Something Old, Something New: Continuity and Change in China's Foreign Policy
Abstract
Many observers and analysts perceive that the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has become more assertive and more confrontational in recent years. Certainly, this is the view of prominent political leaders and analysts in the United States and elsewhere.3Is this perception accurate? Has Beijing under PRC President Xi Jinping adopted a more forceful and more aggressive foreign policy toward Washington and other capitals? What is driving Xi and the PRCs fifth-generation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders? In this testimony, I contend that while the PRC has been noticeably assertive and confrontational across the board in 2020, what the world has been witnessing is both continuity and change in Chinese foreign policy. Indeed, today there is considerable continuity with the behavior of past decades, but this is amplified because the PRC is now far more powerful and Beijing is responding forcefully to multiple, near-simultaneous challenges.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 09, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1108762
Entities
People
- Andrew Scobell
Organizations
- RAND Corporation