow the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and all parties should also implement this principle. Otherwise, not only will the inter-party relations deteriorate, the state-to-state relations could also be jeopardized. In December 1954, Mao Zedong told the visiting Burmese Prime Minister U Nu: “In your country there are political parties, organizations and individuals unfriendly to China, as there are in other countries, such as India and Indonesia. But it is not for us to interfere — tell those parties, organizations and individuals that they should not oppose us. In each country there are usually several kinds of parties. We cannot express opposition to any of

11

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 1994 Edition, p. 167.

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those parties or support any of them.”12 At the Conference of the Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Socialist Countries held in 1957, Deng Xiaoping emphasized: “We must respect the way the parties and peoples of different countries deal with their own affairs. They should be left to find their own paths by themselves and explore ways to solve their own problems. No party should act like a patriarchal party and issue orders to others. We object to being ordered about and we, for our part, will never issue orders to others. This should be regarded as an important principle.”13 The CPC believes that the most important principle of the new order of the international relations should be that of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and in the choice of social systems by other countries.

7.2.1.4. The principle of inter-party relations — perfected Since the reform and opening up, to promote a healthy and steady development of state-to-state relations has become both the point of departure and the goal of the Party’s external work. Under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping’s diplomatic thinking and the four principles for party-to-party relations, the CPC has carried out extensive exchanges with all kinds of political parties of all countries transcending ideological differences. The CPC has increased the weight of its external work in China’s overall diplomacy, the socialist modernization drive and the building of the Party itself and hence its influence has also grown in the international political arena. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the CPC’s external work, under great pressure, played an important role in breaking the Western sanctions on the one hand. The CPC adapted itself to the profoundly changed world structure and international situation of political parties and developed a new type of inter-party relations with political parties of other countries through its external work in disregard of ideological differences and by emphasizing the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences on 12

Ibid., p. 187. CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume II, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993 Edition, p. 319.

13

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the other hand. The CPC correctly handled the connections and difference between the inter-party relations and the state-to-state relations. It worked to prevent the changes in the pattern of political parties in the Soviet Union and East European countries from adversely affecting the development of state relations. At the same time, the CPC actively sought to develop relations with all kinds of old and new political parties in these countries in accordance with the four principles for party-to-party relations and to develop state relations with them through inter-party exchanges. The third generation of the CPC collective leadership, with Jiang Zemin at the core, has based itself on the changes in the international situation and in the pattern of political parties after the end of the Cold War, observed and responded to the changes calmly, and inherited, enriched and developed Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on inter-party relations. It proposed to the 15th CPC National Congress in unequivocal terms its cross-century policy for developing its external work featuring the new type of inter-party exchanges and cooperation with political parties of all countries which are willing to have such relations with the CPC in accordance with the four principles for inter-party relations. Since the beginning of the new period in the new century, the CPC has constantly expanded the scope of its external work and has steadily deepened its connotations. It has given full and more prominent play to the advantages and characteristics of the CPC’s external work. It has increased awareness and consciousness of the need for the Party’s external work to serve the central government and the overall interests of the country. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, with Hu Jintao as the General Secretary, has inherited the Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping’s thinking on inter-party relations, continued to implement the CPC’s four principles for inter-party relations and expanded the scope of applying the four principles. Through party diplomacy, the CPC should not only pay close and meticulous attention to the work with the ruling parties of the socialist countries, focusing particularly on the decision-making caucus and influential politicians in these ruling parties, but also vigorously explore new forms of party diplomacy and actively participate in or host

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large-scale multilateral conferences of political parties so as to play a positive role in stabilizing state-to-state relations, facilitating the settlement of the outstanding substantive issues between countries, ensuring China’s influence on regional and international affairs, promoting understanding and communication among the peoples of all countries and establishing a liberal, open, democratic, progressive and enterprising party image in the world. In September 2004, Hu Jintao emphatically told the 3rd ICAPP that the CPC will continue to apply the four principles for inter-party relations and develop in good faith an all-round cooperative relationship with other countries and inter-party exchanges with political parties of all countries that will benefit better state-to-state relations and deeper friendship between the peoples. The four principles for inter-party relations were first proposed in 1982. Since then, the CPC has, in the spirit of advancing with the times, constantly enriched and developed the contents of these four principles in light of the development and changes in the international situation and the world’s party politics.

7.2.2. Objects of Party Contacts The CPC may shift its emphasis in the focus and scope of its external contacts in different historical periods in light of the changes in the domestic and international situations, in the status and positions, and in thinking and concepts. But overall, the CPC’s external contacts have exhibited a general trend of increasing pluralism, expansion and enrichment. Since its inception in 1951, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee with the responsibility for party diplomacy has expanded the scope of its work from engaging in exchanges with the communist parties and left-wing parties of other countries to exchanges with political parties, politicians and international organizations of all shades of ideologies and natures, including the nationalist or democratic parties in developing countries, and the socialist parties, labor parties, and conservative parties of developed countries. By the end of December 2009, the CPC had established and maintained contacts and exchanges with more than 600 political parties

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and organizations from over 160 countries and regions in the world, with most of them being the ruling parties and parties participating in government. The CPC’s external work has developed a new pattern featuring comprehensive, multi-channel, wide-ranging and profound inter-party exchanges and has presented a satisfying prospect of “having close friends all over the world”. The CPC has, in the spirit of orienting itself toward people, made new friends everywhere, deepened friendship with good friends and never forgotten old friends. Many of foreign dignitaries and members of the media who once had bias against the CPC have, through the CPC work, become friends of the CPC and friendly forces of China.

7.2.2.1. Ideological overtone in the objects for CPC’s inter-party exchanges from the founding of CPC to the founding of New China In the early days of its founding, the CPC attached great importance to exchanges with foreign political parties and established contacts with the international community. The Communist International dispatched its representatives to the 1st CPC National Congress and the CPC also had its representatives posted in the Communist International. At that time, the CPC mainly conducted its external work with the Communist International and the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union and East European countries. In the period of Democratic Revolution, the CPC’s external work was mainly intended to gain sympathy, support and cooperation from other countries for China’s revolutionary cause and promote the establishment of the national and international united front. Therefore, the CPC extended the scope of its external work to the progressive organizations and progressive personages of many countries. After the founding of New China, the CPC became the ruling party or a large party of a large country. This put the CPC in a favorable position for expanding the scope of its inter-party exchanges. The communist parties and the workers’ parties of many countries, including Italy, Mexico, Cuba, the US and Palestine sent their representatives to the 8th CPC National Congress held in 1956. In the 1960s, the CPC

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had once had contacts and friendly exchanges with over 90 communist parties and workers’ parties of other countries. However, in the context of US–Soviet confrontation in the Cold War, the CPC was forced to base its party diplomacy on the foreign policy strategy of “leading to one side” and to focus on handling relations with the ruling parties of the socialist countries, and the proletarian political parties and organizations of other countries that were not in power so as to promote domestic construction and developments. After the big polemic broke out in the international communist movement followed by its big division and disintegration, and the impact of the Cultural Revolution and extreme leftist tendency, the scope of the CPC’s external contacts gradually shrank.

7.2.2.2. All-round expansion of objects of party diplomacy after reform and opening up After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the CPC identified peace and development as the main themes of the era and shifted the focus of domestic work. In line with all this, the goal of the party diplomacy was mainly to create a favorable international environment for China’s modernization drive, promote a healthy, stable and all-round development of state-to-state relations and contribute to world peace and development. In this context, in order to serve China’s overall diplomacy and serve the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics and in accordance with the four principles for inter-party relations of independence, complete equality, mutual respect and mutual non-interference in the internal affairs of others, the CPC’s party diplomacy shook off the constrains in its external contacts. Instead of conducting exchanges mainly with foreign communist parties, workers’ parties and other left-wing parties, the CPC gradually contacted all types of political parties of all countries, established various forms of ties with them and carried out a variety of exchanges and cooperation. There emerged a comprehensive, multi-channel, wide-ranging and in-depth inter-party exchange pattern. Among foreign political parties, the socialist parties, labor parties, social democratic parties, nationalist democratic parties and other such political

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parties became the new objects of the CPC’s party diplomacy. In the early 1980s, the CPC hosted the visiting political delegation of the French Socialist Party headed by Mitterrand and the German Social Democratic Party delegation led by Brandt. The CPC proposed the principle of “seeking mutual understanding and cooperation beyond ideological differences” for the first time when meeting the German Social Democratic Party delegation. This was a big step by the CPC in inter-party relations and it facilitated a major breakthrough in the relations between the CPC and the socialist parties in Western Europe. In the 1990s, the CPC had contacts of various forms with the German Christian Democratic Union and other right-wing parties in the West. The 15th CPC National Congress in 1997 clearly pointed out that the CPC should develop new types of inter-party exchanges and cooperative relations with all political parties willing to have contacts with the CPC on the basis of the four principles of inter-party relations so as to promote the development of state-to-state relations. Thus, the CPC party diplomacy opened a new prospect of “extensive contacts, clear focus, rich content and flexible forms”. Since the beginning of the new century, the CPC has made a breakthrough in its relations with the Green Party and other newly emerged political parties and new developments in its relations with the main party caucuses of the European Parliament and international organizations of political parties. While expanding the scope of its party diplomacy in terms of the types of political parties for external contacts, the CPC has also expanded the scope of its external contacts geographically. In this context, the CPC’s party diplomacy was most active in Asia, most dynamic in Latin America, Africa and other developing regions, and continued to deepen in Europe, North America and other developed areas. According to statistics, between 2003 and 2009, the number of foreign political parties with which the CPC had contacts and conducted exchanges in geographical distribution were as follows: Europe (444, 26.4%), Asia (651, 38.7%), Africa (337, 20%), Americas (190, 11.3 %) and Oceania (59, 3.5%).14 To increase contacts and exchanges with political 14

Liu Peng: The Current Status of and Reflection on Party Diplomacy of CPC, Academic Exploration, 2010, No. 2, p. 50.

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parties in Asia and promote good-neighborly relations and friendship with neighboring countries have been the focus of the CPC’s external work. The CPC has maintained good relations with the ruling parties of the socialist countries in Asia, including the Korean Workers’ Party, the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. It has deepened its relations with main political parties of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, ASEAN countries and South Asian countries, which in turn has positively promoted the relations between China and these countries or the regional organization. It has had increasingly frequent exchanges with political parties in Africa, which should be attributed to the rapid development of China–Africa relations. The exchanges between the CPC and political parties in Latin America have also entered a new period of development. By August 2007, the CPC had maintained friendly exchanges of different forms with 105 parties from 31 Latin American countries. Europe and North America have always been priority regions for the CPC’s party diplomacy. With the rapid growth of China’s comprehensive strength and the rise of its status, political parties in these regions have shown greater interest in having exchanges with the CPC in recent years. In line with the policy of “seeking understanding and cooperation beyond differences” and in the constructive manner of being liberal and open, conducting dialogue on an equal footing and mutually beneficial cooperation, the CPC has engaged in extensive exchanges with all types of political parties in Western Europe, Northern Europe, Oceania, North America and other developed areas in an effort to seek common ground and converging points of interests. Remarkable results have been achieved in this regard. In particular, progress has been made in the CPC relations with the mainstream US political parties, and the CPC has enhanced contact with the latter despite ideological barriers. On 21 May 2010, the US Democratic Party and Republican Party sent a joint delegation to China and the first China–US High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue was held in Beijing. This was the very first time for the two mainstream US political parties to send a joint delegation to China, marking the formal opening of the institutional exchanges between the CPC and the two parties of the US, and representing a new platform for promoting mutual understanding and strategic mutual

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trust between political parties and politicians of both countries and for developing healthy and stable Sino–US relations. This was of important historical and practical significance. Against the backdrop of the economic globalization and world multi-polarization, there has been a growing trend toward internationalization of party organizations. The CPC has visibly increased its contacts with regional and international political party organizations. It has maintained friendly exchanges with the Socialist International, the largest international organization of political parties in the world. The Socialist International delegations have visited China many times and the CPC has also sent representatives to attend the Congresses of Socialist International and its Council meetings as observers. António Guterres, President of the Socialist International, said during his visit to China as head of a high-level Socialist International delegation in 2004 that the CPC was a progressive force with important influence in the world and an important “partner” of the Socialist International in the process of establishing a just international order. He proposed to establish a mechanism of strategic dialogue with the CPC. The CPC has continued to develop exchanges with other regional and international organizations of political parties and has sent its representatives to multilateral party conferences and international forums such as the International Congresses of the Christian Democratic Parties, the Sao Paulo Forum and the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP). In September 2004, the CPC hosted the 3rd ICAPP in Beijing and its proposed theme of “exchanges, cooperation and development” for the ICAPP conference was generally well received among the participating Asian political parties. As parliamentary party groups have become increasingly active as regional organizations of political parties, the CPC has established contacts with six party groups such as European People’s Party, the Socialist, the Liberal, the Left-wing Alliance, the Green Party and the “Union for Europe of the Nations” in the European Parliament. The multilateral organizations, conferences and forums of political parties have become an important stage on which the CPC deepens the inter-party exchanges, discusses international issues of common concern and promotes the image of

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the country and of the Party. All these exchanges have pushed the CPC’s party diplomacy onto the track of institutionalization.15

7.3. The Role and Influence of Party Diplomacy With party politics becoming the dominant form of politics today, party diplomacy has become an important component of the overall state diplomacy of a country and has played a unique and important role in a country’s foreign relations and in the international political arena. The CPC, as the ruling party, boasts of the most extensive international exchanges and its party diplomacy has had a special place in the overall state diplomacy and has become an important part of the state’s overall diplomacy. The CPC has brought into full play its advantage of working on people, taken the initiative in close cooperation with the government diplomacy and played a unique role in promoting China’s overall diplomacy, advancing China’s relations with other countries in a healthy and steady manner and safeguarding world peace. The most reliable yardstick to measure the ability of a viable political party to carry out external exchanges is its functional adaptability and its ability to change, develop and respond to challenges of the times in light of the changing situation. The remarkable achievements of the CPC in its party diplomacy show that there are broad prospects for party diplomacy and a big role for it to play in the new historical conditions. In this regard, Xi Jinping, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and then Vice President of China, pointed out at the meeting marking 90 years of the CPC’s diplomatic work and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee that in face of the profound and complicated changes in the domestic and international situations, the CPC’s external work, as an important part of China’s overall diplomacy, had a heavy task to perform and great responsibility to fulfill. It should become an important vehicle for promoting the development of China’s foreign 15

Ibid.

