Cyclical Patterns of China’s Intervention Policy

Abstract

In exploring the argument that a state’s position in the international system determines its foreign policy and external intervention behaviour, this chapter begins by giving a critical historical analysis of China’s evolving understanding of foreign intervention, its foreign intervention policy and external intervention behaviour from imperial times to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and until 2015. The aim of the historical analysis is to give a concrete background of the evolving nature of China’s foreign policy regarding intervention in other states’ internal affairs vis-a-vis changes in its relative economic power and position in the international system. Appreciating China’s past understandings of intervention is therefore critical to analysing its current intervention policy and behaviour in Africa. Based on that background, the chapter then discusses the implication of China’s increasing economic power and explores whether it has indeed resulted in an increase in its external intervention behaviour.