The foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC for short) has gone through fundamentally different phases since its founding in 1949. As the most populous country in the world, the second largest economy in the world, the largest energy consumer in the world, a nuclear power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the PRC is one of the key players in international politics.
According to topbbacolleges, the primary goals of China’s foreign policy are safeguarding national interests, creating a favorable environment for the country’s internal development and expanding influence in global competition in political, economic, military and cultural areas. The official line of the Chinese leadership is to “steadfastly pursue an independent foreign policy of peace.” An example of foreign policy decisions guided by “sovereignty and territorial integrity” is not establishing diplomatic relations with states that recognize the Republic of China ; Taiwan is a breakaway province of the People’s Republic. Other issues where the Chinese maxim of uncompromising pursuit of self-interest became conflictual include the preservation of democratic foundations in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the human rights situation in the Xinjiang ( Uighur ) autonomous region, territorial claims in the South China Sea and the status of Tibet. Furthermore, the PRC’s foreign economic expansionism leads to open escalation of conflicts with the United States and the European Union. The People’s Republic of China is cautious about international efforts to curb pollutant emissions that lead to global warming.
The PRC maintains full diplomatic relations with 178 of the 193 member states of the United Nations and the State of Palestine. It has the second largest number of diplomatic missions of any country in the world.
Since the end of the 2010s, according to public opinion, China has been closing in on the USA as the second superpower ; the conflict between the alliances of the two states is sometimes referred to as the Second Cold War. The China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO or SCO) is increasingly seen as an opponent of the USA-led NATO. In contrast to the first Cold War, Russia is now China’s junior partner.
Priorities and development
Beginning after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949
It was only when it achieved statehood as the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 that the country managed to move from being a pawn to becoming an actor in world politics. In China’s deep-seated, traditional self-image, it is the “Middle Kingdom”; According to this view, the Gate of Heavenly Peace ( Chinese: 天安門 / 天安门, Pinyin Tiān’ānmén ) in Beijing is not only the center of the country (empire), but of the world. With the proclamation of the People’s Republic, Mao Zedong declared China free from foreign influence and independent in unity and dignity.
Although the leadership under Mao initially had to focus primarily on questions of internal order, the People’s Republic of China actively intervened in the Korean War on June 25, 1950. The American- led United Nations troops had pushed the North Koreans back to the Yalu, the river bordering China. Initially around 200,000 Chinese “volunteers”, later a further 500,000, pushed the UN troops back to the 38th parallel alongside the North Koreans. Shortly after its founding, the People’s Republic of China positioned itself as a communist brother country and a counterpoint to the Western leading power, the USA, and the international community of states, the UN; she had entered world politics. In response to the PRC’s intervention in Korea, American President Truman recognized the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the “sole legal government of China.” The issue of the One-China policy had reached the international level. Mao responded by expelling all Western foreigners still in China and expropriating all institutions they had founded or operated, such as schools and hospitals. This complete break with the West would last until 1972.
In February 1950, the People’s Republic of China concluded a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union. However, the idea of a close partnership based on ideological proximity became obsolete when the Moscow leadership agreed to “ peaceful coexistence ” with the United States at a Camp David summit in 1959. In 1960 there was a break with the Soviet Union and the PRC was effectively internationally isolated. This isolation remained until the end of the 1960s, primarily because of the country’s internal paralysis caused by the Cultural Revolution. From 1966 onwards, in view of the worrying events in the People’s Republic of China, the Soviet Union stationed more troops on the Ussuri border river and actual combat operations took place with Chinese border troops in 1969. The Soviet threat became the determining element externally and Mao came to the realization that the country’s foreign policy should be put on a new basis.
