Foreign policy of china under deng xiaoping and its contemporary relevance

Abstract

Political leadership plays an important role in foreign policy decision making in general. Studying leadership traits, styles, beliefs and world view is one of the common methods to comprehend political leaders and their influence on foreign policy. When it comes to authoritarian countries like China, its foreign policy decision making has several layers of which political leaders play all the more crucial role. Irrespective of the period Imperial, Nationalist or Communist the political leaders of China are guided by its history, philosophy and the then existing domestic and global circumstances, in formulating and implementing the country s foreign policy. Political leadership plays an important role in foreign policy decision making in general. Studying leadership traits, styles, beliefs and world view is one of the common methods to comprehend political leaders and their influence on foreign policy. When it comes to authoritarian countries like China, its foreign policy decision making has several layers of which political leaders play all the more crucial role. Irrespective of the period Imperial, Nationalist or Communist the political leaders of China are guided by its history, philosophy and the then existing domestic and global circumstances, in formulating and implementing the country s foreign policy. The central enquiry of the study is to assess contemporary relevance of Deng s foreign newlinepolicy paradigm. Through field visits and rigorous analysis of primary sources, the newlinestudy establishes that relevance of Deng s policy continues in the present context except on China s pro-activeness towards issues pertaining to its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Using China s case, the study advances the framework of understanding pertaining to the role of political leadership in foreign policy making. The study also makes certain broad policy recommendations to various stakeholders for consideration. newline