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relations, an important window to show the world a good image of the party, an important platform for the party’s leading cadres and ordinary members to observe and study the world and an important channel to learn from foreign experience in the central decision-making process.16

7.3.1. The Role of Party Diplomacy 7.3.1.1. Accurate judgment of the situation taking the overall diplomatic situation into consideration Party diplomacy is a major policy decision that the CPC has made from the historical perspective on the basis of scientific assessment and judgment of the situations in the world, in China and in the party. After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Deng Xiaoping advanced the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and at the same time he concluded that “peace and development are the two major issues of the contemporary world” in light of the profound changes in the international situation. Thus, the old concept of “war and revolution” as the main themes of the times was replaced with this new conclusion. This is a landmark theoretical innovation and an important theoretical basis for the basic line of the Party and China’s diplomatic strategy in the new era. This conclusion is of great guidance significance and practical importance to China’s firm determination in taking the road of peaceful development. In the mid1980s, the CPC put forward, from the strategic perspective, the general task of China’s overall diplomacy, with party diplomacy as part of the overall diplomacy, one compatible with the themes of the times and the reform and opening up, and aimed at creating a favorable international environment of long-term peace for the socialist modernization drive in China. In recent years, global issues have become increasingly acute. These global issues of common interest concerning the survival and development of the entire human society cannot be addressed unless political parties of all countries, the ruling parties in particular, 16

Xu Jingyue: Xi Jinping Stressed: The Party Should Continue Its External Work and Create Greater Glories in Future, Xinhua News Agency, January 17, 2011.

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overcome the limitations of the national and party interests and explore, discuss and resolve them with a global vision. The CPC has, through party diplomacy, exchanged ideas with political parties of both developed and developing countries as well as transnational party organizations and looked for solutions to these issues which are conducive to safeguarding the common interests and future interests of mankind. To conduct party diplomacy is necessitated by the need to respond to the changing world situation and accomplish the Party’s historical tasks. To vigorously expand party diplomacy is an inevitable conclusion that the CPC has drawn after observing the world with the Marxist world outlook and also an inevitable choice that the CPC has made in order to win the broadest possible international understanding and support necessary for completing the three major tasks of the new century (i.e. the modernization drive, national reunification and safeguarding world peace and promoting common development). China has entered the center stage of the international community. China’s development is inseparable with that of the world. To build up the Party, it is necessary to have a comprehensive and scientific understanding of the new developments at home and abroad. The building of the Party will enable the Party to continuously contribute to a sound and sustainable development of the country. In the context of profound changes in the international situation, ever fiercer international competition and deepened reform and opening up in China, the CPC has, advancing with the times, introduced theoretical innovations, accurately grasped the pulse of the times, synchronized its development pace with the world and proposed the two strategic concepts of scientific outlook on development and building a harmonious world. Party diplomacy may, through promoting the positive interaction between the internal and external situations and actively making good use of the external environment and international experience, serve to safeguard the state sovereignty, national security and development interests and to enable China to play a constructive role in maintaining world peace and promoting common development. Consequently, China will be able to promote, through its own development, the building of a harmonious world with lasting peace and

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common prosperity. The Party’s ability for governance is embodied in its ability to have an accurate assessment of the overall domestic and international situations. High-level inter-party exchanges and political dialogues enable leaders of the political parties involved to sincerely and frankly exchange views, clear up deep doubts if there is any, handle and grasp the relations between countries with a broad and long-term view, determine the direction in which to develop state-to-state relations, eliminate obstacles and lay a foundation for strengthened state relations. Such exchanges and contacts are of decisive significance for promoting state-to-state relations from the perspective of the strategic and overall interests. The capacity of the party to conduct international exchanges, respond to the international situation and handle international affairs is an integral part and important manifestation of the party’s ability for governance. Given the changing diplomatic situation, the Party must, pooling the wisdom of the entire Party and taking a statesman’s vision and a holistic approach to the domestic and international situations, identify the right starting point in the country’s diplomatic arrangements and redouble efforts to complete the priority projects of the Party’s external work. Unlike the government diplomacy, party diplomacy has a relatively large room for maneuvers and a wider range of issues to discuss. This enables all the parties involved to express their views fuller and communicate with each other more flexibly and effectively, which in turn will help all those involved to grasp the situation more accurately and comprehensively and have a better knowledge of the main contradictions and the overall diplomatic situation and hence enable them to set the direction for the development of state relations. In addition, the CPC, in conducting friendly exchanges with political parties of other countries, does not turn away from political parties of the countries with which China does not have diplomatic relations. In fact, contacts with political parties of these countries may help enhance mutual understanding and build bridges for a gradual normalization of relations between China and these countries. The Party’s external contacts are of a forward-looking, cumulative and long-term nature. They focus on communication of ideas and personal relations with statesmen of other countries. Inter-party

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relations thus often become an important political support for state relations to rely on and they are of strategic, pioneering and fundamental importance to the direction in which state relations may move.

7.3.1.2. Coordination with government diplomacy to consolidate state relations The CPC’s external relations are in fact an important component of China’s overall diplomacy. It is the fundamental goal and purpose of the CPC’s external work to develop a new type of inter-party relations and promote the development of state relations. The purpose of developing the Party’s external relations is to enhance the mutual understanding and exchanges and cooperation between political parties and peoples of all countries and furthermore to promote the development of state relations and to serve a comprehensive development of the state relations in the political, economic and cultural fields. The interparty relations should serve inter-state relations and should help improve and develop inter-state relations. The good relations between states will in turn influence and facilitate the development of interparty relations. Party diplomacy must be subject to and serve the national interests, coordinate with the government diplomacy and promote the inter-state relations. Otherwise it would damage the government diplomacy. During the Cultural Revolution, the CPC’s external work took a few detours. For example, the CPC thought that the objective and purpose of the party diplomacy was to support the world revolution, which brought about difficulties and losses to China’s national interests and foreign relations. This was due to an inadequate knowledge and a lack of understanding about the role of party diplomacy. After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the CPC made it abundantly clear that the goal of the Party’s external work was to promote the development of state relations, serve the reform, opening up and socialist modernization of China, win a favorable external environment for China’s economic construction and contribute to the struggle against hegemonism and for world peace.

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The CPC has resolutely implemented the major policy decisions on foreign affairs made by the CPC Central Committee, deepened exchanges with all types of foreign political parties and organizations in a comprehensive and prioritized manner and given full play to the features and advantages of party diplomacy to promote the international community’s understanding of, identification with and support for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and thus laid a political foundation for a healthy and steady development of state relations. Diplomacy focuses on in-depth dialogue and exchange of ideas, which helps understand the current situation and forecast future development, which serves as think tanks and facilitators, and which help to consolidate and develop state relations. At present, the multiparty system prevails in many countries and the government and policies change frequently. Several countries have seen political instability and frequent change of governments, politicians come and go. In these circumstances, CPC’s diplomacy has actively coordinated with the government diplomacy, giving full play to its advantage of people-oriented work, engaged in extensive exchanges and contacts with political parties of these countries, greatly facilitated the consolidation and development of state relations and maintained the stability and continuity of state relations. Party diplomacy features flexibility and pragmatism. It may contact both the ruling party and the opposition party and both political veterans and new stars. Another big advantage of the party diplomacy is to work on countries with which China does not have diplomatic relations through party channels. The CPC and the country have seen their influence expanded through continuously strengthening exchanges with political parties of neighboring countries, Latin American countries, African countries, Middle East countries and East European countries and through deepening its contacts with the mainstream political parties of developed countries and multilateral organizations of political parties. In addition, while focusing on political exchanges, the party diplomacy has also paid much attention to exchanges and cooperation with foreign political parties in many other fields through inter-party exchanges, to the benefit of an allround development and enrichment of state relations.17 17

Lin Huaiyi: An Analytical Review of the Party Diplomacy in the Overall Diplomacy of China, Journal of Huaqiao University, 2005, No. 4, p. 27.

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7.3.1.3. Deepening inter-party exchanges to promote the party image The CPC has, through party diplomacy, increased publicity and improved the openness and transparency of its external work to help shape a good international image of the CPC. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the growing inter-party high-level exchanges have displayed an all-round influence of the Party’s diplomacy. The CPC, which is at the core of the leadership of a major world power, has expounded major government policies of China to the international community in its inter-party exchanges and shared its views on the international situation with them so that political parties and politicians of other countries may have a better understanding of the cause that the CPC has engaged in. At the same time, the party diplomacy has helped to show the whole world a good image and working style of the CPC and to promote the stable development of inter-party and inter-state relations. The leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee have attached great importance to and have personally participated in the CPC-sponsored international exchanges. While meeting and talking with foreign political parties and key political figures of other countries, they have given a comprehensive account of the Chinese concepts of governance and its strategic objectives, including the path of peaceful development, the scientific outlook on development and building a harmonious society in China and a harmonious world. As a result, the international community has a better understanding of the CPC’s governance philosophy and China’s foreign policy. Transcending differences in ideologies and social systems or refusing to distinguish friends from foes by the social system or ideology has become the fundamental orientation of the party diplomacy. Exchanges by the CPC with political parties that have practiced different ideologies and social systems have helped to eliminate misunderstandings and suspicions and deepen mutual understanding and cooperation. The party diplomacy has expanded in scope from bilateral to multilateral, from inter-party relations to the relations with civil society and from political dialogue to economic cooperation and cultural exchanges. And it has steadily enriched the party diplomacy in terms of the cooperation scope, functions and forms of exchanges.

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All this has provided more channels for political parties of other countries and the international community to know more about the CPC. The CPC has helped, through party diplomacy, more and more political parties and politicians of other countries to have a better understanding of the firm determination and arduous efforts of the CPC to build China into a strong, prosperous, democratic and civilized country internally and to build a world of peace, development and progress externally. It has also shown the world, through party diplomacy, a good image and prestige of the CPC and China as a big responsible party and country.

7.3.1.4. Enhance party building for better governance Party diplomacy is of great significance for the CPC to keep up with the world’s progressive trend, to absorb outstanding outcomes created by the human society, to promote theoretical and practical innovations, to strengthen the party building, to improve the leadership system and governance methodology and to maintain the advanced nature of the Party. To enhance its capacity for governance and improve the quality of its governance, it is necessary for the CPC to conduct party diplomacy.18 After the end of the Cold War, peace and development have become the themes of the times. The ruling parties of all countries have attached great importance to building up their capabilities to govern their countries or to participate in the government, to developing their national economy and upgrading their aggregate national strength. Thus, there has been a growing trend of gradually expanding exchanges among political parties on the models, strategies and ideas about economic development. The trend toward world multi-polarization and economic globalization has directly impacted and challenged the capabilities and concepts of political parties to lead and to respond. The political life of a political party is directly hinged on its capability to effectively respond to the trend and guide its country in active participation in the process by 18

Yang Yang: Comprehensive Review of the Studies of Party Diplomacy of CPC in Recent Years, History of CPC in Beijing, 2009, No. 10, pp. 28–32.