Return to world politics in 1971
The Soviet Union was now seen in Beijing as the main enemy and a major threat. Prime Minister Zhou Enlai (who had also served as foreign minister until 1958) turned toward rapprochement with the United States with Mao’s approval, leading to plans for a visit by President Nixon in 1972. Friendly contacts in the field of sport that emerged in 1971, the so-called ping-pong diplomacy, helped. The American Secretary of State Kissinger had made a confidential visit to Beijing, as was announced on July 11, 1971. On October 25, 1971, the People’s Republic of China – at the same time as the Republic of China (Taiwan) left – became a member of the United Nations, whereupon diplomatic relations with Japan and other Western countries were established in quick succession to end the isolation. Richard Nixon’s state visit took place in February 1972 and resulted in a mutual determination that there were common strategic interests against the hegemony of other powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Nixon, like other heads of state later, received a pair of panda bears as a gift; these gestures gave rise to the term panda diplomacy.
In April 1974, the PRC introduced an initiative in the United Nations, namely the theory of the three worlds developed by Mao and presented there by Deng Xiaoping. This theory, which dominated the Chinese worldview in the 1970s and 1980s, said that the first world consisted of the two competing superpowers, the USA and the USSR, the second world was formed by the smaller industrialized states – each dependent on one of the superpowers – and the so-called third world (including China), which, economically plundered, remained backward. The aim should be for the second and third worlds to represent their interests together towards the superpowers. China remained much closer to the USA by continuing to portray the Soviet Union and its policies as the greatest threat to world peace. In November 1977, Deng Xiaoping described the Soviet Union as the “more vicious, adventurous and sophisticated superpower” and “the most dangerous source of world war.”
Opening policy under Deng Xiaoping from 1978
The reform and opening policy of the People’s Republic of China (opening to the outside, reforms at home), which Deng Xiaoping, who was now firmly in the saddle as the ” outstanding leader “, had initiated with the saying “Getting rich is glorious”, made things more narrow and Deeper relations with Western industrial nations are required. In 1979 diplomatic relations with the USA were resumed. At the same time, the Americans broke off relations with the Republic of China and terminated the Friendship Treaty of 1954. The PRC had concluded a peace treaty with Japan in 1978.
The economic boom and global marketability of the PRC should be ensured and accelerated by attracting Western technology and capital from large international companies through the approval of investments. There was also scientific exchange and the beginning of tourism. The successes were obvious: from 1978 to 1990, China’s foreign trade volume increased sixfold from 21 to 115 billion dollars. The share of industrial production in total economic output quickly and significantly exceeded the traditionally dominant contribution of agricultural production. The opening was initially strictly limited to a number of coastal cities and economic development areas established there (e.g. Pudong in Shanghai ) and expanded step by step based on the experiences gained there.
From 1982 onwards, after the break in 1960, contacts with the Soviet Union were established again. In consultations, China sought to remove three obstacles to normalization of conditions: Soviet forces on the Chinese border should be reduced, the USSR should withdraw from Afghanistan and stop supporting the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. Gorbachev, who came to power in Moscow in March 1985, gave China priority in his Asia policy. Nevertheless, it took until May 1989 for the dispute to be formally resolved during Gorbachev’s visit to Beijing.
With the suppression of the Chinese democracy movement on June 4, 1989 (known as the Tian’anmen massacre ), a foreign policy “ice age” occurred, i.e. H. a standstill of all intergovernmental contacts at government level, which lasted until the end of 1991. The collapse of the so-called Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union itself that occurred during this time, as well as the associated fundamental changes in the political world map, called for a review of the Chinese position.
Securing economic advancement from 1992
Deng Xiaoping faced critics not only in the CCP who denounced the opening policy as the cause of the democracy movement and called for it to be reversed. The sanctions imposed by Western countries were also used as evidence of the failure of the idea of intensive international cooperation. Deng succeeded, especially with his inspection trip to the south in 1992, in setting an example for the continuation of his reform policy towards “ socialism with Chinese characteristics ”. This in turn led to a willingness abroad to normalize relations and to make greater use of the economic opportunities of the People’s Republic of China, initially as a “workbench of the world”.
