Foreign policy in China is formulated and implemented to reflect the objectives set by the Party. Even as foreign policy is implemented by the State, what principles and ideas guide the Party's creation of foreign policy? How does the Party think about foreign policy from a global and regional perspective? What stakeholders participate in this process of creating policy; how is foreign policy related to core interests formulated and how do domestic factors influence foreign policy? This talk focused on China's foreign policy creation -- beyond the limits of the Foreign Ministry and into the realm of the CPC apparatus itself.
The Party’s role in the formulation of China’s Foreign Policy making has always been instrumental. The party’s leadership has always held strong control over the state structure beginning right from Mao Zedong. This however created a chaotic situation during the Cultural Revolution. When Mao passed away and Deng Xiaoping came to power, he drew some valuable lessons from the Cultural Revolution including differentiating the Party from the State apparatus. In order for the state to develop efficiency and expertise, the party had to be taken out of daily operations taking place in the state structure and policy making.
By the time the 13th Party Congress came about, the Communist Party of China reduced its intervention in state affairs. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union changed how the party viewed their involvement in the State, pushing many to believe that an alternative power structure may grow within the state if the party was not entirely involved.
The institutional reforms in the 1980s led both the Party and the State to work in parallel; yet they were also differentiated one from another. This parallel functioning of the Party and the State remained in function until the arrival of Xi Jinping as China’s leader.
China, under Xi Jinping, has implemented the second round of major institutional reforms in 2018 and 2023, next only to the ones implemented in the 1980s. What we are witnessing as part of the current reforms is the transfer of state power right into the Party control. The Party has created a range of new organs and a significant amount of Party departments have undertaken state administrative duties. This has also ensured that there remain very few ways of ridding the Party of power and there exists practically no alternative parties to challenge the CPC in the current setup. In a way Xi Jinping has returned back to Mao Zedong’s method of governance.
A more famously known governance model of Xi Jinping called governing by ‘Leading Groups’ has asserted Xi Jinping’s power over the state system. By designating a leading group headed by Xi himself on top of state apparatus, Xi has asserted his control of the State bureaucratic structure. Previously these leading groups were considered to be taskforces that would get disbanded once the task was completed, however, Xi Jinping has made these groups permanent. For example, the long-established CPC Foreign Affairs Leading Group is upgraded into a permanent committee chaired by general secretary Xi Jinping. The head of its stand-alone executive office is in fact the top diplomat of China, presiding over both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Party’s International Liaison Department, which deals with the CPC’s relationships with political parties around the world. The ranking of the latter is in fact a half step above the former.
Furthermore, both the Central Foreign Affairs Committee and the Central National Security Committee, both headed by Xi, share the same office and are closely intertwined in their affairs. These departments also have sub-divisions as well as Bureaus. Some of these bureaus used to exist as part of the state structure, but have been integrated into the Party to maintain stronger hold in decision making. As far as the duties of these bureau’s are concerned, they are entrusted with making recommendations, conducting investigations and studies on the international situation, assessing major issues in the implementation of foreign policy, foreign affairs management, and organising meetings of the foreign affairs committee. On behalf of the Party Central Committee, the Bureau formulates and revises certain national regulations on foreign affairs work, and reviews important foreign affairs regulations formulated by the central government, various departments of state agencies, provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. It also handles requests for instructions and reports on important foreign affairs issues submitted to the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs and the State Council by various departments of the state agencies, provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. They also undertake other matters assigned by the Central Foreign Affairs Committee and the State Council.
Furthermore, the Party’s International Liaison Department also plays an important role in China’s foreign policy. The department has various bureaus including the West Asia and North Africa Bureau, African Bureau, Latin American Bureau, America and Canada Bureau, Asian Bureau, Information and Communication Bureau and the Cadre Bureau amongst many more. The departments duties include implementing the guidelines and policies of the CPC Central Committee’s external work; follow up and study of the development and changes of the international situation and major international issues, brief the Party Central Committee and recommend countermeasures and policy recommendations. The International Liaison Department is also entrusted by the Party’s Central Committee to be responsible for handling the exchanges and liaison work between the CPC and foreign political parties and other political organizations. It also coordinates and manages the external exchanges of agencies directly under the central committee and party committees of provinces, autonomous regions and the municipalities directly under the Central Government.
To conclude, as evident in the roles and responsibilities of the Central Foreign Affairs Committee, the Central National Security Committee and the International Liaison Department of the party, the CPC totally dominates over the state structure. Even previously, the Foreign Ministry reported to the Party instead of the Premier. However, this form of centralisation by Xi Jinping has been relatively recent. Thus, the Chinese foreign policy is by and large a Party enterprise reflecting the CPC’s perspective, interest, and broad guidelines on Party affairs. In the end, a question that stands out is would this setup survive after Xi Jinping’s departure? Only time will tell.These remarks were presented by Dr Lance Liangping Gore at ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), 2023.
Dr. Lance Gore is Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. He has done research and publications on a wide variety of topics, including Chinese environmental politics, the reforms in China’s steel industry, energy sector, patterns of entrepreneurship in mainland China, the economic bureaucracies of China, cadre performance evaluation, local state economic behaviour, the Chinese Communist Party and industrial relations. Previously he taught at Bowdoin College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in the United States. He is the single author of three monographs: Chinese Communist Party and China’s Capitalist Revolution: the Political Impact of Market (Routledge); Market Communism: the Institutional Foundations of China’s Post-Mao Hyper-Growth (Oxford); and Chinese Politics Illustrated: the Cultural, Social and Historical Contexts (World Scientific). He also published widely in international journals such as The New Political Economy, Polity, The China Journal, East Asia: An International Quarterly, Problems of Post-Communism, Chinese Journal of Comparative Law. He edited and co-edited several books and contributed numerous book chapters, and is also the associate editor of China: An International Journal.
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