The Domestic Sources of China's Foreign Policy

Regimes, Leadership, Priorities and Process

As China’s political and economic influence in the world is rapidly increasing, it is essential to understand how China’s domestic politics affects its foreign political and economic policy. This book offers an accessible, informative and up-to-date systemic analysis of the foreign policy of China. Where mainstream literature on international relations usually suggests that China’s foreign policy is primarily determined by external factors, such as the international system and external settings, this book demonstrates instead that domestic factors profoundly shape China’s foreign policy from the late Mao’s era to the reform era. It demonstrates how China’s foreign policy is driven by the preservation of political and economic regimes; the political survival of the top leader; the top leader’s vision for, and skills in, managing external affairs; the leader’s policy priorities; dramatic events and the process of policymaking. It presents its argument in-depth analysis of major cases of Chinese foreign policy – for example, China’s difficult relations with Southeast Asia; China’s 15-year accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO); China’s oil diplomacy in the recent decade, and the diversified process of foreign policy making in the twenty-first century.