National Interests of China: Connotations, Hierarchy, Balancing

Abstract

The connotations of the interests of the PRC in the official scientific and political discourse during the period of the existence of the new Chinese state first transformed from class (jieji liyi, 1949–1978) to actually national (national-state – guojia liyi, 1979–2008), and then transition to “indigenous (core) national” (hexin guojia liyi, or simply “indigenous” – hexin liyi), and this emphasis became dominant after 2012. This process reflects substantive changes in the state’s strategy. At the same time, the spatial and geographical range of his interests was expanding – from a predominant focus on domestic needs to regional and global ones. Since the 12th Chinese Communist Party Congress of 1982 declared that China would adopt foreign policy according to its national interests, the term “national interests” has been frequently used in Chinese official documents. The problems of national interests in the Chinese academic community were first raised in 1987 at the Shanghai Scientific Conference on the Theory of International Relations. In 1995, Yan Xuetong published China’s first monograph on this subject, “Analysis of China’s National Interests”, on which he worked for two years (grant from the Chinese Academy of Contemporary International Relations) after returning from the United States, where he defended his doctoral dissertation. The publication of this book even sparked a “great debate” between young scholars and traditionalists about the normative requirements for writing papers. The article shows the dynamics of changes in the national interests of the PRC, their connotations and hierarchy both in academic discourse and in the practice of Chinese diplomacy (case of Russia and Ukraine).