2011 report to congress - U.S.-China Economic and Security Review ...

dkrause on DSKHT7XVN1PROD with $$_JOBSECTION 2: ACTORS IN CHINA’SFOREIGN POLICYIntroductionThrough a combination of hearings, two fact-finding trips to EastAsia, and research over the past year, the Commission investigatedthe changing dynamics of China’s foreign policy-making. Overall,the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elite, the party’s PolitburoStanding Committee, continue to exert overarching control of China’sforeign policy-making. Other party and government entities,such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA), and provincial actors, influence and implement China’sforeign policies. However, as China has expanded its overseasinterests, the number of voices affecting Chinese foreign policy alsohas increased. Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and banks,and think tanks and academic institutions have increasing influenceon China’s foreign policies. In addition, private citizens mayhave a modicum of ability to influence foreign policies through theuse of the Internet. As a result of the growing number of playersinfluencing China’s foreign policy-making process, coordinationamong the various actors is more difficult for Beijing. The followingsection will describe the actors creating, implementing, and influencingChinese foreign policy and what implications the proliferationof voices could have for the United States.Official Chinese Foreign Policy ActorsChina’s official foreign policy actors include individuals and organizationsin the CCP apparatus and in the Chinese governmentunder the State Council. The most influential actors are the PolitburoStanding Committee, the Foreign Affairs Leading SmallGroup, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the PLA, and on a smallerscale, provincial governments.Politburo Standing Committee of the CCPComprising the top nine members of the CCP, the PolitburoStanding Committee is the ultimate body that approves foreign policydecisions. Although it does not publicize its agenda, the PolitburoStanding Committee reportedly meets every seven to ten daysand operates on a consensus basis; no one member has exclusivesay over foreign policy decisions. 103 In testimony to the Commission,Susan Lawrence, an analyst at the Congressional ResearchService, stated that the two members of the Politburo StandingCommittee who have the greatest involvement in foreign policy arecurrent President and Party Chairman Hu Jintao and Vice PresidentXi Jinping (who is likely to become president and party chairmanin 2012). 104 However, as a Commission-sponsored report(261)VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 Nov 10, 2011 Jkt 067464 PO 00000 Frm 00273 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 G:\GSDD\USCC\2011\067464.XXX 067464