Confucian Foreign Policy Traditions in Chinese History

Abstract

Can Confucianism enrich Chinese foreign policy? This article seeks to explore major traditions of Confucian foreign policy in imperial Chinese history and suggest their implications for contemporary Chinese foreign policy. The popular notion of Confucian pacifism is not a credible tradition of Confucian foreign policy, but a modern Chinese myth constructed in the early 20th century. Rather, Confucian foreign policy traditions were characterized by the contrasting ideas of inclusivism and exclusivism, neither of which renounced the use of force as a legitimate instrument of foreign policy. Both traditions were underpinned by a traditional Chinese theory of human nature. The adoption of inclusivism or exclusivism in foreign policy was a contingent outcome of relational interactions in China’s foreign relations. Confucianism’s inclusive humanism, reflected in the inclusive tradition, can provide a major intellectual inspiration for contemporary Chinese foreign policy. It can suggest a Confucian grand strategy of inclusive relationalism that significantly broadens the strategic vision of Chinese foreign policy. Chinese foreign policy discourse under President Xi Jinping already contains an important degree of inclusive relationalism. Putting this strategy more into practice will benefit both China and the world. Can Confucianism enrich modern Chinese foreign policy? This would have been an unthinkable and certainly ‘counterrevolutionary’ question in the revolutionary era of Mao Zedong (1949–1976), who took eradicating ‘feudal dregs’ such as Confucianism as one of the main missions of his continuous revolution. Yet for contemporary China it is no longer an idle or quixotic question. Reform-era (1978–present) Chinese leaders from Jiang Zemin onwards have occasionally invoked Confucian concepts in foreign policy statements. With President Xi Jinping, however, a significant shift has occurred: President Xi has made the use of ancient Chinese classics, including Confucian texts, one of the hallmarks of his VC The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Institute of Modern International Relations, Tsinghua University. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2015, 197–218 doi: 10.1093/cjip/pov004 Advance Access Publication Date: 13 April 2015