After Deng had prevailed and the opening policy had received new impetus, especially in the economic area, in view of the advantages that the low level of production costs in the PRC represented for the outsourcing of production for the existing sales markets and the expectation of a gigantic Chinese market, a kind of race between Western companies towards China is taking place. The consistently state-regulated Chinese side encouraged international investors to seek political support from their own governments. The role of foreign missions in the PRC was now primarily that of promoting trade and investment. China knew how to efficiently receive investors and their projects with attention in a graduated manner: visiting delegations led by heads of government were looked after by the State Planning Commission on behalf of the State Council; Ministers and executives of major global companies could expect the attention of the (foreign) trade ministry, while lower-ranking officials and businessmen were noticed by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. This classification was of crucial importance, as appointments could only ever be obtained from one of the “host units” mentioned. In this way, the hosts also retained complete control over their guests’ activities.
The PRC’s view that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a breakaway province with which the civil war has not ended has led and continues to lead to severe strains on bilateral relations with third countries. In addition to military displays of power, these always have a direct impact on economic relations, as the Chinese state has secured the ability to intervene in the areas of trade and investment (even after joining the WTO). When the United States decided to supply fighter-bombers to Taiwan in 1992 and hosted Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui on what was described as a “private” visit in 1995, American companies were excluded from a number of lucrative projects on the mainland. This is what happened to French companies when Paris Mirage fighter bombers were delivered to Taiwan. In 1992, the German federal government denied German defense companies a deal with submarines and corvettes for the Taiwanese navy. During a visit by Federal Economics Minister Rexrodt, the then Chinese Ministry of Commerce Wu Yi presented the German economy with an advantageous 10 points for deepening cooperation. In 2021, the government of Lithuania decided to allow an official representative office of Taiwan in Vilnius. The PRC then first ordered its ambassador to Beijing to report and ultimately downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of chargé d’affaires.
The German federal government and the coalition in the Bundestag also took the PRC’s stance into account with regard to the situation in Tibet. In 1994, an appearance by the exiled Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, was canceled in connection with a discussion of human rights violations in the autonomous region by then-German Foreign Minister Kinkel. In 1995, Kinkel rejected the traditional khata scarf at an unofficial meeting. In 2007, the foreign and economic policy framework had changed to such an extent that the Dalai Lama was not only received by several prime ministers ( Rüttgers, Koch ), but also on a Sunday for a 60-minute private exchange of views by Chancellor Merkel in the Chancellery met.
The majority of Chinese exports were shipped through Hong Kong as a port of transit in the 1990s. As early as 1984, the colonial power Great Britain and the People’s Republic of China had agreed on the return of both the leased New Territories and the crown colony itself on the basis of the “ one country, two systems ” theory developed by Deng. Accordingly, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was created on July 1, 1997 with guaranteed democratic rights enshrined in a basic law for at least another 50 years. The situation was similar with the Portuguese colony of Macau, whose return was agreed in 1987 for 1999.
China as a great power
The Asian crisis, a financial, currency and economic crisis in East and Southeast Asia, which became unstoppable in mid-1997, primarily affected the so-called Tiger and Panther states. By cleverly avoiding a devaluation of the national currency Yuan under the leadership of the economically savvy Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, the People’s Republic of China was able to protect itself from its effects in such a way that it was subsequently ahead of Japan as the regional leading power. When American President Clinton paid an official visit to China in 1998, the International Herald Tribune headlined : “From now on, China is the leader of East Asia, not Japan.”
The People’s Republic of China also managed to overcome the global financial crisis that broke out in 2007 comparatively well through early stabilization measures. The State Council approved a plan to use four trillion yuan ($586 billion) to ensure “defense of eight percent economic growth,” particularly by increasing domestic demand. Under the leadership of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the use of the funds was strategically negotiated between the central government and the provinces. After the world’s attention was focused on the country in 2008 due to the holding of the Olympic Games in Beijing, successes were achieved that raised China’s reputation in the world and thus its foreign policy weight to a new level.
