On Nov. 8, 270 delegates of the Chinese Communist Party will gather in Beijing for the 18th Party Congress, where the next generation of China’s leaders will take office. The whole process will be concealed from domestic and international observers, and in all likelihood the most difficult decisions will have been made behind closed doors months earlier. In fact, the incoming president, Xi Jinping, and premier, Li Keqiang, were probably chosen years ago.
This opaque process and the heavily censored personal histories of the new leaders have left China watchers and other governments wondering what foreign policies China’s next generation of leaders will pursue. They should look for answers in China’s past practice.
China adopted a more pragmatic foreign policy after beginning its reform and opening policies in 1978. No longer would ideology play the determining role; instead, multilateral relations would be driven by recognition of the complexity of the international system, and would seek to create a stable environment for China to develop its domestic economy.