China's Foreign Policy Analysis

The durability of China’s regime has been a controversy among scholars and the experts of China’s issue. Some predicted that China’s regime would crumble following the collapse of the largest authoritarian regime (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Somehow China survived and began to grow; however, various explicit problems happening in China are devastating. Bruce Dickson argues that people may underestimate China’s adaptability. Although the reaction of the government is slow, it can adapt many political or societal changes and reclaim its legitimacy. In contrast, David Shambaugh argues that without political reform (liberalisation) and decentralisation of authorities’ power, China will just have marginal social advancement and economic

The public is fed CCP propaganda through mass media, such as “If you love the country, you must love the ruling party” and “Without CCP, there is no new China”, etc. “Promoting the party as the defender of the nation’s interests is a key element in its strategy for survival.” (Dickson, p. 13) So, whenever China launches a military operation for showing its sovereignty in certain islands (like Uotsuri Jima and South China Sea Islands), national sentiment is aroused. Hence, the popular support increases. But, military operations do not always happen. Instead, the news of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has been widely circulated in the public by mass media since 2012. Over 180,000 CCP members and government officials were arrested and prisoned. (Shambaugh, p. 80) This is a successful campaign; however, it reveals the truth of the government to the people. Some may glad to see positive change of the government, but such a huge number of corrupted officials may shock the people and they would probably lose faith in government and not be patriotic anymore. Moreover, the consensus of political value is manipulated by Xi. As “Xi is trying to develop a mass line concept without the masses” (Dickson, p. 109), the phenomenon of “country-wide” patriotism might be an illusion, if not all. Perhaps the actual political values of the public differ and the data of population support from surveys are nominal. When time has come, the people might

“Economic foundation is inevitably constrained by its political superstructure.” (Shambaugh, p. 7) Modern China’s patriotism is based on status quo and government propaganda. If political structure remains unchanged in the future, the China’s economy will be stagnated and the national sentiment will reduce. China’s government will lose popular support and its regime will no longer be