Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
Preface
Principles are beliefs of fact, causation and rectitude.
Safeguarding national sovereignty, searching for national security and
development are the main principles in China’s foreign policy thinking.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1、Sovereignty
When we thinks about IRs, we think primarily about the system of
sovereignty states. Sovereignty means the full right and power of a
governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside
sources or bodies. State sovereignty contains internal sovereignty and
external sovereignty. Internal sovereignty refers to autonomy, the ability
of the state to make and enforce its own rule domestically, jurisdiction
over a particular territory and people. External sovereignty refers to the
recognition of the state by other states.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.1 Sovereignty and National Independence
Diplomacy is the official exercise of sovereignty externally by
independent state. Diplomacy independence is impossible without the
independence of national sovereignty.
China holds that sovereignty countries have the right to choose their
own social system, independently determine their domestic and foreign
policy, and choose their own road of national development completely
by themselves without external interference.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.1 Sovereignty and National Independence
On international affairs, China advocates that countries, big or small,
strong or weak, rich or poor, are all equal members of the international
community. China values the rights of every people to choose their own
roads of development by themselves, does not interfere in the internal
affairs of other countries, and does not impose the will on others, nor
does China permit any other countries to interfere in China’s internal
affairs.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.1 Sovereignty and National Independence
Chinese foreign policy strongly defends the sovereign territorial rights
and consistently insists on adherence to sovereignty principle as
stipulated in the United Nations Charter and other international
declarations safeguarding traditional state sovereignty, such as the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Generally speaking, there are three major factors that have shaped
China’s sovereignty concern.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
The first is China’s historical experience. Chinese leaders have historically
had to combat the challenge of managing large and often far-flung
territories with large populations. Chinese history has judged the morality,
legitimacy, and survival of its dynastic rulers in part by their ability to
exercise sovereignty over a stable and prosperous China, free from foreign
coercion and encroachment. And, during the “century of humiliation”,
China suffered from political, economic, and military aggression by the
Western powers and Japan, and this experience also has caused the
Chinese to cherish their sovereignty intact.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
The second is the gap between China and Western nations in state
building. As a developing, socialist country, China differs from Western
countries in terms of political and legal systems, and values, and this has
made China subject to attack from the Western world. As a result, China
has to invoke the principle of the sacrosanctity of its sovereignty to fend
off external intrusion into its internal affairs.
The Third, China is concerned over its territorial integrity.
Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.2 Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity
History and geography set the agenda for Chinese foreign policy.
China shares land borders with 14 countries and its coastline is about
14,500 kilometers long. China has had numerous territorial issues
with a majority of its neighboring nations over the past six decades,
regarding both border and maritime areas. Addressing these territorial
disputes and preventing foreign incursions into China has been a central
preoccupation of Chinese diplomacy.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.2 Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity
As a fact, China demonstrated the flexibility and pragmatism in the
settlement of disputed border and territorial claims with neighbors.
According to Taylor Fravel’s extensive study on this question, China has
frequently used cooperative means to manage its territorial conflicts,
Of its twenty-three territorial disputes with other governments, China
has settled seventeen since 1949. Moreover, it has offered substantial
compromises in most of these settlements, usually receiving less than 50
percent of the contested land.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.2 Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity
PRC diplomacy has succeed in resuming the exercise of sovereignty over
Hong Kong and Macao.
Of course, ensuring the mainland’s eventual unification with Taiwan is a
long-standing element of China’s effort to protect its sovereignty and
territorial integrity.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan:
State sovereignty, in its most basic sense, is being redefined—not least by
the forces of globalization and international co-operation.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
In spite of these long-standing views regarding sovereignty and
interventionism, Chinese positions on these issues are clearly changing.
From the initial opening to the outside world, and increasingly since the
1990s, China has steadily acquiesced in accepting the slow erosion of
strict sovereign prerogatives both for itself and for other nation-states.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
China’s position on international peacekeeping operations is a relevant
case. Since the end of the Cold War, the United Nations has been playing
a more active role in peacekeeping activities. China began to participate
in UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations in the late 1980s. However,
China is very cautious in endorsing and participating in peacekeeping
efforts, stressing that peacekeeping operations should abide by the
principles stipulated in the UN Charter respecting state sovereignty and
noninterference of internal affairs.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
For example, In the case of the Somalia intervention in 1993, the principal
concern for Chinese analysts was not dealing with local warlords who
sought to disrupt the UN mandate but rather with how UN forces were
given excessive leeway on the use of force in the absence of a political
settlement on the ground. Even in Cambodia in the early 1990s, when
China made a large contribution of troops to an operation generally
viewed as one of the UN’s success stories, some Chinese analysts were
concerned that the global body overstepped its limits in imposing order.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
In the past several years, China has become more open and active
policies in support of international intervention and.
The most obvious feature of this new approach is a far more active level
of direct Chinese participation. China’s contribution to UN peacekeeping
operations has dramatically expanded in number, scope, and type.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
In the economic area, Beijing seems to have become reconciled to the
idea of “limited sovereignty”, that is, to accept constraints on national
sovereignty in order to reap the benefits of globalization and economic
interdependence.
