China s Foreign Policy Making: Societal Force and Chinese American Policy (review)

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1 China s Foreign Policy Making: Societal Force and Chinese American Policy (review) Qiang Zhai China Review International, Volume 15, Number 1, 2008, pp (Review) Published by University of Hawai'i Press DOI: For additional information about this article Accessed 7 Jun :46 GMT

2 Reviews 97 Yufan Hao and Lin Su, editors. China s Foreign Policy Making: Societal Force and Chinese American Policy. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, xi, 230 pp. Hardcover $99.95, ISBN by University of Hawai i Press In recent years, a complex relationship between China and the United States has developed, a relationship that features both substantial cooperation on bilateral, regional, and global issues and distrust and suspicions of each other s intentions and actions. China s rise is posing a major challenge to policymakers in Washington. How is Beijing s American policy made? This is a question that should concern all readers interested in the evolution of Sino-American relations. In the Mao years, China s policy toward the United States was dominated by an elite group within the central leadership. Oftentimes, Mao dictated and the country followed. Deng Xiaoping s open-door reform policy, however, has significantly broadened China s contact with the outside world, and the process of globalization has introduced a proliferation and decentralization of players in the formation of Beijing s foreign policy. To understand the multiple domestic determinants on Beijing s policy making with regard to the United States, there is no better place to turn than to read this excellent volume of well-researched and clearly written essays. The contributors to this volume represent first-rate scholars from China and the United States. They combine sophisticated training in Western research methods and a deep knowledge of Chinese history, culture, and the current system. Their studies are brimming with fresh insight into the key question of how internal factors affect the formation of China s American policy. They convincingly demonstrate that China s elite-controlled foreign policy structure has experienced a major transformation and the recent developments of decentralization, professionalism, and institutionalization have created room and opportunities for societal groups to influence the policy-making process. They indicate that the ability of the top authority to mint a consistent and coherent policy toward the United States has been compromised by increased social pressures in the era of information technology. The book defines societal force as players outside the top leadership and policy- making inner circle, including public opinions, the business community, think tanks, opinion makers both in the media and in the academic community, technocrats within the bureaucratic apparatus, local governments and other subnational entities within Chinese society that seek to influence directly or indirectly, intentionally or intentionally, the final foreign policy outcomes in favor of their preferences (p. 8). How should we understand the role of this societal force in Chinese foreign policy today? The authors interpret the role of societal force as a product of an endless series of actors both from below and from the middle-rank bureaucrats competing to catch the attention of policy makers, in the midst of public senti-

3 98 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 1, 2008 ments informed by historical memory and current value orientation of a society. The authors believe that the socialization process of citizens, the role of media, and educational institutions all play a part in influencing the outlook of foreign policymakers. Yufan Hao and Lin Su s opening chapter examines a group of Chinese emerging elite s view of the United States. They base their study on several surveys conducted among a group of over 260 randomly picked foreign affairs college students and mid-level government employees enrolled in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs. They discover that this group of Chinese emerging elite has a mixed view of the United States, an image that blends positive evaluations of America s domestic strength and negative judgments of America s international behavior. This dichotomous view of the United States, Hao and Lin argue, has important implications for Beijing s policy makers when they consider their approach to the United States because it provides room for maneuvering in either direction. How did the recent bout of anti-americanism in China develop? Hongshan Li attempts to address this question from a historical and comparative perspective. He points out that the anti-american protests in China in the 1990s resembled more the anti-american movements of the first part of the twentieth century than the extreme anti-american campaign orchestrated by the Chinese government during the 1950s and 1960s. Li demonstrates that like their counterparts in the early twentieth century, the protesters in the 1990s did initiate and organize most of their anti-american activities, and that like the anti-american movements of the early twentieth century, the recent anti-american bashing was directed against American policy toward China rather than against the American people, culture, system, and products. Li concludes that once it developed in the 1990s as a part of the Chinese public opinion, anti-americanism began to play an increasingly important part in shaping China s American policy. The following three chapters by Yanmin Yu, Junhao Hong, and Xin-An Lu discuss the role of the traditional and new media in policy making. By conducting content analysis of the People s Daily, Global Times, South Weekend, and Newsweek (China), Yanmin Yu focuses on the coverage of the American war in Iraq and the impact of the war on the making of Beijing s policy toward the United States. She reports that primarily because of government restrictions, the traditional mass media (newspapers and magazines) do not enjoy much autonomy while the new media (the internet) offer more space for independent discussions and comments. As to the government s reaction to the internet, Yu points out that while the internet is not totally free from government regulations, the Chinese authorities do adopt a more tolerant approach, permitting it to function as a platform where the public can express their views, criticize foreign policy decisions, and make policy suggestions. Citing the example of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing s online dialogue with Chinese internet users, Yu concludes that Chinese officials do pay attention to public opinion, especially via the internet.

