The 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and China’s Foreign Policy

Abstract

The 16th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress held on November 2003 in the arena of foreign policy is significant for China in the new century. The Party Congress did make a major or rather a fundamental change. The fundamental position and attitude of the Chinese foreign policy is moving from “opposing hegemony” in the past decade to “maintaining international peace and promoting common development,” in a more positive direction. Such a change has already affected China’s foreign policies toward the international system, including the G-8, and on specific issues in international relations, such as Iraq and North Korean nuclear issues. Therefore, the change is real.