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making use of its advantages while avoiding disadvantages. Global issues such as ecological pollution, terrorism, water scarcity, energy, population and poverty all call for global solutions through worldwide consultation by political parties — ruling parties in particular. In keeping with the trend of inter-party exchanges and the actual conditions in China, the CPC has in recent years made full use of its interparty exchange channels and made more efforts to promote a comprehensive and in-depth development of party diplomacy in light of the actual situation in China, to meet the needs of the great project of building a strong Party in the new era, and in particular, the need to implement the important thinking of “Three Represents” and the scientific outlook on development, taking the path of peaceful development and promoting the building of a harmonious world. Party diplomacy serves as a window through which we may learn more about the world, understand it and go global. The inter-party exchanges and learning opportunities may enable CPC cadres to improve their quality and enable the Party to learn from the experience and lessons of other political parties in the governance of the Party and the country. If the CPC performs the functions of party diplomacy and gives full play to the advantages of party diplomacy in fulfilling the dual missions of the Party’s cause and the state’s overall diplomacy, amid the interactions between the domestic and international situations with a broad world vision and based itself on both the present and the future, this is an important indicator to show that the CPC has ascended to the new historical starting point. Since the outburst of the international financial crisis in 2008, the economic factor has become the focus of party diplomacy by political parties of most countries in the world, as they have sought to either shift their domestic risks onto others or gain international cooperation so as to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis on their countries or parties. The changing situation in the world has linked closely the development of China with that of the world. To join the efforts of the international community in responding to the international financial crisis is not only essential to the transition of the world governance structure, but also an important opportunity for the CPC to have an

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in-depth study of the development experience of other countries to the benefit of China’s own development. In this context, the CPC has actively studied and adjusted the contents and modalities of its party diplomacy, actively carried out activities in the international political arena, maintained close contacts with political parties and political organizations of other countries, increased dialogue and exchanges of experience and discussed with them about strategies on how to respond to the international financial crisis. The CPC has voluntarily shared with its counterparts the political and economic situation in China, its measures to address the financial crisis and efforts to study and implement the scientific outlook on development as well as to build a harmonious society. It has, in addition, conducted an in-depth exchange of views on theoretical and practical issues relating to ways in which to deal with the global financial crisis and strengthen interparty cooperation. Furthermore, it has facilitated the signing of specific cooperation agreements on investment projects in such areas as energy, transportation, agriculture and tourism, which has greatly enhanced the ability of the signature countries to tackle the financial crisis. Party diplomacy has enabled the CPC to have an in-depth knowledge of the new situation and new changes across countries and to earnestly study new initiatives and experiences of other countries in managing their state affairs so that the CPC may, by drawing on others’ experience, provide the country with intellectual support to the building of the material civilization, spiritual civilization, political civilization and ecological civilization with Chinese characteristics.

7.3.2. Impact of Party Diplomacy 7.3.2.1. Creating a new situation in inter-party exchanges Under the direct leadership and personal involvement of the collective central leadership, the CPC has advanced with the times, vigorously carried out its external work and opened up a new vista in the party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. It has thus made positive contributions to the reform and opening up and to China’s overall diplomacy. It has conducted its external work in more diversified forms

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with greater and more marked advantages. Especially since the reform and opening up, with the shift of the focus of the party’s work, the CPC has readjusted and enriched the guiding ideology, fundamental principles and communication modalities of its external work. With a shift in the understanding of the themes of the times from “war and revolution” to “peace and development”, the CPC’s party diplomacy has witnessed shifts in four aspects: from supporting the world revolution to serving the national interests as the highest goal in terms of guiding ideology; from basing external relations on ideology to the four principles of inter-party relations in terms of the principles governing relations with other political parties; from exchanges mainly with political parties of similar ideologies to all-round exchanges with all types of mainstream political parties of the world — beyond ideological differences in terms of the objects for external exchanges; and from exchanges mainly focusing on ideology involving only a few sectors to extensive exchanges with orderly participation of party organizations at all levels in terms of the content and form. All these shifts have created conditions for the CPC to open up a new prospect in inter-party exchanges in the new historical conditions. For the purpose of serving the reform and opening up, the socialist modernization and the building of the Party itself, the CPC has gradually established a new type of inter-party relationship with all types of political parties of the world and continued to enrich and deepen the contents of its inter-party exchanges. While respecting the diversity of the world, the CPC has carried out, with all its sincerity, exchanges and cooperation for development with political parties of other countries and political party organizations of all regions in line with the four principles of inter-party exchanges. It has thus effectively expanded the scope of exchanges in party diplomacy. Giving full play to its advantages in working with the socialist countries, countries with which China does not have diplomatic relations and with people, the CPC has, through its party diplomacy, further deepened friendly exchanges and cooperation with all types of political parties of other countries, deepened friendship with a number of political parties and politicians who “know China” and “are friendly toward China”, institutionalized its contacts with big parties in big

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countries, such as Japan, Russia, India and Australia, and expanded its contacts and exchanges with international organizations of political parties. The CPC has also gradually put in place contacts and exchanges with countries having no diplomatic relations with China. And it has actively participated in multilateral diplomatic activities of the Socialist International and other regional and international organizations of political parties. For example, the CPC has entered into various forms of friendly exchanges and contacts with the main political parties of countries without diplomatic relations with the PRC, hosted visits to China by delegations of the ruling parties, the participating parties and the legal opposition parties of Central American countries, Caribbean countries, Paraguay and the Pacific island countries and paid return visits upon invitation. The exchange of these visits has done a lot of accumulative and promotional work with a view to eventually normalizing diplomatic relations with them. The CPC has maintained friendly exchanges with the Socialist International, the largest international organization of political parties of the world, and has established ties with six caucuses of the European Parliament, namely, the European People’s Party, the Socialist, the Liberal, the Left-wing Alliance, the Green Party and the Union for Europe of the Nations. Recent years have also seen enhanced exchanges and cooperation between the CPC and other political parties through multilateral contacts and other new forms. These new forms and means of multilateral exchanges have helped to expand the scope of the CPC external exchanges and the extent of China’s participation in international affairs. Significantly, China’s voice has been heard more loudly in the international arena and the mutual understanding and cooperation between the CPC and various regional and international organizations of political parties have deepened, to the benefit of world peace, stability and development. Up to now, the CPC has maintained friendly exchanges and contacts of various forms with more than 600 political parties and political organizations from over 160 countries and regions of the world and a pattern of comprehensive, multi-channel, wide-ranging and in-depth external contacts has emerged.

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7.3.2.2. Serving the state’s overall diplomacy The CPC external work is an important part of the cause of the Party and an important front of the overall diplomacy of the country. An important point that the CPC has learned after summing up its experience in party diplomacy is that inter-party relations should be subject to and serve the state-to-state relations. Subsequently, the second generation of the collective leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core proposed a brand-new concept of party diplomacy, i.e. inter-party relations serving inter-state relations. Deng Xiaoping pointed out repeatedly that inter-party relations must never be placed above interstate relations, must always be measured against the national interests as the highest standards and must be subject to and serve the development of the state’s overall diplomacy. The CPC has worked to serve the overall diplomacy of China in its external exchanges and contacts. First of all, it has been committed to the consolidation and development of state relations. It has always taken safeguarding the national interests and promoting the development of inter-state relations as the fundamental purpose and goal of its external work. The CPC has conscientiously planned its external work in the overall context of the interaction between the domestic and international situations, strengthened its coordination and cooperation with different sectors for the overall diplomacy, deepened its systematic studies and made holistic arrangements for solving major issues or strategic issues that impact the overall situation or long-term interests. It has made sure that its external work must serve and focus on the overall work plan of the Party and of the state and it has worked hard to maintain and make good use of the important period of strategic opportunities so as to make new contributions to an all-round, stable and healthy development of state-to-state relations. Party diplomacy is part of the country’s overall diplomacy and should always be measured against national interests as the highest standards. It should always adhere to the purpose of diplomacy oriented toward people and serving the people, have a holistic understanding of the domestic and international situations, continue to enhance the diplomatic synergy of the country’s overall diplomacy and work for an all-round, stable and

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healthy development of inter-state relations. In the practice of its party diplomacy, the CPC has taken full advantage of all its diplomatic resources, used them to serve the state’s major strategic diplomatic plan and has actively rendered its cooperation for possible solutions to such priority issues or difficult issues as the Taiwan issue, Sino– Japanese relations, the DPRK nuclear issue and the reform of the UN Security Council. Under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development and strategic thinking on the overall diplomacy of the country, the CPC’s party diplomacy has brought into full play its advantages and its special features, identified priorities and sought to produce practical results. It has focused on high-level exchanges, preventive diplomacy, forward-looking research and the fundamental ground-laying work. It has never deviated from the purpose of diplomacy oriented toward people and serving the people or from development, the CPC’s top priority in governing the Party and rejuvenating the nation. It has taken the initiative to provide intellectual support for the socialist modernization drive and for building a strong Party. At the same time, the CPC will further deepen the study and grasp of the law of the party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, constantly improve its capacity for external exchanges, work hard to shape a good international image and promote a comprehensive, stable and healthy development of state-to-state relations. For example, at the Sino–US high-level political dialogue of leaders of political parties, the two sides sincerely and frankly communicated and exchanged views with each other and learned from each other from a strategic height and long-term perspective, which was of great significance to building a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between China and the US in the 21st century. The two sides conducted a candid and in-depth exchange of views on global challenges, major international issues and important issues in Sino–US relations, which has helped to consolidate the political basis for Sino–US relations. Such dialogue represents a new channel for strategic communication and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. It is an important component of the maturing and comprehensive bilateral relations in the 21st century and a positive driving force for the development of Sino–US relations.

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7.3.2.3. CPC’s improved international image The CPC’s external work has become an important platform for the CPC to promote its international image and an important window for the international community to know China and the CPC. The party diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has been formulated on the basis of summing up the historical experience and lessons of the international communist movement and of the CPC’s external contacts. It is a result of applying the Marxist theory on inter-party relations to the contemporary China in the present era and developing the theory in practice. The four principles for the new type of inter-party relations are consistent with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and other universally recognized norms governing international relations and at the same time they have distinctive Chinese characteristics, in that they reflect openness in the CPC’s external contacts, equality in the principles governing the inter-party relations, the pragmatic nature of the connotations of external contacts and the flexibility in forms. These principles have won widespread recognition and support from foreign political parties and laid a foundation for expanding friendly exchanges with all types of political parties. The reform and opening up have brought historic changes to China and the CPC international image has consequently taken a new look. In the new historical period, the CPC presents itself in the international arena an image of a ruling party focusing on development and construction; an image of a modern political party good at theoretical innovation and advancing with the times; an image of a people-oriented political party close to the people; an image of a liberal and open political party for peace and democracy; and an image of a new type of Marxist party. This open, progressive, people-oriented and peace-seeking international image of the CPC has been well received in the international community. Before and after the 17th CPC National Congress, the CPC received about 600 congratulatory letters and messages from foreign political parties, politicians and political organizations, in which they spoke highly of the achievements in the reform and opening up in China and of the CPC’s spirit of advancing with the times. This is strong evidence that the international image of the CPC has constantly improved over time and it also highlights the rising influence of China.

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It is an important function of the current and future party diplomacy to make unremitting efforts to build a harmonious world, conduct people-oriented diplomacy for the people and establish a good international image of the CPC. In his speech at the UN Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN on 15 September 2005, Hu Jintao proposed to the international community for the first time a major initiative — “Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity”. The CPC idea of building a “harmonious world” has made an important impact. With a modest diplomatic gesture, it has shown the world the Chinese concept of the international system, which may help to dispel and remove possible misgivings and concerns about China’s international strategy that the international community might have following China’s rapid development and increase of its international influence. Furthermore, it may help other countries and the international community to positively look at China’s increased national strength and its enhanced international status. Since the reform and opening up, China has sped up and considerably intensified its “going abroad” programme. It has substantially upgraded the integration of its economy into the world economy. Consequently, China has been faced with an increasingly heavier task of protecting its overseas interests, especially protecting the rights and interests of the Chinese nationals abroad. This has become an important task of the Chinese diplomacy in the new era. The CPC concept of “putting the people’s interests above everything else and governing the country for the people” has been embodied in “diplomacy for the people”. The operations of naval ships escorting commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Libya are good examples of diplomacy for the people. These positive international declarations and actions have greatly helped the international community to have a better knowledge and understanding of the CPC and its governance philosophy and have helped to present a good international image of how CPC is “building the Party for the public interests and exercising the state power for the people”.

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7.3.2.4. Increasing CPC’s capabilities for governance Through focusing on development, the top priority of the CPC in governing the Party and rejuvenating the nation, the CPC has, in party diplomacy, constantly enriched the economic and cultural elements, combined political, economic and cultural factors, holistically maintained the interests of safeguarding the state sovereignty and security and pursuing development, took the initiative to provide intellectual support to development of the country and the building of the Party, and effectively fulfilled the functions of an adviser and assistant to the CPC Central Committee. The CPC Party diplomacy, with the International Department of the CPC Central Committee as the main implementation organ, has always kept to the pulse of the development of the times and carried out activities for the central tasks of the Party and the country. It has not only committed to safeguarding the national interests and promoting the development of state-to-state relations, but has also focused on exchanging experience in managing the Party and governing the country and presenting a good international image of the Party. It has conducted an in-depth study on such major topics as the diplomatic strategy and the security strategy so as to contribute useful reference to the central decision-making process and it has also systematically studied the governance philosophy, system, modalities and law of the ruling parties of other countries, drawn from successful experience and profound failure lessons of foreign political parties so as to provide intellectual support for the CPC to improve its governance capabilities and consolidate its ruling status. The CPC has organized theoretical seminars, thematic workshops on major topics and other forms of activities in cooperation with foreign political parties and political organizations. Through these activities, the CPC has had in-depth studies on experiences and lessons of foreign political parties in building up their governance capabilities, strengthening the building of the grass-root party organizations, a harmonious society, new rural areas, a system of core social values, among others, so as to accurately grasp the new trend of the international situation, the new developments in the political thinking of

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other countries and new tendencies in the world party politics so as to provide intellectual support for the modernization drive in China and for the party building itself.19 The International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the CPC Central Party School and other Party organizations are the key institutions for implementing party diplomacy. They should also serve as the think tanks for studying party diplomacy and party politics and for the training of party members and cadres. Global issues have attracted greater attention and thus occupied a rising position and assumed growing importance in modern diplomacy. The CPC has purposely increased exchanges of views with foreign political parties on global issues which has effectively helped China’s diplomacy over these issues. The International Department of the CPC Central Committee has discussed and exchanged views with foreign political parties on major global issues facing the world at the multilateral seminars in recent years. In September 2003, the CPC and some of the Socialist Parties and the Social Democratic Parties of West European countries and the Australian Labor Party jointly organized the seminar entitled “Globalization and the New International Order”. In June 2006, the CPC organized a seminar entitled “National, Religious and Poverty Issues — How to Build a Harmonious Society in Developing Countries” in co-sponsorship with political parties of 11 African countries, including Burundi and Cameroon. These theoretical seminars have afforded all participating political parties opportunities to exchange views on major theoretical and practical issues, which have helped to broaden horizons, expand consensus, provoke thoughts and promote cooperation, facilitating political parties in theoretical innovation and party building, and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship.