4 Reviews 99 Junhao Hong s essay is devoted exclusively to the role of online public opinion in policy formation. Hong echoes Yanmin Yu s observation that cyber forums have challenged the government s monopoly of information channels and are exerting increasing influence on society and policy making. He points out that national sentiments expressed by the Chinese cyber community have exercised a strong impact on the government s foreign policy considerations, especially with regard to the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. Xin-An Lu s study examines the impact of the internet on the operation and policy making in the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Lu writes that officials in the Foreign Ministry treat public sentiments reflected in the internet seriously and even incorporate them in their policy making. Quansheng Zhao s chapter investigates the role of intellectuals and think tanks in Chinese foreign policy making. Zhao observes that a striking development during the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao era is the appearance of increasingly active and multi-layered channels between the decision-making center and the periphery (primarily think tanks). Because of the complex and technical nature of many of the issues concerning China and the United States, Chinese officials are increasingly seeking advice from specialists. Zhao usefully summarizes seven channels of communication between the center and the periphery: direct consultations with leaders, internal reports via government channels, conference and public policy debates, policy NGOs, outside-system (tiziwai) discussions, overseas scholars, and a highly specialized professional community. While noting great progress in the recent developments in intellectual and think tank involvement in the foreign policy-making process, Zhao also points out that the interactions between the center and the periphery remain limited partly because the Chinese government is still authoritarian and partly because intellectuals and think tanks occupy a peripheral position and rarely have the opportunity to function in the inner circle because of the absence of personnel switches between policy-making departments and intellectual institutions. Zhao concludes his chapter with an optimistic note: [A]s civil society continues to develop in China, there will be further demand for policy input and increasing professionalism in both governmental agencies and think-tanks. It is likely that this will push intellectuals and scholars to play even greater functions in the years to come (p. 136). In his chapter on the role of nationalism in the making of Chinese policy toward the United States with regard to Taiwan, Zhidong Hao analyzes the components of nationalism by exploring the part played by intellectuals in encouraging nationalist sentiments concerning Taiwan. He identifies two kinds of nationalism that have helped push Chinese policy toward the United States and Taiwan: collectivistic ethnic nationalism and individualistic ethnic nationalism. The former stresses unity of ethnicity while the latter emphasizes not only solidarity but also equality, human rights, and democracy. On balance, collectivistic ethnic nationalism is playing a greater role in the government s American policy calculations on the issue of Taiwan. Highlighting how these two strands of nationalism manifest themselves in the writings of intel-

5 100 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 1, 2008 lectuals and in the government policies toward the United States and Taiwan, Hao spells out the implications of these different nationalisms for Beijing s policy toward the United States and for the future war and peace across the Taiwan Strait. The chapter by Guoli Liu and Su Hao addresses the relationship between civil society and Chinese foreign policy. They observe that the past two decades of reform and openness have resulted in the emergence of a civil society in China. On the one hand, professional groups and citizen organizations have mushroomed. On the other hand, civil society and the internet have promoted each other. The rise of civil society has both broadened the basis of Sino-American relations and made it more challenging for the government to monopolize decision-making with regard to the United States. Chinese officials have to consider the growing social elements when formulating policy toward the United States. Zhimin Chen s study shifts the gaze to the role of provincial governments in foreign policy making. He demonstrates how the decentralization process has internationalized the Chinese provinces and turned them into active players in Chinese foreign policy. He observes that while provinces serve generally as agents of the central government in the execution of Chinese foreign policy, they sometimes also initiate policy. Chen pays special attention to the influence of coastal provinces. He points out that as their economies become increasingly dependent on the international market and as foreign investment grows, the coastal provinces show strong interest in the direction of Chinese foreign policy. Through their attempts to integrate their economies to the regional and global economies, the coastal provinces help establish a high level of economic interdependence between China and other countries, including the United States. The chapter by Zhiqun Zhu rounds out the volume by examining the role of Shanghai and Wang Daohan in China s American policy making in the 1980s and 1990s. As a former party leader in Shanghai and mentor of Jiang Zemin, Wang Daohan enjoyed a unique access to the inner circle of policy making in Beijing. He and his Shanghai associates influenced Jiang Zemin s position concerning the United States. According to Zhu, Chinese foreign policy establishment is often divided into the hawkish and dovish camps. Wang Daohan often served as a moderate force, providing a balance to the hard-line group in China s foreign and Taiwan policy. Using Wang Daohan and his Shanghai group as an example, Zhu illustrates that such societal forces as regional economic centers and well-connected individuals can play an important role in the policy-making process of Chinese foreign policy. Unlike many other volumes of collective articles, which are bound more by their covers than by their themes, the essays in this collection are remarkably coherent and consistent. They enrich our understanding of the role of societal force in the making of China s policy toward the United States. Qiang Zhai Qiang Zhai is a professor of history specializing in studies of Chinese foreign relations.