Introduction: Sixty Years of Foreign Policy in the PRC

[ 44 ] asia policy Introduction: Sixty Years of Foreign Policy in the PRC Xiao Ren & Travis Tanner October 1, 2009, marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Within the Chinese system for numbering years, the number 60 is of particular significance because it representsthecompletionofafullcycle.InreviewingthePRC’sfirstcompleted cycle, it is clear that China has undergone profound economic, political, and social changes that have transformed the country from one of the poorest and most underdeveloped in the world into a rapidly growing, globally integrated power. This transformation has been so comprehensive that many observers have been stunned by China’s advancements and by the fact that a country can change so dramatically in such a short period of time. As China sets its sights on the future and becomes an influential—if not yet driving—presence on the world stage, numerous questions and concerns regarding PRC’s foreign policy priorities persist. This roundtable features three essays examining different aspects of Chinese foreign policy decisionmaking. First, Allen Carlson explores how Chinese foreign policy elites view the various nontraditional security issues facing China (such as ecological/environmental security, terrorism, illegal immigration, transnational smuggling, economic development, population, and weapons proliferation). Second, Cheng Li explores the emergence and role of Westerneducated Chinese returnees in the formation of strategic thinking and foreign policy in China. Finally, Mark Frazier examines the linkages between the national economy and Chinese foreign policy and the degree to which domestic demand for natural resources influences foreign policy decisions. To place these three essays in perspective, this introduction overviews the first 60 years of PRC foreign policy and then looks ahead at China’s role in the world moving into the next cycle. xiao renis Associate Dean of the Institute of International Studies and Director of the Center for Chinese Foreign Policy Studies at Fudan University. He can be reached at . travis tanneris Director of the Pyle Center for Northeast Asian Studies at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). He can be reached at . note uThe papers in this roundtable were first presented at a conference organized by the Pyle Center for Northeast Asian Studies at The National Bureau of Asian Research in partnership with The Center for Chinese Foreign Policy Studies at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies. The conference was convened in Shanghai, China, in October 2009, to examine the drivers and trends influencing Chinese foreign policy, particularly focusing on the recent global economic downturn and its implications for China’s economic and geopolitical outlook. The conference organizers would like to thank the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Ford Foundation for their support of this project. [ 45 ] roundtable • chinese foreign policy and domestic decisionmaking Six Decades of PRC Foreign Policy Though not all researchers agree on the exact division, the past 60 years of foreign policy in China can generally be split into two distinct 30-year periods. 1949 marked the rise of the new revolutionary state, setting in motion the first 30-year period, which was characterized by drastic changes in China’s relations with the world’s two major superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). During this period from 1949 to 1979, ideology played a key role in top-level decisionmaking, and this led to a poorly institutionalized system in which a small, insular group of high-level leaders made foreign policy decisions. Additionally, Mao Zedong’s personal proclivities greatly influenced China’s foreign policy decisionmaking, with domestic political considerations frequently determining the shape and direction of China’s outward diplomacy. Although in its earliest days, the PRC adopted a strategy of “leaning to one side” and allied itself with the Soviet Union, this alliance did not last and was terminated just over a decade later. Isolation from the region and the world, an ideological focus on aligning with the world’s other developing countries, and deep-rooted mistrust of the world’s major powers thus came to characterize this period. Two factors can be identified as the main causes of the dramatic change in the Sino-Soviet relationship. The first cause was the conflict between the Soviet Union’s aspirations to...