19

Wang Jiarui: Follow the Direction of the 17th CPC Congress to Open New Horizons for Party Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics, Qiushi, 2007, No. 23, pp. 35–36.

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Conclusion CPC Advancing with the Times: Future Prospects of China’s Diplomacy YANG Jiemian

The CPC has, since its inception, played a decisive role in the Chinese revolution and construction like a firm rock in midstream and has furthermore made an indelible contribution to the flourishing and development of the diplomatic cause of New China. It has not only been directly involved in the practice of party diplomacy, but also provided guidance for the development of China’s diplomatic cause with theories, line, principles and policies. The pioneering and enterprising CPC that has been advancing with the times will surely provide a strong political leadership, in the new historical period, to China’s endeavor for peaceful development and to the promotion of a harmonious world with a profound understanding and grasp of new opportunities and challenges and by developing diplomatic theories and mechanisms with Chinese characteristics in an innovative spirit.

I. Opportunities and Challenges in the New Era In the early 21st century, the CPC Central Committee put forward the idea of the period of strategic opportunities. Jiang Zemin, the then General Secretary of CPC Central Committee, pointed out in his report to the 16th National Party Congress that: “An overview of the situation shows that for our country, the first two decades of the 21st century are an important and promising period of strategic 477

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opportunities that must be firmly grasped.”1 The Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work held by the CPC in Beijing in 2006, the first such conference held after the founding of New China, stressed the importance of “maintaining and taking advantage of the period of important strategic opportunities”.2 It can be said that the CPC Central Committee has always examined and approached the period of strategic opportunities from the height of overall interests and strive to seize, make good use of and extend the period of strategic opportunities so as to facilitate the domestic modernization process and the building of an all-round well-off society. It is stated in the CPC Central Committee’s Proposal on Formulating the 12th Five-Year Program (2011–2015) on National Economic and Social Development that China is still in an important period of strategic opportunities during which there is a great deal China can achieve, and it is faced with both precious historic opportunities and plenty of foreseeable and unforeseeable risks and challenges.3 With the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai World Expo, an appropriate response to the international financial crisis and the rise of its GDP to the second place in the world, China has entered the center stage of the world with new opportunities and challenges for its diplomatic work in the future international system.

A. Precious Historical Opportunity for Interaction between China and the World China’s nation-building has progressed along with the reorganization of the international structure and the peaceful transition of the international system. China has entered the center of the international system. 1

Jiang Zemin: Build a Well-off Society in an All-Round Way and Create a New Situation in Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics — Report Delivered at the 16th CPC National Congress, November 8, 2002, People’s Daily. 2 The Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work, Beijing, August 24, 2006, People’s Daily. 3 The CPC Central Committee’s Proposal on Formulating the 12th Five-Year Program for China’s Economic and Social Development, Xinhua News Agency, October 27, 2010.

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In the first year of the second decade of this century, China’s GDP surpassed that of Japan and has become the second largest in the world. The interaction between China and the world has developed from one heavily tilted toward political and bilateral exchanges to a comprehensive all-dimensional, wide-ranging and multi-level interaction. The growing overall national strength and the relative rise of China’s position in the world are conducive to China’s internal development and external relations.4 The role of China as a participant and builder of the international system is widely recognized by the international community. With continued rapid growth of China’s comprehensive strength, especially after it achieves its goal of building a well-off society and becoming a moderately developed country, China will enjoy a greater and more extensive influence in the international community with its institutional arrangements and development model, and China will be more capable of making a greater contribution to the peace and prosperity of the world. There is a close relationship between China’s speedy rise and the reform of the international system. China has been an important driving force for the transformation of the international system, and furthermore, its development and influence have also become an important part of the transformation of the international system. China has fully participated in the international system at the global and regional levels and in various fields through global mechanisms such as the UN, the G20 Summit and the BRICS Summit and through regional and trans-regional cooperation mechanisms, and it has facilitated a peaceful transformation of the international system in a fair and more reasonable direction. The present is the best period in history for China’s relations with the outside world. It has enjoyed an unprecedentedly high status and important role in the international community. The image of China as a growing and responsible big power is by and large taking shape on the world stage.5 The important role which China has played in the international

4

Yang Jiemian et al.: Foreign Relations and Studies of International Issues, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2009 Edition, p. 27. 5 Yan Xuetong et al.: China’s Rise and Its Strategy, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005 Edition.

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system has been increasingly recognized and acknowledged by developed countries, emerging countries, developing countries and major international organizations. The international community is full of expectations for China to play a more important role in the international system. All these have offered China a greater space for development and room for maneuver for its diplomatic cause. Peace, development and cooperation remain the trend of the times. Multi-polarization of the world and economic globalization has developed further. The world economic and political structures are undergoing changes. Science and technologies are brewing new breakthroughs. In short, the overall international environment is favorable to China’s peaceful development.6 Specifically, the global economy, international politics and world science have entered a new cycle. More and more countries have chosen the path of opening up. The global economic development trend will not be interrupted. The mainstream of thinking of the international community will continue to favor free trade and investment. All this is conducive to the development of a cooperative and win-win relationship between China and the rest of the world. Peace and development remain the themes of our era. International cooperation is still the main option for addressing global issues and issues affecting international peace. China is still enjoying a fairly favorable international environment for economic and technological development. And the rise of emerging markets has expanded the space for China’s economic development. Sub-regional, regional and interregional cooperation has offered China a bigger stage.7 The multipolar pattern of the world has entered a key stage of formation and consolidation. Relations among major powers will become more stable, balanced and cooperative for a win-win situation. It is expected that a fair and reasonable international system will rest on the substantive support of the power structure reinforced by changes. The international system and international order that have been built by the developed and developing countries together, have 6

Op. cit., Xinhua News Agency, October 27, 2010. Yang Jiemian et al.: The Grand System Toward a Multi-polar and Multi-Actor World, Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2008 Edition, pp. 501–505. 7

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provided China with a historical opportunity to increase its say in international affairs and its rights and interests in the world. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the rise of emerging powers as a group has become an important driving force behind the transformation of the international system, to the benefit of more participation and a bigger voice of developing countries in the international system and also to the benefit of opportunities for China to win more international support and a more relaxed international environment. This group of emerging countries has enjoyed an increasingly important status and standing in the international politics, as evidenced by the dialogue between leaders of the emerging countries and the G8, the G20 Summits for discussing major issues relating to the world economy and the BRICS Summits.8 Over the five years since its inception, BRICS cooperation has made steady headway. The scope of the cooperation has been broadening and the levels increasing. A multi-tiered and wide-ranging cooperation structure has taken shape.9 The cooperation among emerging countries is aimed at promoting a peaceful transformation of the international system, at maintaining a positive and healthy relationship of competition and cooperation with traditional big powers in the international system, and at offering the international community public goods with the special characteristics of emerging countries in the security, economic, cultural and other fields. BRICS’ cooperation has contributed not only to the economic and social development of the BRICS countries themselves, but also to world peace and development. Emerging countries have had similar positions and pursuit in terms of global governance and international institutional arrangements. Their cooperation will help speed up the peaceful transformation of the international system, and at the same time help reduce the pressure under which individual countries promote the transformation.

8

Members of BRIC at the first two Summits were China, Brazil, Russia and India. South Africa joined the BRICS in 2011 at its Summit held in China. 9 Hu Jintao: Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity — Remarks at the third BRICS Leaders Meeting, People’s Daily, April 14, 2011.

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There are new opportunities for China to develop its global and regional strategies. The association and ties between China and major regions of the world have been expanding rapidly. Under the impetus of the trends of the times such as globalization and regionalization, the global political and economic center has continued to move to Asia. The Chinese interests in Asia are consistent with the overall interests of Asia. And a constructive, comprehensive and institutionalized interactive relationship between China and other countries in the region has taken shape.10 China has continued to increase its aggregate national strength and has implemented the policy of good-neighborliness and friendship in an all-round manner. The Asian cooperation mechanism has gradually developed in depth and width and the development of a network for exchanging goods and supplying each others’ needs has afforded China a good opportunity to share the dynamism of this most viable region in the world. The issuance by China of its Policy Papers on Europe, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean respectively shows that China has already formed its policies, goals and strategies toward major regions in the world, which will help promote a comprehensive, rapid and healthy development of relations between China and the above-mentioned regions from a strategic height. After the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China has strengthened economic cooperation with these regions with visibly greater interdependence between China and these regions. This relationship is not only of bilateral significance, but also of significant importance to a balanced and sustainable development of the world economy.

B. Main Challenges Facing China in the Period of Strategic Opportunities The international financial crisis has produced a far-reaching impact. The world’s economic growth has slowed down. The world’s demand

10

Chen Dongxiao: Build a New Asia of Cooperation and Advancing Together — China’s Asia Strategy Oriented Towards 2020, Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, October 2008.

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structure has changed significantly. And the competition over the market, resources, human resources, technology and standards has intensified. Climate change, energy security, resources security, food security and other global issues have become increasingly acute. Various forms of protectionism have reared their ugly head. All this has complicated the external environment for China’s development. The markets of developed countries represented by the US, Europe and Japan have been severely damaged by the international financial crisis. The earthquake-induced tsunami and nuclear radiation will continue to impact Japan. The order of the international economic governance is in the process of being readjusted. China has to invest more resources in developing its economic cooperation with emerging markets and developing countries. In the process of global outreach of its economy, China is confronted with a significantly changed external economic environment. Trade and investment protectionism is clearly on the rise in developed countries. Some countries have proposed to link carbon emissions with trade and have re-emphasized development of the real economy, especially the manufacturing sector. All this will exert a huge impact and pressure on countries like China whose economy is driven by external demand and based on the manufacturing sector with low technical content.11 The world’s economic fluctuations have added challenges to China and China has seen increased economic frictions with both developed and developing countries. In future, there will be more prominent contradictions between population and resources and between economic growth and protection of ecological environment, which will become the largest constraints on China’s future modernization drive. Its diplomacy will face daunting challenges in furthering international cooperation in the field of climate change, energy security, resources security, food security and market expansion. The Proposal has made it clear that China must take a broader perspective, observe the developments calmly, manage the contradictions properly, give consideration to both the domestic and international situations, understand and grasp China’s new 11

Li Junru: Seize the Strategic Opportunity and Make Good Use of This Important Period for the Development of China, International Perspective, 2011, No. 2, pp. 9–10.

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positioning in the division of labor in the global economy and create new advantages in actively participating in the international economic cooperation and competition.12 China’s aggregate national strength has now risen to the second place in the world, but it will remain in a relatively weak position in the international balance of power for quite a long period of time to come and its ability to play a role in world affairs will be subject to all sorts of constraints imposed by the US-led Western countries. To maintain long-term stable development of Sino–US relations will continue to be the most important among all issues in the relationship between China and major power centers. While continuing economic and trade exchanges and counter-terrorism cooperation with China and working with China to stabilize the world economy, the US has always been sensitive to the growth of China’s aggregate strength and the improvement of its international standing. Not reconciled to its loss of the status as the only superpower, the US has intensified its competition with China and other emerging countries in the fields of infrastructure construction, science and technology, education, green economy and cultural soft power. And it has continued to intervene in issues concerning China’s sovereignty and development interests, such as the issues of South China Sea, Taiwan and Tibet. The US has greater needs for China’s support and cooperation on regional and global issues. At the same time, it has also heightened its guard against China and built up its strategy with China as an opponent, which is manifested, in particular, in its enhanced presence in Asia and in its increased competition in the field of human rights and ideology. China has no other way but to take the road of peaceful development and to seek development within the existing international system and international order. In this context, the only way forward for China to promote the transformation of the international system is to keep a balance between lying low and accomplishing something and to advocate the concepts of scientific development, peaceful development and a harmonious world with a view to make these

12

Op. cit., Xinhua News Agency, October 27, 2010.

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concepts as influential concepts and values in the international community. To take advantage of the period of strategic opportunities, China must give considerations to both the domestic and international situations from the strategic perspective. It should continue to maintain a sustained economic growth, steadily deepen political reform and ensure ethnic unity and religious harmony at home. At the same time, it should try to reach consensus within the country on the national positioning and strategic arrangements in the historical process of the reorganization of the international system and form a coordinated and concerted effort with major power centers in the world in terms of the concept, direction, policies and measures for the transformation of the international system. The Chinese development model is in the process of transition. China must pay more attention to the quality of the economic growth while continuing to pursue its economic growth rate. In the process of all-round development and modernization, China is bound to face various interwoven internal and external contradictions and difficulties with more prominent ethnic and religious frictions. There is a long way to go for China to successfully implement the scientific outlook on development and building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Only when it successfully manages its own development, can China enjoy more rights and interests internationally and make greater contribution to world peace, security and prosperity. As an important country behind the transformation of the international system and the international structure, China should work for rights and interests corresponding to its status and promote the formulation of norms, rules and power structure of the main international mechanism in such a manner that will better serve the interests of the people of China and the world. China’s development is by no means a one-way process. After becoming the engine of the world economy, China ought to offer more non-material international public goods, including a development model and universal values. With expanded and enriched connotations of the national interests, China is faced with a more arduous task of safeguarding state sovereignty, security and development interests abroad and it has a more visible diplomatic function to protect its overseas interests.

