Harris - Chinas Foreign Policy

Table of Contents

China Today Series

Copyright Stuart Harris 2014

The right of Stuart Harris to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2014 by Polity Press

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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6246-6

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6247-3 (pb)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8423-9 (epub)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8422-2 (mobi)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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To Pamela

Chronology

Preface

This is a book about China's foreign policy. It is not about China as a whole. The distinction is important. To implement foreign policy, states need to deal bilaterally and multilaterally with a wide range of countries. With some they will be comfortable; with others there may be elements of moral distaste or a lack of trust. States need to be able to co-habit with both, even where warmth and mutual trust are lacking, if they are to pursue effectively their interests and maintain peace. Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon were prepared to deal with each other despite the fact that China had long seen Nixon as a warmonger and Americans did not trust Mao. Commonly, foreign policy involves dealing with people who think differently from us. Yet having been involved in international dealings with other countries over much of my career, I was often surprised by assumptions of colleagues that there is a similarity in how problems are seen and approached; or, at times, that others ought to think like us. Knowing not just where your counterparts differ, but understanding why they differ, facilitates handling of differences and makes cooperation possible.