A ‘Multi-Voice’ Choir. Making Foreign Policy in Post-Maoist China

Abstract

As a result of the People’s Republic of China’s increasing interdependence with the global arena and developing foreign policy interests, the Chinese foreign policy‑making process has witnessed the emergence of a growing number of actors who wish to ‘have a say’ and attempt to influence the top leadership’s decisions. In this process, while the Chinese Communist Party, and in particular its highest body (the Politburo Standing Committee), has retained ultimate decision‑making power, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed its ‘secondary role’ as merely one actor ‘among the others,’ and not necessarily the most important one.