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With regard to the state sovereignty, China is expected to face repeated and complex contests with hostile forces at home and abroad over such issues as Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang on the diplomatic front and to see frequent incidents involving its sovereign right over territorial waters. As for security, traditional and non-traditional security issues are interwoven. The North Korean nuclear issue has remained unresolved. Disputes over the ownership of the South China Sea remain outstanding. There has seen a growing cross-border impact of non-traditional security issues such as environmental pollution, ecological degradation, drug trafficking, transnational crimes, spread of diseases, water shortage, internet information security, energy security, nuclear leaks and large-scale natural disasters. Incidents such as SARS, avian flu and earthquaketriggered nuclear leakage and tsunami in Japan have shown time and again that events in one country could easily spill over and impact the world. Failure to properly handle them will affect a country’s economic rights and interests and its international image. In terms of development rights and interests, the rapid expansion of China’s overseas interests calls for an improvement of the relevant international rules and regulations, and for keeping the important waters and waterways safe and secure. Greater aggregate national strength and international influence of China brings with it higher expectations of the international community for a bigger role by China. The US administration has proposed to China that the stakeholders in the international system should pull together in times of trouble. The regional and the global issues and issues in specific areas have had a markedly greater weight in the bilateral strategic dialogue between the two countries. The US government has placed greater expectations on and raised higher requirements for China to play a bigger role on relevant issues. Neighboring countries are watching attentively what role an increasingly powerful China will play in the region and even give more attention to the US presence in the region so as to contain China. The regional cooperation process faces challenges. As China develops rapidly toward becoming a developed country, there will be reduced common interests between China and developing countries. In those circumstances, how can it

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achieve common development and maintain unity and solidarity with developing countries? This is an important issue calling for attention.13 The international public opinion is, increasingly closely, watching the possible impact that China’s development process and its future direction may have on the neighboring countries, regional situation, global issues and the structure of the world. Such theories as “China collapse theory”, “China threat theory”, “China’s responsibility theory” and “arrogant China theory” demonstrate the complex mentality of the international community on the rapid development of China and the Chinese socialist system with Chinese characteristics. All this calls for diplomatic efforts, including the CPC Party diplomacy and public diplomacy, to shape factually correct public opinions and influence the public opinions positively.

II. Theoretical and Institutional Innovation The CPC has proved to be capable of creatively combining Marxism with the contemporary world and with the Chinese practice and formulating diplomatic thinking and theory guiding China’s foreign relations in different periods in line with the changing domestic and international situations. Confronted with the complex and rapid changes in the international situation, the CPC has found its mission of external work increasingly more onerous. In this context, the CPC has successively formed important guiding ideologies for foreign affairs, including the Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Three Represents and the scientific outlook on development, which are all products of combining Marxism with China’s practice, re-creation of the fine traditional Chinese thinking in the contemporary times, and the theoretical summary and distillation of the rich diplomatic practice of New China. They are also a product that China has made after drawing from good ideas and successful practices of other countries and peoples. Under the CPC leadership, China will continue to conduct its diplomacy in future in the best interest of the overall work plan of the 13

Yang Jiemian: Big Cooperation-Changing World and China’s International Strategy, Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2005 Edition, p. 241.

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Party and the state. It will conscientiously sum up the past experience and plan for the future with an open mind, in a realistic and forwardlooking manner. It will further expand exchanges with foreign countries and make new contributions to the grand goal of building a moderately prosperous society and to world peace and progress.

A. CPC’s Exploration and Innovation in Diplomatic Theory Diplomatic theory is generally composed of diplomatic thinking and diplomatic concepts, which are at two levels. Diplomatic thinking directly represents the prevailing diplomatic intentions and overall interests of a country. The diplomatic thinking of New China is the distillation of continuous in-depth development of China’s foreign relations, a summary of the practice of managing its relations with other countries and peoples, a concentrated manifestation of the efforts of the international community to promote peace, development and cooperation. The diplomatic thinking of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and the collective central leadership with Hu Jintao as General Secretary are all products of combining Marxism with Chinese practice under the CPC leadership, re-creation of the fine traditional Chinese thinking in the contemporary times and also the theoretical upgrading and distillation of the rich diplomatic practice of New China. It also draws upon advanced ideas and successful practices of other countries and peoples. Under the guidance of the collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China has always taken the national interests as the purpose and goal of its diplomacy, has always given top priority to maintaining the independence and sovereignty of China in accordance with the fundamental principle of independence, has played a constructive role in international affairs and has thus become an important and influential force for the development of the world. The diplomatic thinking of Mao Zedong focused on an independent foreign policy of peace in the fundamental interest of the Chinese people and the world people, on safeguarding national independence and state sovereignty, on opposing imperialism, colonialism and

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hegemonism, on supporting the oppressed countries and nations in their struggle to win and maintain independence, on resolutely safeguarding world peace, and on truly peaceful coexistence with other countries of the world on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Such important theories as the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”, “the large triangular strategic relationship among China, the US and the Soviet Union” and “the Three Worlds Theory” in the diplomatic thinking of Mao Zedong had a significant impact in the world at that time. They helped to break, to some extent, the West’s domination of the international diplomatic thinking. In the first 30 years of New China, the diplomatic thinking of Mao Zedong successfully guided China into gaining a firm foothold in the international community through its conduct of foreign relations, into gradually establishing normal relations with major developed countries and safeguarding its state sovereignty and national dignity in the complex international environment. After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of CPC, Deng Xiaoping inherited and developed Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and created the socialist diplomatic thinking with Chinese characteristics.14 The basic contents of Deng Xiaoping’s diplomatic thinking were: to consistently oppose hegemonism and power politics in international affairs, make China’s contribution to world peace and development, never seek hegemony, always stand with the Third World countries, and strive to safeguard the interests of Third World countries. In pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, China handled all international affairs and international issues in the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and the world peoples and independently determined China’s own positions and policies on the merits of each case. With its judgment that peace and development was the main theme of the times, Deng Xiaoping’s diplomatic thinking pushed China to the international center stage and helped create a sound international environment for the economic development and reform and opening up in China. 14

Zheng Bijian (ed.): Fundamental Issues in Deng Xiaoping Theory, Beijing: CCCPC Party School Press, 2002 Edition, p. 50.

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The diplomatic thinking of Jiang Zemin was an integral part of the important thought of “Three Represents”. It stressed the constructive interaction between China and the rest of the world. It helped upgrade China’s foreign relations considerably both in terms of theory and practice. The main contents of Jiang Zemin’s diplomatic thinking included: adhere to the judgment that peace and development was the main theme of the times, safeguard world peace and advocate the need to establish a new international political and economic order, understand the trend toward multi-polarization of the world and economic globalization, take advantage of the period of strategic opportunities, advocate democratization of international relations and diversification of development models, propose a new security concept and facilitate the building of a new cooperative security structure, and oppose all forms of hegemonism, power politics and terrorism.15 Under the guidance of the third generation of the collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China successfully responded to the 1989 political disturbance and the challenges posed by drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, adjusted its relations with developed countries, improved its relations with surrounding countries, consolidated its solid relations with developing countries, actively and effectively participated in multilateral diplomacy and in international organizations, took the initiative to promote regional and inter-regional cooperation, forcefully combated international terrorism and played a constructive role in the Asian financial crisis, which has resulted in a new situation for China’s foreign relations. Since the beginning of the 21st century, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary, China’s diplomatic thinking has seen new developments. In terms of foreign relations, China has announced that it will take the path of peaceful development and promote the building of a harmonious world in cooperation with other countries. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the new generation of the collective leadership has firmly believed in inheritance and innovation of the theory, unswervingly taken the path 15

Publicity Department of CCCPC: Study Guide on the Important Thinking of “Three Represents”, Beijing: Learning Press, 2003 Edition, pp. 91–97.

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of peaceful development in the context of globalization, held high the banner of peace, development and cooperation and proposed the two important strategic ideas of building a harmonious world and shaping a new international system. The strategy of unswervingly taking the path of peaceful development has not only incorporated the important CPC ideas of “peaceful coexistence”, “peace and development” and “harmony without uniformity”, but also helped to explain to the world China’s development path and its international strategy and to win more understanding and support of the international community for China’s peaceful development, in the context of increasing attention paid by the international community to China’s international positioning. After the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, the collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee has assessed the situation and made the best use of the group strength of the emerging powers to promote the movement of the international pattern toward multi-polarization. As a result, major progress has been made in the reform of the international financial system. Thanks to the efforts of the CPC collective leadership, the Chinese diplomatic thinking has advanced with the times and progress has been made in the following aspects with regard to the concepts of the times, of the system, of the interests and of peace: First, based on its understanding of the times that China is in, China has fundamentally shifted its concept of the times from “the era of war and revolution” to “one of peace and development”. Thus, pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become an irresistible trend of the times.16 Second, the Chinese participation in the international system has experienced a difficult process from “alienation” to “participation” and finally to “reintegration” and has in the process achieved a historic change of the role in the international system from “a victim” and “a reformer” to “a participant” and “a builder”. The existing international system has therefore gained a greater representation

16

Hu Jintao: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects — Report Delivered at the 17th CPC National Congress (October 15, 2007), People’s Daily, October 25, 2007.

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and legitimacy and has been injected with the positive factors of improvement, transformation and reform. Third, the concept of national interests as the purpose and goal of foreign relations has been developed and extended finally to the concept of “grand interests”, combining the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of the people of all countries, which has expanded the scope for Chinese diplomacy and enhanced its moral force. Fourth, adherence to the path of peaceful development and advocating the concept of “common development and a harmonious world with lasting peace” have enriched and strengthened China’s independent foreign policy of peace, which has won universal recognition and support of the international community at a time of China’s rapid rise. To adapt to the rise of China and other emerging powers as a group and to the rapid transformation of the current international system, China must go for more and greater theoretical innovation in diplomatic thinking and theories in the future. In particular, it should do more forward-looking thinking, on the basis of its judgment of the historical trend of the future human development and the world trend, the direction in which the current international system should be transformed, the possible opportunities and challenges that the transformation of the international system may bring about, how China should adapt itself to its changing role in terms of theory, and other issues.

B. The CPC’s Exploration and Innovation on Diplomatic Mechanisms Diplomatic mechanisms here mean, in a narrow sense, organizational structure for conducting diplomacy and foreign policy implementation mechanisms and procedures. Diplomatic mechanisms are an organizational and institutional guarantee for implementing the CPC’s diplomatic thinking. After the founding of New China, guided by such ideas as “putting the house in order before inviting guests” and “starting anew”, China implemented the principle of the Party guiding foreign affairs and strengthened the CPC leadership of China’s diplomatic work at the organizational level. The Central

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Foreign Affairs Group, which was established in 1958, was responsible for leading diplomatic work in the political, economic, cultural, scientific, and technological areas. The Group was affiliated to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. In terms of division of labor in foreign affairs, the implementation agencies of the Party and state were consisted of the central foreign affairs administration and its representative offices. They included the President, the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee and other foreign affairs administrative offices, as well as embassies, consulates, permanent missions, specially accredited temporary missions and other diplomatic representative offices abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the state organ mandated to handle the day-to-day foreign affairs and to formulate foreign policy and was the functional department in charge of diplomatic work under the leadership of the State Council. It played mainly the role of implementing foreign policy, collecting relevant information and proposing ways to address diplomatic issues. The International Liaison Department and the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and other ministries under the State Council were also occasionally involved in the external work and played an auxiliary and supporting role in their respective fields. From the early years after the founding of New China to the 1960s, the organizational structure for foreign affairs represented a highly centralized planning system. The operational mechanism of foreign affairs featured a high-degree of power concentration, with the CPC Central Committee vested with all foreign policy power and the executive diplomatic organs very limited authorization; with all foreign-affairs-related information managed in a highly centralized way; diplomatic decisions made in a highly centralized fashion and diplomatic work administrative organs acting with extreme caution. This system was effective in pooling very limited diplomatic resources available in China then for diplomatic work, which ensured the realization of China’s international strategy and foreign policy. As China had to handle more complicated foreign affairs, its diplomatic work called for high caliber career diplomats and diplomatic envoys and quality involvement by civil society in diplomacy, and hence this

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foreign-affairs system was faced with the challenge of reform and development.17 Since reform and opening up, China has had increasingly closer and more frequent contacts and ties with the outside world, resulting in deepened interaction between China and the outside world in wide-ranging areas. There has been a fundamental shift in the Chinese diplomacy from the unitary government-dominated diplomacy to the plural inclusive diplomacy, from the traditional high-level political topics to the low-level political field and from a passive diplomacy to an active diplomacy. Adapting to the new in-depth development of globalization, regionalization and information revolution, China has gradually developed a multi-level, all-round, wide-ranging and holistic diplomacy model. In addition to traditional political and security diplomacy, party diplomacy, parliamentary diplomacy, economic diplomacy, military diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, environment diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy, public diplomacy and nongovernmental diplomacy have become new areas and growth points for diplomacy. Among them, economic diplomacy, military diplomacy and cultural diplomacy have become the most prominent bright spots. Following China’s accession to WTO, China has promoted the G20 Summit and made it a primary forum for world economic affairs in cooperation with other countries and it has enjoyed more say in the reform of the international financial institutions. The Chinese army has increased its contribution to international security and its military transparency through joint military exercises, participation in peacekeeping operations, combating piracy and providing humanitarian aid, through periodic issuance of the White Paper on the National Defense of China, and through the establishment of the Information Office and the spokesman mechanism in the Ministry of Defense. China has also promoted the Chinese culture and cultural exchanges with other countries through a variety of cultural activities, the establishment of the Confucius Institutes and cultural centers overseas, and 17

Zhao Kejin: Theoretical Explanation of the Evolution of the Diplomatic System of the People’s Republic of China, Doctoral Dissertation of Fudan University, 2005. pp. 57–62.

