The View from Peking: China's Policies Towards the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan

Abstract

WX TITH THE ADMISSION of the Chinese People's Republic to the United Nations, and the Nixon visit to Peking, it became apparent that Chinese foreign policy had entered a new stage, though still retaining elements reminiscent of the I954-I958 era of peaceful coexistence. But that policy is the product of a number of foreign and domestic factors, most of which are not within its control, and the enormous gaps in our knowledge of events within China make it abnormally difficult to evaluate the domestic political component. Furthermore, the situation that China faces in Asia is unique: never before has a strong China faced a strong Russia, a strong America and now an increasingly strong Japan. Thus, analogies with the past (whether the pOst-I949 or the post-i86o period) are not very helpful. Finally, more than the usual number of elements are in flux: major perturbations continue in the Chinese leadership structure, just when Mao's period of rule seems to be drawing to a close; for the first time since I945 there is great uncertainty as to the American commitment to the current security framework in Asia; and in Japan, the increasingly tenuous grasp of the Liberal Democrats on the levers of power could lead to unprecedented changes in Japanese foreign and military policy. Together these make any analysis of Chinese foreign policy (to say nothing of prognosis) difficult and subject to momentary change. Some recent analyses have treated Chinese foreign policy as if it began in I970, or perhaps i969 when the Cultural Revolution was judged to have run its course. While this approach is understandable, given that China only then began to re-emerge on the world political scene after nearly a half decade of turmoil at home, in reality Peking has pursued certain definite foreign policy goals since i949 and the Chinese Communist Party has maintained relations with foreign Communist parties since its inception in I92I. The historical memory and practices built up over these two periods are perhaps the most important of the influences upon current Chinese foreign policy outlooks. A thorough analysis of the legacy of the past would of course consider the entire period beginning with China's first