For example, by entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, China
must submit to the decisions of an outside legal authority adjudicating
trade disputes. This marked a significant change in Beijing’s
understanding of sovereignty.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
On the issues of high historical significance and sensitivity—the
settlement of disputed border and territorial claims with neighbors,
China has likewise demonstrated greater flexibility and pragmatism in
recent years.
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Sovereignty and Security in Chinese Foreign Policy
1.3 Sovereignty and its being redefined
Overall, in an age of increasing interdependence and globalization,
driven by the need to integrate itself into the international economic
system and to maintain sound political and economic relations with
Western nations and regional neighbors, China has been gradually
adjusting its position on sovereignty issues and Chinese views on
sovereignty and intervention display signs of greater flexibility and
pragmatism. In this regard, China is learning strategically.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
What is Security? No danger; no threat; no accident
Walter Lippmann, in 1943, defined National Security in terms of war
saying that a nation has security when it does not have to sacrifice its
legitimate interests to avoid war, and is able, if challenged, to maintain
them by war. In the view of Arnold Wolfers (1960), National security
objectively means the absence of threats to acquired values and
subjectively, the absence of fear that such values will be attacked.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
In a very long time after the founding of the People’s Republic of China,
restrained by limited political and economic resources, China managed
its security by adopting an isolationist policy of self-reliance. To a certain
extent, it can be said that the country basically stayed with a zero-sum
perception of its security relations with the outside world. Economic,
technological , and environmental elements were hardly recognized in
official security documents. However, China’s security conception and
approaches has dramatically changed over the past decades.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 Leaning to One Side During this period, the Chinese security agenda
was preoccupied with the safety of its territory, the consolidation of the
new regime. The alliance with the Soviet Union and the unity of the
Communist bloc were deemed as major security guarantees. A quick
economic recovery was considered a security matter but it was second in
priority to the country’s responsibility in Korea.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 Opposing both Superpowers After its split with Moscow in the late
1950s, China was openly antagonistic toward both superpowers, and the
security concept was dominated by ideological competition and the threat
of war. Economic development was sacrificed to achieve these goals.
To alleviate these security pressures, the PRC sought a moral alignment
with underdeveloped Asian, European, and African states. These costly
deals were basically bilateral, but did not do much to lessen China’s
vulnerability.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 The United Front of Counter-Hegemony In this period, the Chinese
security concept was real politik in nature. That is, balance of power.
Chinese leaders believed that the main security threat came from Soviet
expansion. Consequently , Beijing started a rapprochement with
Washington and its Western allies. Throughout this period, the Chinese
security practice was still focused on preventing military attacks from the
external enemies.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 Real Nonaligned Security Stance This was an exceptional time when
the PRC confronted no serious external threats. The detente between the
two superpowers and Moscow approaching Beijing for reconciliation,
presented the Chinese leaders with the best security environment they
had enjoyed since the People’s Republic was founded.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 The New Security Diplomacy Since the mid-1990s, China’s global and
regional security diplomacy has dramatically changed. Motivated by
enduring interests to maintain domestic stability and development,
reassure neighbors about its “peaceful rise,” and avoid an overtly
conflictual relationship with the United States, the Chinese leadership has
implemented a new security diplomacy. Overall, China is pursuing
positions on regional and global security matters that are far more
confident, proactive, and convergent with broad international norms and
practice than in the past.
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 The New Security Diplomacy
China is a strong advocate of the new security concept. The concept is
that in the post-Cold War period, nations are able to increase their
security through diplomatic and economic interaction, and that the Cold
war mentality of competing and antagonistic blocs is outdated.
In China’s view, the core of such new security concept should include
mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination.
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 The New Security Diplomacy
Mutual trust means that all countries should transcend differences in
ideology and social system, discard the mentality of cold war and power
politics and refrain from mutual suspicion and hostility. They should
maintain frequent dialogue and mutual briefings on each other's security
and defense policies and major operations.
Mutual benefit means that all countries should meet the objective needs of
social development in the era of globalization, respect each other's
security interests and create conditions for others' security while
ensuring their own security interests with a view to achieving common
security.
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 The New Security Diplomacy
Equality means that all countries, big or small, are equal members of the
international community and should respect each other, treat each other
as equals, refrain from interfering in other countries' internal affairs and
promote the democratization of the international relations.
Coordination means that all countries should seek peaceful settlement of
their disputes through negotiation and carry out wide ranging and deepgoing cooperation on security issues of mutual concern so as to remove
any potential dangers and prevent the outbreak of wars and conflicts.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 The New Security Diplomacy This approach is readily apparent in
China’s more constructive policies across a range of security issues,
including such measures as participating in regional security mechanisms
and confidence-building measures, expanding its peacekeeping and
counterterrorism activities, and improving its nonproliferation and arms
control policies at home and abroad. Over the past several decades,
China’s new security diplomacy has solidified into a core aspect of the
country’s overall national development strategy and looks likely to
continue for the years ahead.
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2、The Evolving Security Conception and Approaches
 New Asian Security Concept China is a strong champion of the Asian
security concept and is working to put it into practice.
• We need to pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and
sustainable security.
• It is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia, solve the problems
of Asia and uphold the security of Asia. The people of Asia have the
capability and wisdom to achieve peace and stability in the region
through enhanced cooperation.
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