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through hosting the Olympic Games and World Expo. In terms of foreign policy decision-making mechanism, more emphasis has been put on the overall consideration, pluralism, decentralization, institutionalization and specialization, and on comprehensive guidance on diplomacy and mutual coordination. China has given a greater role to experts, scholars and think tanks, attached greater importance to public diplomacy and paid more attention to global issues in an attempt to provide the international community with more international public goods and common values.18 In the spirit of “diplomacy oriented toward people and for the people”, China has enabled people to expand their rights to information about and participation in the Chinese diplomacy. China’s diplomacy has increasingly featured people-oriented features. Overall, the institutional framework of bigger diplomacy has taken shape within its diplomacy system, with foreign policy powers of the Head of State, the State Council and grass-roots diplomatic institutions legally prescribed. The 1982 Constitution of China has clearly stipulated the highest power in foreign affairs to be exercised by the President of the country, and the qualifications, tenure, appointment and removal procedures of the President, as well as the principle on the Vice President filling the vacancy of the President. All this has legally regulated the exercise of the power in diplomacy by the Head of State. Diplomacy by the Head of State has become an important component of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. Furthermore, the State Council has established a diplomacy leadership system in which the diplomatic functions of relevant ministries and state commissions have been increasingly clearly identified and regulated to the benefit of higher specialization and greater institutionalization. As a result, the General Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the foreign affairs offices of other ministries and the Office of Foreign Affairs of the State Council have visibly enhanced their role in diplomacy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has laid equal emphasis on its 18

Yang Jiemian et al.: Sixty Years of Foreign Relations and International Studies, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2009 Edition, pp. 23–25.

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geographical and functional departments in terms of its institutional structure and has strengthened the functions of policy research and study, press releases and international negotiations, for the benefit of greater institutionalization and specialization. The Ministry of Commerce is also an agency under the State Council with influence in external affairs, mainly owing to in-depth development of China’s foreign economic cooperation. Institutional arrangements for closer coordination and cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are an important aspect of improving China’s diplomacy mechanism. The Ministry of Culture is the centralized management authority for China’s cultural exchanges with foreign countries and has played an important role in cultural exchanges with other countries, in public diplomacy and other fields. Non-governmental diplomatic institutions, represented by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, have also grown in strength. In addition, foreign exchanges between China and other countries at the local level have developed rapidly. There are more than 60 foreign consulates-general in Shanghai. The local foreign affairs offices have played an increasingly important role in actively promoting local foreign exchanges and serving China’s overall diplomacy. For example, offices in charge of local foreign affairs of Beijing and Shanghai Municipalities played an important role in organizing the Olympic Games and the World Expo, contributing significantly to China’s overall diplomacy. The convocation of the 2006 Central Diplomatic Work Conference was a major strategic initiative of the CPC Central Committee to strengthen and improve diplomatic work, which has helped to incorporate and integrate all elements and forces in China’s foreign affairs for an effective service to China’s overall diplomacy. In response to the globalization and specialization of foreign affairs, China has enhanced the specialization of its foreign policy decision-making model with more emphasis on the role of government departments, the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and think tanks. It has also diversified, as much as possible, its sources of information for the foreign policy decision-making process. In addition to

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the diplomatic system, information has also come from think tanks, academia, military and civil institutions. There have been more staff exchanges and personnel movements between the think tanks and universities on the one hand and foreign affairs institutions on the other. The identification of foreign affairs topics for foreign policy decision-making by the central authorities has shown a downward movement and the foreign policy implementation agencies and think tanks have increased their influence on determining diplomatic agendas. Under the centralized leadership of the CPC Central Committee, more and more organizations are involved in foreign policy planning. They mainly include the Central Foreign Affairs Group, the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministerial Coordination Meeting of the Foreign Ministry, the Central Military Commission and the intellectual elite. In recent years, the NPC and CPPCC have also strengthened supervision over diplomatic work, increased foreign policy-related research work and have become important participants in diplomatic practice. The Chinese foreign policy decision-making process has become more scientific and rational in recent years, which should be mainly attributed to a comprehensive development of the governmental think tanks, research institutions, universities and non-governmental think tanks that have been involved in foreign affairs. There have emerged a large number of think tanks with international influence, abilities for foreign exchanges, and good knowledge of China’s foreign policy agenda and issues. China has seen a significant improvement in its capabilities for the creation of international systems and mechanisms. If a country can only participate in the international system with no capacity to integrate its own political and economic philosophy into the international system, it can only follow the international system or to be assimilated by it and its share of soft power would be very limited indeed.19 China’s diplomacy has enabled China not only to successfully get itself involved in and integrated into the most important international 19

Su Changhe: China’s Soft Power — China’s Relations with the International System as an Example, International Review, 2007, No. 2, p. 30.

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mechanisms, but also to participate in the creation of some important regional and global mechanisms. These mechanisms include the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China–ASEAN Free Trade Zone, Six-party Talks Mechanism over the Korean Nuclear Issue, China– Africa Cooperation Forum and BRICS Summit. In these mechanisms, China has not only provided international economic public goods, but has also continuously contributed its distinctively Chinese diplomatic philosophy to the international community in terms of new security concept, development concept and the concept on international system. China’s diplomatic mechanism should develop further in the direction of greater integration, collaboration and specialization. On the one hand, non-traditional issues have crept into modern diplomacy more and more. On the other hand, many issues in the globalization era cannot be solved through diplomatic means only. Their solutions call for a combination of the political, economic, cultural and even military means. This has brought about major opportunities for improving China’s diplomatic mechanisms and for full-fledged formation and perfection of the “bigger diplomacy” structure. But, it has also posed a serious challenge to China’s diplomacy, especially to coordination with other sectors and actors.

III. Strong Leadership for Peaceful Development The relationship between China and the outside world has, in general, exhibited such features as an all-round integration into the international system, promoting international cooperation and moving toward multilateralism. This should be attributed significantly to the CPC’s strong leadership in adhering to reform and opening up and in promoting China’s integration into the international system and international cooperation. With the continued rapid growth of China's overall national strength, the international community has been concerned about whether a powerful China will continue to play a constructive role in the international community. In the process of thinking about what kind of relationship China will develop with the international community, the CPC has come up with the strategic

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thinking on the path of peaceful development and building a harmonious world, declaring to the outside world its systematic views on China’s development and on the international system. On 15 September 2005, then Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered, at the UN Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN, a speech entitled Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity, in which he comprehensively expounded China’s views on building a harmonious world, advocated the maintenance of diversified civilizations and development models in the spirit of equality and openness, democratization of international relations and joint efforts for building a harmonious world that accommodates all civilizations.20 On 22 December 2005, the Information Office of the State Council of China published a white paper on China’s Peaceful Development Road, which expressed China’s commitment to the goal of mutual benefit and common development with other countries. After reform and opening up, with the gradual integration into the international community and especially with the rapid growth of its own strength, China has deepened its thinking over its relations with and its responsibilities for the international community. It has enhanced a sense of responsibility for the international community and increased its awareness of the necessity to live with the international community.21 The CPC is a political party adept at learning, it has an open mind and advances with the times. With ability to correct its own mistakes, it has played a strong role of core leadership in China’s diplomacy. The CPC re-thinking of the characteristics of the times is of great significance. The shift in its understanding of the themes of the times from “revolution and war” to “peace and development” is a major shift in the CPC’s world outlook. The decision adopted at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee to shift the focus of

20

Hu Jintao: Making Great Efforts to Build a Harmonious World with Long-lasting Peace and Common Prosperity — Speech at the Summit Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the UN, Xinhua News Agency, September 15, 2005. 21 Zhu Liqun: Changes in Concepts, Leadership Capabilities and China’s Diplomacy, International Politics Quarterly, 2007, No. 1, p. 12.

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work to economic development and to implement the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world has initiated changes in China’s diplomacy. That is to say, diplomacy should create a favorable external environment for the domestic development and provide strong support for China to play a greater role in international affairs. While bringing about huge wealth growth in China, the reform and openingup endeavor has also led to a series of uneven development problems in the country. But the Party has always believed that the reform and opening up is the road leading to a powerful country and is an important policy choice which has a vital bearing on the fate of China. This strong leadership has ensured the long-term consistency and stability in China’s basic judgment about the trend of the world situation, the conclusion that peace and development are the main themes of the times, the assessment that a world war is unlikely to break out, the development of state-to-state relations beyond ideological considerations and the policy of fostering cooperative relations of equality and mutual benefit with all countries.22 China’s integration into the world economy has given it great economic successes and a change of concepts. Pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become the intrinsic need of the Chinese diplomacy while safeguarding world peace and promoting common development have become the purpose of China’s diplomacy. Adhering to the path of peaceful development and advocating the concept of “harmonious world of common development and lasting peace” represent a new development that the CPC collective leadership has achieved in conforming to “peace and development” as the main themes of the times. All these have enriched the connotation of China’s independent foreign policy of peace and have helped China, in the process of a rapid rise, to win universal recognition and support of the international community. It will unswervingly follow the road of peaceful development and never seek hegemony. China will develop itself through maintaining world peace and promote world peace through self-development. In short, it seeks to achieve a peaceful, open, cooperative and harmonious development. Adhering to the 22

Ibid, p. 19.

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road of peaceful development is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is what the independent foreign policy of peace should pursue. It conforms to the foreign policies which the Party and the state have consistently adopted, to the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, to the historical and cultural peace-loving traditions of the Chinese nation and to the trend of human progress. China’s strategy of peaceful development will help to safeguard its state sovereignty and its development rights and interests in the international community and to provide the international community with more international public goods. The essential elements of this strategy are: China cannot develop in isolation of the world; it must mainly rely on its own for development; and a developed China will not pose any threat to the world. This strategy of peaceful development is intended to show the world that the development path China has taken is a road toward win-win cooperation and development for all and that China will closely link its own development with the progress of the international system in order to play a constructive role in the international community. In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that peace and development were the two major issues of the world. At the General Assembly of the UN commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UN in 1995, Jiang Zemin delivered a speech entitled Let Us Work Together to Create a Better World, in which he proposed to create a harmonious international situation in which countries can make their own choices and seek common ground while reserving differences. Then President Hu Jintao further proposed, at the General Assembly commemorating the 60th anniversary of the UN, to build a harmonious world with long-lasting peace and common development. The CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as the General Secretary has inherited and developed the diplomatic thinking of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin and has proposed to build a harmonious world, which marks a historical shift in China’s political philosophy.23 The concept of a harmonious world is CPC’s new idea on the future world order 23

Chen Qimao: Historical Shift in China’s Political Thinking, International Review, 2006, No. 6, pp. 1–5.

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and international system, an inevitable requirement for the path of peaceful development and also an important condition for achieving peaceful development. The concept of a harmonious world includes mainly the following elements: all countries should respect each other; expand consensus; live in harmony with each other; respect the right of the people of other countries to independently choosing their social systems and paths of development; enjoy the right to participation in international affairs on a equal footing; facilitate democratization of international relations; deepen cooperation; seek common development, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation; share the results of economic globalization and scientific and technological progress; and promote universal prosperity in the world. Different civilizations should increase exchanges and mutual understanding, promote each other, advocate the diversity of the world, and facilitate the development and progress of human civilization. All countries should build up mutual trust, enhance dialogue and cooperation, make joint efforts to address global issues facing humanity and promote peaceful settlement of international disputes so as to safeguard regional and world security and stability. At present, with highly developed globalization, multi-polarization, interdependent and institutional networks, it is not impossible to build a harmonious world. Rather, it is an ideal or goal that can be achieved through joint efforts of the international community. China is and will be at the primary stage of socialism for a long time. It will take years of efforts to build China into a prosperous, powerful, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country. China should take advantage of the present favorable opportunity, accelerate development and pursue this cause from the historical and global perspective, with the overall interests always in mind, with strategic thinking and a profound knowledge of its national conditions and the historical stage which it is at. China should unswervingly focus on construction and development, continue to increase its overall national strength, improve the Chinese people’s life and promote social harmony. To successfully achieve these, it is essential to uphold the CPC’s strong leadership. As for the diplomatic work and foreign affairs in the new stage of the new century, only by

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holding to the Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important ideas of “Three Represents” as guidance, comprehensively implementing the scientific outlook on development, focusing on development, the CPC’s task of primary importance to ensuring successful governance and national rejuvenation, pushing for peace, development and cooperation, adhering to the independent foreign policy of peace and unswervingly following the road of peaceful development, can China safeguard state sovereignty, national security and development interests and contribute to building a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity.