With the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2001, the PRC had already taken a step towards an active role in ensuring regional stability. Together with Russia, a forum for constructive cooperation with Central Asian successor states to the USSR was created.
The People’s Republic of China also played a certain role as a mediator on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear armament by playing a key role in the so-called six-party talks since 2003. Its aims were to prevent another military conflict on the Korean peninsula, to avoid chaos in the immediate neighborhood and not to allow nuclear weapons there. By maintaining the status quo, with North Korea as a buffer zone between itself and a US-allied South Korea, Beijing wants to stabilize the Northeast Asian region.
Since 2013, the People’s Republic of China has been pursuing the ” New Silk Road ” project, which is primarily intended to further expand trade routes between East Asia and Europe, but is also intended to create dependencies and influence in partner countries on the basis of very large investments. The most important Greek port, Piraeus, which state-owned companies from the PRC have completely taken over, is cited as an example. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) also took on the Chinese state shipping company COSCO as a 35% partner with 100 million euros. In return, foreign direct investment in the PRC remains restricted. The new Investment Law ( Foreign Investment Law ), which came into force on January 1, 2020, also speaks of market opening and the abolition of the technology transfer from foreign investors that was previously enforced in the approval process. However, according to the final declaration of the EU-China summit in April 2019, there is no evidence of real equal treatment of foreign and domestic companies. The Chinese side signaled that it would be willing to accommodate market access and industrial subsidies; However, the EU considers concrete steps to be doubtful. The foreign trade imbalance led to an open trade conflict between the United States and the People’s Republic of China in 2018, in which, among other things, punitive tariffs were imposed. At the beginning of 2020, an agreement was reached that, according to critics, is unlikely to be in line with WTO rules and would be at the expense of third parties, including the EU.
The country’s self-confidence [40], which has grown and openly displayed under the leadership of Xi Jinping, is also evident on the African continent, in the South China Sea and in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
- China’s Africa policyis determined by economic interests (securing raw materials, opening up rapidly growing sales markets), but also pursues geopolitical goals. For African countries, China’s vehement defense of the principle of state sovereignty, which helps expand the scope of action of authoritarian governments, is politically significant. The effects of increasing Chinese influence on the continent’s countries are described as predominantly negative. The premises of Chinese foreign policy contradict the efforts to promote democracy, conflict prevention and transparency.
- Since 2011, the PRC has been pursuing military expansion in the South China Sea, raising Western governments’ concerns about freedom of navigation. The USA reacts with naval operations that lead to heated diplomatic exchanges. In 2021, the US pushed for the creation of the Indo-Pacific security alliance AUKUS, which in turn led to strong opposition from Beijing.
- During the protests in Hong Kong in 2019/2020, in which there were massive demonstrations against the restrictions on supposedly guaranteed freedoms (expression of opinion, assembly), Beijing intervened, supporting its Hong Kong governor Carrie Lam, thereby drawing a wave of negative criticism from the international community on yourself.
A problem for the partners of the People’s Republic of China is how they deal with the Uyghur population in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Since 2018, the world public has been discussing with increasing intensity the systematic oppression and attempted re-education of the Uyghurs in the northwest of the People’s Republic that has apparently been going on for years and has now been documented. A large number of states have officially criticized Beijing’s actions. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for his part, spoke of “misperceptions” by the West.
Regarding Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, China’s stance, according to political scientist Junhua Zhang, has been a “tightrope walk.” Among other things, China rejected the international sanctions against Russia, but also stated that this does not mean that China is circumventing all sanctions. China rejected the use of nuclear weapons. With a state visit, President Xi Jinping made it clear that China is not distancing itself from Russia. A number of agreements were signed in March 2023 with which China secured, above all, economic advantages that Russia, which was affected by sanctions, granted in the area of energy supplies, among other things. Both countries agreed on a “strategic partnership”.
