China's Foreign Policy Making: Societal Force and Chinese American Policy by Lin Su & Yufan Hao

Author:Lin Su & Yufan Hao [Su, Lin & Hao, Yufan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Ideologies, Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, International Relations, General
ISBN: 9780754646075
Google: X6i6AAAAIAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 1590604
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 2005-01-15T07:05:51+00:00

1. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Opening to the Public

The People’s Republic of China’s foreign policy making has undergone some changes in recent years.1 In the past, China’s foreign policy making was very much centralized, concentrated in the hands of the “leading group” of powerful individuals or even in the hands of one individual. However, recently, because of China’s policy of opening to the outside world, the highly centralized paradigm in foreign policy making has changed. First, Beijing’s international contacts have been growing in roughly the past two decades. Consequently, the number of Chinese organizations or constituents with input into China’s foreign policy making is increasing. Increasing also is the knowledge of the outside world by China’s foreign policy makers. Second, a greater scope is emerging for haggling among different bureaucracies and groups representing special interests. Third, greater influence is shifting to state institutions from party institutions, or from ideologues to technocrats. Thus, in recent years, China’s foreign policy making has become more professional and institutionalized, with greater input and participation from more political, economic, and ideological groups.2

The advent of the age of the internet only further propelled China’s foreign policy making in the direction in which it was already developing: greater openness and greater participation from more diversified groups. Quite some years ago, China began its effort to keep abreast with the developments and requirements of the internet age. Sixty percent of governmental departments in China, by July 1999, set up websites to send out information about their functions, programs, regulations and activities.3 This idea of creating “electronic government” was initiated by the China Telecom and the State Economic and Trade Commission for the purpose of improving efficiency and political transparency. For the majority of citizens in China, it is still quite a hurdle to get across the guarded gate of a government compound in Beijing, but to reach the government through the internet certainly helps unwrap the mysteries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was among the earliest governmental departments that went online. In its effort to achieve the image as well as the result of “public diplomacy,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is opening itself to the public not only virtually, but also physically.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs first opened itself to the public virtually. On the afternoon of 23 December 2003, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing conversed online with the general public. This marked the first time that the Foreign Minister of China communicated online directly with the general public. The number of participants in this online event registered 27,000. The “fearlessness” of the participants in questioning and the candor of the minister in answering were widely espoused and appreciated.4

A quick visit to the Ministry’s official website (http://www.mfa.gov.cn) will reveal that the Ministry is not only virtually open to, but also virtually interactive with, the public. Results of online conversations among five diplomats and the public are posted with a link on the first page on the official site. Furthermore, registered users are able to converse online with (former)

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