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PST˙ws

Bibliography

I.  Works and Documents  1. 《邓小平思想年谱》, 中央文献出版社 1998 年版。  2. 《邓小平外交思想学习纲要》, 世界知识出版社 2000 年版。  3. 《邓小平文选》（第 2 卷）, 人民出版社 1994 年版。  4. 《邓小平文选》（第 3 卷）, 人民出版社 1993 年版。  5. 《共产国际与中国革命资料选辑（1919–1924）》 , 人民出版社 1985 年版。  6. 《建国以来毛泽东文稿》（第1册）, 中央文献出版社 1987 年版。  7. 《江泽民文选》（第 1 卷）, 人民出版社 2006 年版。  8. 《江泽民文选》（第 2 卷）, 人民出版社 2006 年版。  9. 《江泽民文选》（第 3 卷）, 人民出版社 2006 年版。 10. 《列宁选集》（第 2 卷）, 人民出版社 1995 年版。 11. 《列宁选集》（第 4 卷）, 人民出版社 1995 年版。 12. 《毛泽东外交文选》 , 中央文献出版社 1994 年版。 13. 《毛泽东文集》（第 1 卷）, 人民出版社 1991 年版。 14. 《毛泽东选集》（第 2 卷）, 人民出版社 1991 年版。 15. 《毛泽东选集》（第 3 卷）, 人民出版社 1991 年版。 16. 《毛泽东选集》（第 4 卷）, 人民出版社 1991 年版。 17. 《毛泽东选集》（第 5 卷）, 人民出版社 1996 年版。 18. 《斯大林选集》（上卷） , 人民出版社 1979 年版。 19. 《中共中央文件选集》（第 13 卷）, 中共中央党校出版社 1991 年版。 20. 《中国共产党第十七次全国代表大会文件汇编》, 人民出版社 2007 年版。 21. 《中华人民共和国对外关系文件集》 （第 2 卷） , 世界知识出版社 1958 年版。 22. 《周恩来外交文选》 , 中央文献出版社 1990 年版。 23. 《周恩来文选》 , 中央文献出版社 1990 年版。 24. 《周恩来选集》（上卷） , 人民出版社 1980 年版。 25.   外交部、中共中央文献研究室编:《毛泽东外交文选》, 中央文献出版社、  世界知识出版社 1994 年版。

505

 506   China’s Diplomacy 26. 中共中央党史研究室: 《中国共产党历史》（第一卷: 1921–1949）, 中共党史 出版社 2002 年出版。 27. 中共中央党史研究室: 《中国共产党历史》（第二卷: 1949–1978）, 中共党史 出版社 2011 年版。 28. 中共中央党史研究室: 《中国共产党新时期简史》, 中共党史出版社 2009 年版。 29. 中共中央文献研究室编: 《邓小平年谱（一九七五 — 一九九七）》（下）, 中央文献出版社 2004 年版。 30. 中共中央文献研究室编: 《江泽民论有中国特色社会主义》（专题摘编）, 中央文献出版社 2002 年版。 31. 中共中央文献研究室编: 《十六大以来重要文献选编》（上）, 中央文献出 版社 2005 年版。 32. 中共中央宣传部: 《“三个代表“ 重要思想学习纲要》, 学习出版社 2003 年版。 33. 中华人民共和国外交部、中共中央文献研究室编: 《毛泽东外交文选》, 中央文献出版社 1994 年版。 34. 中央档案馆编: 《中共中央文件选集》（第 10 册）, 中共中央党校出版社 1991年版。 35. 中央档案馆编: 《中共中央文件选集》第1册（1921–1925）, 中共中央党校 出版社 1989 年版。 36. 中央档案馆编: 《中共中央文件选集》第14册（1943–1944）, 中共中央党校 出版社 1992 年版。

II. Chinese Translations of Treatises and Chinese Treatises  1. [美]肯尼斯·华尔兹著, 信强译: 《国际政治理论》, 上海人民出版社 2003 年 版。Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, USA: Waveland Pr Inc, 2010.  2. [美]罗伯特·基欧汉、约瑟夫·奈著, 门洪华译: 《权力与相互依赖》, 北京 大学出版社 2002 年版。 Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye: Power and Interdependence, New York: Longman, 2011.  3. [美]威廉·奥弗霍尔特著, 达洲译: 《中国的崛起 — 经济改革正在如何造就 一个新的超级大国》, 中央编译出版社 1996 年。 William H. Overholt: The Rise of China: How Economic Reform Is Creating a New Superpower, USA: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994.



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 4. [美]亚历山大·温特著, 秦亚青译: 《国际政治的社会理论》, 上海人民出版 社 2000 年版。 Alexander Wendt: Social Theory of International Politics, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.  5. [美]伊曼纽尔·沃勒斯坦著, 尤来寅、路爱国等译: 《现代世界体系》 （第一卷）, 高等教育出版社 1998 年版。 Immanuel Wallerstein: The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century, USA: University of California Press, 2011.  6. [美]詹姆斯·多尔蒂、小罗伯特·普法尔茨格拉夫著, 阎学通、陈寒溪等译: 《争论中的国际关系理论》（第五版）, 世界知识出版社 2003 年版。 James E. Dougherty and Robert L. Pfaltzgraff: Contending Theories of International Relations: A Comprehensive Survey, New York: Prentice Hall, 2009.  7. [苏]崔可夫著, 万成才译: 《在华使命 — 一个军事顾问的笔记》, 新华出版社 1980 年版。  8. [英]巴里·布赞、理查德·利特尔著, 刘德斌主译: 《世界历史中的国际体 系 — 国际关系研究的再构建》 , 高等教育出版社 2004 年版。 Barry Buzan and Richard Little: International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.  9. [英]赫德利·布尔著, 张小明译: 《无政府社会 — 世界政治秩序研究》 （第二版）, 世界知识出版社 2003 年版。 Hedley Bull: The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, New York: Columbia University Press, 1980. 10. 编写组: 《邓小平外交思想学习纲要》, 世界知识出版社 2000 年版。 11. 陈占安主编: 《党的十六大以来马克思主义中国化的新进展》, 北京大学出 版社 2008 年版。 12. 邓小平: 《建设有中国特色的社会主义》（增订本）, 人民出版社 1987 年版。 13. 杜康传、李景治主编: 《国际共产主义运动概论》, 中国人民大学出版社 2002 年版。 14. 费正清主编, 黄建刚等译: 《剑桥中华民国史》（第 2 部）, 上海人民出版社 1992 年版。 15. 韩念龙: 《当代中国外交》, 中国社会科学出版社 1987 年版。 16. 洪兵: 《国家利益论》, 军事科学出版社 1999 年版。 17. 黄华: 《亲历与见闻 — 黄华回忆录》, 世界知识出版社 2007 年版。 18. 梁守德: 《邓小平理论与当代中国国际关系学》, 北京大学出版社 2003 年版。

 508   China’s Diplomacy 19. 刘继南: 《国际传播与国家形象》, 北京广播学院出版社 2002 年版。 20. 刘金质、梁守德、杨淮生主编: 《国际政治大辞典》, 中国社会科学出版社 1994 年版。 21. 刘鸣: 《国际体系: 历史演进与理论的解读》, 中共中央党校出版社, 2006 年版。 22. 罗荣渠: 《现代化新论 — 世界与中国的现代化进程》 , 北京大学出版社 1993 年版。 23. 罗荣渠: 《现代化新论续篇 — 东亚与中国的现代化进程》, 北京大学出版社 1997 年版。 24. 倪世雄等: 《当代西方国际关系理论》, 复旦大学出版社 2001 年版。 25. 牛军: 《从延安走向世界: 中国共产党对外关系的起源》, 中共党史出版社 2008 年出版。 26. 裴坚章: 《中华人民共和国外交史（1949–1956）》, 世界知识出版社 1995 年版。 27. 齐鹏飞主编: 《中国共产党与当代中国外交（1949–2009）》, 中共党史出版 社 2010 年版。 28. 钱其琛主编: 《世界外交大辞典》（上）, 世界知识出版社 2005 年版。 29. 秦亚青等著: 《国际体系与中国外交》, 世界知识出版社 2009 年版。 30. 秦亚青主编: 《中国学者看世界: 国际秩序卷》, 新世界出版社 2007 年版。 31. 曲星: 《中国外交 50 年》 , 江苏人民出版社 2000 年版。 32. 石林: 《当代中国的对外经济合作》, 中国社会科学出版社 1989 年版。 33. 宋福、徐世华: 《中国现代史》（上）, 中日档案出版社 1995 年版。 34. 田增佩主编: 《改革开放以来的中国外交》, 世界知识出版社 1993 年版。 35. 王朝文: 《当代世界经济与政治》, 经济科学出版社 1999 年版。 36. 王福春: 《外事管理学概论》, 北京大学出版社 2003 年版。 37. 王绳祖: 《国际关系史》（第 8 卷） , 世界知识出版社 1997 年版。 38. 王泰平主编: 《新中国外交 50 年》 , 北京出版社 1999 年版。 39. 王伟光: 《科学发展观基本问题》, 人民出版社 2007 年版。 40. 王逸舟主编: 《中国学者看世界: 国家利益卷》, 新世界出版社 2007 年版。 41. 王正毅著: 《世界体系论与中国》, 商务印书馆 2000 年版。 42. 吴兴唐: 《政党外交和国际关系》, 当代世界出版社 2004 年版。 43. 向青: 《共产国际与中国革命关系史稿》, 北京大学出版社 1988 年版。 44. 谢益显: 《中国外交史（1979–1999）》, 河南人民出版社 1996 年版。 45. 谢益显主编: 《中国当代外交史 (1949–2001)》 , 中国青年出版社 2002 年版。 46. 阎学通、孙学峰等著: 《中国崛起及其战略》 , 北京大学出版社 2005 年版。 47. 阎玉田、李爱香著: 《中国抗战局势与国际政治关系》 , 人民出版社 2008 年版。 48. 颜声毅: 《当代中国外交》, 复旦大学出版社 2004 年版。 49. 杨洁勉: 《大合作 — 变化中的世界和中国国际战略》 , 天津人民出版社 2005 年版。



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50. 杨洁勉等著: 《大体系: 多极多体的新组合》 , 天津人民出版社 2008 年版。 51. 杨洁勉等著: 《对外关系与国际问题研究》, 上海人民出版社 2009 年版。 52. 杨洁勉等著: 《六十年对外关系与国际问题研究》, 上海人民出版社 2009 年版。 53. 杨奎松主编: 《冷战时期的中国对外关系》, 北京大学出版社 2006 年出版。 54. 杨奎松著: 《“中间地带”的革命: 国际大背景下看中共成功之道》, 山西人民 出版社 2010 年版。 55. 于宏源: 《环境变化和权势转移: 制度、博弈和应对》 , 上海人民出版社 2011 年版。 56. 俞新天等著: 《国际体系中的中国角色》, 中国大百科全书出版社 2008 年版。 57. 张德广主编: 《全球金融危机与中国外交》, 世界知识出版社 2009 年版。 58. 张幼文等: 《探索开放战略的升级》, 上海社会科学院出版社 2008 年版。 59. 张植荣: 《中国边疆与民族问题 — 当代中国的挑战与及其历史由来》, 北京 大学出版社 2005 年版。 60. 赵进军主编: 《新中国外交 60 年》 , 北京大学出版社 2010 年版。 61. 赵可金: 《中华人民共和国外交制度变迁的理论阐释》 , 复旦大学 2005 年博 士学位论文。 62. 赵学清等编著: 《科学发展观学习读本》, 人民日版出版社 2008 年版。 63. 郑必坚等主编: 《邓小平理论基本问题》, 中共中央党校出版社 2002 年版。 64. 中国现代国际关系研究所编: 《国际政治新秩序问题》, 时事出版社 1992 年版。 65. 中国现代国际关系研究所编: 《中国与第三世界（论文集）》, 时事出版社 1990 年版。 66. 钟廉言编: 《中国共产党的国际交往》, 五洲传播出版社 2007 年版。 67. 朱锋、[美]罗伯特·罗斯主编: 《中国崛起: 理论与政策的视角》, 上海人民 出版社 2008 年版。 68. 庄小军、吴光祥: 《感情当代中国外交 — 中共领导集体处理国际关系的外 交智慧》, 中共党史出版社 2009 年版。

III.  English Treatises  1. Andrew Cooper, Richard Higgott and Kim Nossal: Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 1993.  2. Brain Hocking: Localizing Foreign Policy: Non-central Governments and Multilayered Diplomacy, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.   3. Elmer Plischke: Summit Diplomacy: Personal Diplomacy of the President of the United States, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1974.

