The Dynamics of Foreign-policy Decision Making in China (review)

Reviews 487 Ning Lu. The Dynamics ofForeign-policy Decision Making in China. Boulder , Colorado: Westview Press, 1997. vi, 218 pp. Hardcover $75.00, isbn 08133 -3315-6. Chinese foreign-policy decision making is one ofthe most difficult areas ofstudy because of the lack of source materials and because of die extreme secretiveness surrounding diis process. Over the last decade or so, there have been several attempts to understand its intricacies, resulting in highly acclaimed books, including those by Barnett, Lieberthal and Lampton, and Hamrin and Zhao. It seems that two conditions are necessary in order to mount a successful study of this subject. First, the researcher must have access to information either through interviews with top Chinese officials or, alternatively, through close personal "inside " connections to die decision-making process. The author of this book is such an insider. He is a former Chinese foreign-service officer, and is at present a correspondent based in Singapore. 77ie Dynamics ofForeign-policy Decision Making in China is the best singleaudiored book on its subject in English. It is up-to-date, insightful, meticulously researched, and replete with examples, some ofwhich are more relevant than odiers . There are seven chapters: chapter 1 on the structure of foreign-policy decision making; chapter 2 on mechanism and process; chapter 3 on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; chapter 4 on the central leadership; chapter 5 on institutions and individuals ; chapter 6 on changing dynamics; and chapter 7 on Western theories and Chinese practices. Each is self-contained and can be read independentiy. The audior gives particular attention to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling upon his work experience there. His contributions are therefore both unique and valuable . The inclusion ofWestern theories in the last chapter is useful for students and teachers who prefer an overview of the various perspectives on this subject in the West. As this study "relies heavily on eyewitness accounts, research products of those with access to archival materials and personal experience" (p. 4), it is an act that is hard to follow. Also, consequently, it is difficult to find inaccuracies in the author's account of events on the basis of facts. However, some explanations are open to different interprétations as a result ofchanges that have occurred since 1990, the cut-off date ofLu's analysis. In terms ofobservations on the general direction ofdevelopments in China,© 1998 by University chapter 6 offers something ofinterest. Given the fact that foreign-policy decision ofHawai'i Pressmaking is a dynamic process influenced by leadership change, domestic political and economic transformation, and changes in the external environment, the author has identified diree interrelated trends. First, the most fundamental change 488 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 has been the shift of focus since 1978 from national-security strategy to economic development. Second is the centrality of the economic factor in making foreignpolicy decisions. Third is the decentralization ofdecision-making power in favor of the foreign-affairs establishment at the expense ofthe central leadership, in favor of other bureaucracies at the expense of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and in favor of trade corporations and local authorities at the expense of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). There is no doubt that foreign-policy decision making has become more complex as a result of globalization and China's open-door policy. The growing importance of MOFTEC means a relative decline of the MFA. Although the emergence of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in foreign affairs has attracted much attention in the West, the author argues that the allegation that the PLA has become an independent force in foreign-policy decision making is ill-founded because arms sales by the PLA are the result of domestic economic decisions rather than an attempt by the PLA to extend influence abroad or to encroach on foreign-policy formulation. An important aspect of the book is that it deals with who makes foreignpolicy decisions. From the late 1950s until his death in 1976, Mao Zedong, with the assistance of Zhou Enlai, played a dominating role. This totalitarian, "strongman" model gave way to an authoritarian one characterized by bureaucratic , sectoral, and regional competition...