 510   China’s Diplomacy  4. Francisco Aldecoa and Michael Keating (eds.): Paradiplomacy in Action. The Foreign Relations of Subnational Governments, London: Frank Cass, 1999.  5. Frank A. Nillkovich: The Diplomacy of Ideas: U.S. Foreign Policy and Cultural Relations, 1938–1950, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.  6. Hans Michelmann (ed.): Foreign Relations in Federal Countries, Montreal and Kingston: McGill–Queen’s University Press and Forum of Federations, 2009.  7. Hans J. Michelmann and Panayotis Soldatos (eds.): Federalism and International Relations: The Role of Subnational Units, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.   8. Hans J. Morgenthau: Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (5th ed.), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 46.  9. Hedley Bull and Adam Watson (eds.): The Expansion of International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984. 10. Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight: Diplomatic Investigations, London: Allen and Unwin, 1966. 11. Ivo D. Duchacek: The Territorial Dimension of Politics Within, Among, and Across Nations, Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1986. 12. Ivo Duchacek, Daniel Latouche and Garth Stevenson (eds.): Perforated Sovereignties and International Relations: Trans-Sovereign Contacts of Subnational Governments, New York: Greenwood Press, 1999. 13. James N. Rosenau and Ernst-Otto Czempiel (eds.): Governance Without Government: Order and Change in World Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 14. Jan Melissen (ed.): The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations, Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005. 15. Joseph H. De Rivera: The Psychological Dimension of Foreign Policy, Columbus, OH: C.E. Merrill Publications Co., 1968. 16. Kenichi Ohmae: The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies, New York: The Free Press, 1995. 17. Liesbet Hooghe (ed.): Cohesion Policy and European Integration: Building Multi-level Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 18. Martin Shaw: Global Society and International Relations, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994. 19. Martin Wight: Systems of States, London: Leicester University Press and London School of Economics, 1977.



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20. Michael B. McElroy, Chris P. Nielsen and Peter Lydon (eds.): Energizing China, Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Committee on Environment, 1998. 21. Mike Moore: A World Without Walls. Freedom, Development, Free Trade and Global Governance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 22. Paul L. Knox and Peter J. Taylor (eds.): World Cities in a World-system, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 23. Paul Kennedy, Dirk Messner and Franz Nuscheler (eds.): Global Trends and Global Governance, London: Pluto Press, 2002. 24. Richard Louis Edmonds (ed.): Managing the Chinese Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 25. Robert Lieber: Theory and World Politics, London: Winthrop Publishers, 1972. 26. Saskia Sassen: The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. 27. Samuel Kim: China, the United Nations and World Order, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. 28. Samuel Kim (ed.): China and the World: Chinese Foreign Policy faces the New Millennium (4th edition), Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. 29. Stanley Hoffmann: The State of War: Essays on the Theory and Practice of International Politics, New York: Prager, 1965.

IV. Chinese Newspapers, Periodicals and Magazines  1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.  9. 10. 11. 12.

《21世纪经济报道》 《阿拉伯世界》 《北京党史》 《北京联合大学学报》 《参考消息》 《长白学刊》 《当代经理人》 《当代世界》 《当代世界与社会主义》 《当代亚太》 《当代中国史研究》 《党建研究》

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

《党史研究与教学》 《第一财经日报》 《东南亚纵横》 《发展研究》 《光明日报》 《国际观察》 《国际论坛》 《国际问题研究》 《国际展望》 《国际政治研究》 《宏观经济研究》 《湖北社会科学》

 512   China’s Diplomacy 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52.

《华侨大学学报》 《环球视野》 《教学与研究》 《解放日报》 《今日中国论坛》 《经济观察报》 《经济日报》 《科教文汇》 《科学决策》 《科学中国人》 《理论界》 《理论前沿》 《理论月刊》 《历史研究》 《联合早报》（新加坡） 《毛泽东邓小平理论研究》 《美国研究》 《欧洲研究》 《求是》 《求索》 《人民日报》 《人文杂志》 《山东商业职业技术学院学报》 《上海经济管理干部学院学报》 《社会科学》 《社会科学报》 《史学月刊》 《世界经济与政治》

53 . 《世界经济与政治论坛》 54. 《世界知识》 55. 《思想理论教育导刊》 56. 《太平洋学报》 57. 《天府新论》 58. 《同济大学学报》 59. 《外交评论》 60. 《文汇报》 61. 《西亚非洲》 62. 《现代国际关系》 63. 《襄樊学院学报》 64. 《新华每日电讯》 65. 《新华社中文新闻》 66. 《新华月报》 67. 《新民晚报》 68. 《信息导刊》 69. 《学术论坛》 70. 《亚非纵横》 71. 《中共党史研究》 72. 《中共南京市委党校学报》 73. 《中共天津市委党校学报》 74. 《中国发展观》 75. 《中国青年报》 76. 《中国青年政治学院学报》 77. 《中国人民大学学报》 78. 《中国石油天然气工业信息》 79. 《中国外交》 80. 《中国行政管理》

V.  English Newspapers, Periodicals and Magazines  1.  2.  3.  4.  5.

Weekly Standard Washington Post Time International The Washington Quarterly Regional and Federal Studies

 6.  7.  8.  9. 10.

Public Relations Quarterly Political Science Annual Participation New York Times Millennium



Bibliography    513    11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

Mediterranean Politics Los Angeles Times Journal of Social Issues Journal of International Affairs Journal of Contemporary China Journal of Common Market Studies International Studies Quarterly International Relations International Journal of Urban   and Regional Research International Interactions International and Comparative   Law Quarterly

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.

International Affairs Guardian Foreign Policy Foreign Affairs Financial Times Europe-Asia Studies European Journal of International  Relations European Journal of International  Law Development and Change American Political Science Review American Journal of International  Law

VI.  Important Websites Central People’s Government of China  (中国中央人民政府) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China  (中国外交部) National Development and Reform  Commission of China (中国国家发展和改革委员会) Ministry of Finance (中国财政部) CPC’s News Net (中国共产党新闻网) Ministry of Commerce of China  (中国商务部) Ministry of Environmental Protection   of China (中国环境保护总局) Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council   of China (中国国务院台湾事务办公室) People’s Daily (人民日报) Sina (新浪网) China Web (中国网) Xinhua News Agency (新华网)

http://www.gov.cn http://www.fmprc.gov.cn http://www.ndrc.gov.cn

http://www.mof.gov.cn http://cpc.people.com.cn/ http://www.mofcom.gov.cn http://www.zhb.gov.cn http://www.gwytb.gov.cn http://www.people.com.cn http://news.sina.com.cn http://www.china.com.cn http://news.xinhuanet.com

 514   China’s Diplomacy Information Office of the State Council   of China (国新办) Expo Network (世博网) Huan Qiu (环球网) China News (中国新闻网) East Day (东方网)

http://www.scio.gov.cn http://www.expo2010.cn http://china.huanqiu.com http://www.chinanews.com.cn http://www.eastday.com

b1630 The Communist Party of China’s Diplomacy: Theory and Practice

Postscript

The year 2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Having developed for 90 years, the CPC is now able to calmly, objectively and dispassionately review the history and look forward to the future with more self-confidence. Furthermore, it can make a more holistic, comprehensive, dynamic and in-depth theoretical induction and use it to guide future practice. This applies to the CPC’s self-improvement and development in the past 90 years, to its governance and management of the country and also to its leadership in China’s diplomacy. This is the very intention of examining this topic. The Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) started to systematically study the theory of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in 2004 on the occasion of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”. It has done relevant studies and researches, particularly through a series of commemoration activities on the occasions of the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up in 2008, the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China in 2009 and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the SIIS in 2010. The SIIS has thus built a rather solid foundation and has developed great strength on the research of diplomatic theory and practice with Chinese characteristics. With the financial support of the Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences, the SIIS has conducted the research on the CPC and the theory and practice of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, which is one of a series of activities marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Led and

515

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supported by the Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the research group for this topic of the SIIS has worked real hard for ten months, completed its research in the topic and has presented it for print on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. The completion of this book is first of all attributable to the commendable support and selfless dedication of all the members of the research group. The book is the result of the collective efforts of the group. In order to make a more thorough and in-depth review of the CPC’s leadership of and practice in China’s diplomacy in the past 90 years and show the future development of the Chinese diplomacy, the SIIS has brought together a group of young and promising scholars of the Institutes in this research group. These scholars have produced this in-depth and comprehensive book in the shortest possible time and are now ready to dedicate the book to readers. As President of the SIIS, I — Yang Jiemian — have been committed to building a theory of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics since the beginning of this century. I have not only personally designed the entire research topic and written the Preface, Conclusion and Postscript, but have also discussed and studied with my group members, reviewed and amended the draft, and have taken the overall charge of the whole book. This book consists of two parts — “Part One — Theory” and “Part Two — Practice”. There are four chapters under the former and three in the latter. For Part One, Ye Qing, Associate Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute of Global Governance, wrote the first chapter; Zhang Pei, Deputy Director of the Information Institute, the second chapter; Dr. Liu Zongyi of the Institute for World Economic Studies, the third chapter; and Zhang Haibing, Deputy Director of the Institute for World Economic Studies, the fourth chapter. For Part Two, Zhang Chun, Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, wrote the fifth chapter; Yu Hongyuan, Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Global Governance, the sixth chapter; and Dr. Niu Haibin, Assistant Director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies,

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the seventh chapter. In the process of writing the book, all members of the group displayed excellent teamwork, cross-checked and reviewed each other’s writing to ensure simultaneous progress and good quality. This project could not have been completed without the support and attention by many people. First of all, we would like to thank the SIIS, our work unit. Chen Dongxiao and Yang Jian, both Vice Presidents of SIIS, have given their wholehearted encouragement and support during the entire process from studying the topic to its completion. The research, administrative office, library and other departments of the SIIS have provided quality service for the research work of the group. The support of the leading members and staff of the Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences for this research project is also indispensable for the publishing of this book. The support and help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Liberation Daily, the Shanghai Municipal Party School and other units have definitely made the book much better. Of course, we have received constructive criticism and suggestions from many of our colleagues or counterparts in China. They are too numerous to name here. We also wish to express our special thanks to World Century Publishing Company for its support to our academic work and for its hard work in editing the book. As China is increasingly going global, the CPC is also increasingly reaching out to the world. The CPC’s leadership and participation in China’s socialist cause, including its leadership over and participation in the Chinese diplomacy, have also increasingly gained world recognition and acknowledgement. Therefore, a review of the CPC’s leadership and practice in diplomacy has far-reaching significance, which goes far beyond the Party’s diplomacy and diplomatic theory and practice with Chinese characteristics. It is also significant to the construction and improvement of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We, researchers on international issues, have determination and confidence to continue to do in-depth research and studies on the theory of international relations with Chinese characteristics

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and the diplomatic theory with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, we believe that our research efforts will contribute to the socialist cause of the motherland. Of course, due to time constraints and our limitations, there must be many omissions and perhaps even errors in this book. We sincerely invite our colleagues and readers to offer your valuable comments and suggestions. YANG Jiemian 16 August 2013

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Index

good-neighborliness 249, 260, 267, 268, 270–272, 274, 276, 282–284 governance capabilities 475

achievements xx, xxii advancements with the times 491, 499 builder 66, 67, 105, 112

harmonious world 4, 42, 57–61, 63, 477, 484, 490–492, 499–503

capabilities of governance 422 China’s diplomacy 3, 4, 16, 23, 24, 31, 37, 40, 41, 50–55, 57, 59, 63, 67, 72, 104 concept of the times 3–5, 9, 10, 16, 18, 21, 24–26 contributor 66, 105, 112, 115 counter-terrorism 374, 377–383

ideology 122, 141, 147–150, 153, 157, 158, 162, 166, 167, 181 independence 123, 125, 126, 131, 132, 148, 150, 154, 157, 158, 161, 168, 171, 177, 188 international cooperation 192, 225, 228 internationalism 121, 145, 153, 166, 174, 189 international system 65–79, 81, 82, 84, 87, 88, 92, 93–96, 98, 99, 101, 102, 104–106, 111–119, 479 inter-party relations 417, 418, 423, 428, 433, 437–439, 441, 444, 446–456, 463, 465, 469, 471, 473

economic exchanges 423 emerging powers 481, 492 energy 350 energy policies 351 environmental protection 328, 341, 342, 346, 359, 360, 362–367, 369, 370, 373 four principles for inter-party relations 436, 437, 439, 446, 448, 451–453, 455, 473 friendship 249, 260, 270, 277–279, 282, 283, 293, 300, 304

multilateral diplomacy 53, 60, 248, 249, 307–311, 314–321, 325

519

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national interests 121, 122, 124, 131, 132, 138, 140, 141, 146–150, 153, 154, 157, 160, 162–164, 166–172, 174, 175, 177, 182–184, 188 non-traditional areas of security 327–331, 333–335, 338–343 overall diplomacy 416, 417, 451, 455, 459, 460, 463, 467, 468, 471, 472 party diplomacy xxxi, xxxvii, xxxix, xlii, 415–419, 421–426, 428, 429, 431–436, 438–442, 452, 453, 455–457, 459–465, 467–469, 471–476 patriotism 121, 141, 145, 153, 166, 174, 189 peace and development 3, 4, 17, 24–28, 34–42, 57, 58, 60, 191, 208, 209, 222, 225–227, 232, 238, 241 peaceful development 123, 182, 184, 187–189, 477, 480, 484, 490–492, 498–503 peaceful transformation of the international system 478, 479, 481

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people first 198, 205, 207, 225, 228–230, 243 people-oriented diplomacy 474 period of strategic opportunities 477, 478, 482, 485, 490 policies 350 political dialogue 418, 419, 422, 428, 462, 465, 472 public diplomacy 328, 330, 334, 340, 343, 345, 395–409 responsible country

66, 117, 322

scientific outlook on development 191–196, 198–207, 209–220, 225–229, 238, 239, 242, 243 self-determination 126, 131, 157 strategic partnership 249, 267, 268, 270, 306 sustainable development 184, 193, 197–200, 203–206, 227, 236, 239 theory xiii, xviii, xxi, xxiv, xxvii, xxix war and revolution 4, 5, 9, 17, 18, 21, 25

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