China

F

Political Parties

According to the country’s 1982 constitution, China is a socialist dictatorship of the proletariat (working class) led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a united front with other parties. In practice, the CCP fully orchestrates national political activity because party members hold the most powerful government offices. Under the united front policy, the CCP permits several minor political parties to operate in China. These parties draw their members mainly from cultural, educational, and scientific circles. No truly independent political parties exist. The CCP supervises organizations serving the constituencies of youth, women, and labor. The most important of association is the Communist Youth League, which had about 70 million members in the early 21st century. This organization plays a major role in recruiting young people who wish to prepare for CCP membership, which may begin at age 18. Since the reforms of the late 1970s, the party has permitted the formation of hundreds of new associations, but all are sponsored officially or unofficially by a government or party organ.

The organization and functions of the CCP are set forth in the party constitution; the current party constitution was approved in 1997 at the 15th National Party Congress. The National Party Congress is the highest organ of the CCP, but in general, it convenes only once every few years. When the party congress is not in session, the Central Committee, a smaller organ that is elected by the full congress, serves as the party’s highest body. The Central Committee in turn elects two even smaller working groups: the Politburo and the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the latter containing the most influential party members. The Central Committee also elects the party general secretary. The outcomes of these elections are predetermined by negotiations among party leaders.

When the CCP held its first National Party Congress in 1921, it had only 57 members. By 1956 membership had grown to 10 million, and by the early 21st century there were about 60 million members, making the CCP the world’s largest Communist party. Party members are found in all walks of life, but most hold positions of influence in the government, in government-run educational and cultural institutions, or in the economy. Since reforms began in 1978, the CCP has tried to recruit members who are younger, more educated, and more technically skilled than in the past.

Important CCP slogans include “building socialism with Chinese characteristics” and “holding high the banner of Deng Xiaoping theory,” referring to the economic principles of China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping. The CCP is concerned with maintaining political stability through a combination of patriotic indoctrination and police control. The party’s economic priorities include increasing China’s economic strength through a market economy that is closely guided by the government, and reforming inefficient state-run enterprises by giving them managerial autonomy and allowing many to become privately owned.

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G

Defense

The 1982 Chinese constitution vests supreme command of the armed forces in the Central Military Commission, a CCP organ independent of civilian control. The country’s military force is the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which includes the national army, navy, and air force. While remaining by far the world’s largest military force, the PLA decreased in size in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1985 it was 3.9 million strong; by 2004 it had a total of about 2.25 million members (an army of 1,600,000, an air force of 400,000, and a navy of 255,000). The PLA is a volunteer force. Since reform began, it has attempted to modernize its weapons and training, but its technological capabilities remain relatively underdeveloped, and the force is devoted chiefly to internal security. It lacks the capability to project naval or air power beyond the country’s coastal airspace and waters. However, China does have a small stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as conventional warheads, and the capability to deliver these weapons by medium- and long-range missiles.

The PLA has played a significant role in economic production; in major construction efforts such as dams, irrigation projects, and land reclamation schemes; and in disaster relief. In the 1960s, during the most chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution, the PLA virtually ran the nation. In 1989 it suppressed the pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square (see Tiananmen Square Protests).

Separate forces associated with the PLA are the People’s Armed Police and the railway police. Local militia forces, whose defense role was emphasized under former leader Mao Zedong, no longer play an important role in Chinese defense planning.

H

Foreign Policy

When the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war in 1949, the Nationalist (Kuomintang) government that had ruled China fled to the island of Taiwan. For two decades the government on Taiwan received backing from the United States and retained the China seat in the United Nations (UN), which gave it international recognition as the rightful government of all China. Meanwhile, in 1950 the People’s Republic of China, the Communist government on the mainland, signed a treaty of friendship and alliance with the USSR, reflecting Mao’s policy to “lean to one side” by aligning with the socialist camp. Relations between China and the USSR deteriorated, however, due in part to ideological differences, disagreements over strategy toward the West, and border disputes, and by 1960 the split between China and the USSR was evident. The two countries fought border battles in 1969 and 1970. During the 1960s, therefore, China was on bad terms with both the USSR and the United States, and was isolated from world affairs.

Relations with the United States began to improve when President Richard Nixon visited China in February 1972. By 1979 China and the United States had normalized diplomatic relations. Meanwhile, the government on Taiwan saw its international standing fall as the United States and other foreign governments shifted their formal diplomatic relations to the Communist government in Beijing. In the late 1980s, just before the collapse of the USSR, China’s relationship with the Soviet Union also warmed, although the border dispute was not formally settled until China and Russia signed a treaty in July 2008.

China currently pursues an independent diplomacy in which it seeks good relations with all powers but opposes dominance by any country, including the United States. Its resources are its large size and population, strategic location in the center of Asia, growing economic influence, permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council, and status as a nuclear power. The country’s chief problems are its relative military and economic weaknesses compared to the United States and nearby Japan. China seeks to promote relations with all of the many countries on its periphery, while taking an uncompromising stance in its territorial disputes with such neighbors as India, Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines. It insists on its sovereignty over Taiwan and rebukes any country that accepts diplomatic dealings with the government on that island.

As China has become a major export power, economic diplomacy has become an important part of its foreign policy. In the 1980s China began to seek membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization, or WTO) in order to maintain favorable tariff treatment by other markets, including the United States, its chief export market. As part of the application process, China was required to negotiate bilateral agreements on opening its markets with members of the trade group. After 15 years of negotiations, China formally became a member of the WTO in December 2001. In joining the WTO, China agreed to reduce import tariffs, eliminate state subsidies for farmers and state-owned firms, drop many restrictions on foreign investment, and abide by WTO standards for protection of patents, copyrights, and intellectual property. After China’s entry in the WTO, the United States permanently normalized trade relations with China, in accordance with legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000. Normal trade relations, formerly known as most-favored-nation status, is the favorable tariff treatment the United States extends to all but a small group of countries.

I

International Organizations

In 1971 the People’s Republic of China obtained the China seat in the UN, while the government on Taiwan, which had formerly occupied the seat, was expelled from the organization. China has a permanent seat, which includes veto power, on the UN Security Council, and the country participates in the full range of UN agencies, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China is also a member of most intergovernmental organizations in specialized fields, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). China does not belong to any military alliance or regional security organization, although it participates in the informal Asian Regional Forum (ARF), a security dialogue.

Andrew J. Nathan contributed the Government section of this article.

VII

History

China traces it origins as a discrete political and cultural unit to ancient times. From the 2nd millennium bc to the early 20th century, a succession of dynasties ruled progressively larger parts of what is now China. A notable feature of the later dynasties was the dominance of the scholar-official class, made up of educated men who were recruited to serve as government officials based on their skills rather than their family background. When European expansion began in Asia in the 16th century, the global context of Chinese history changed, and by the 19th century China had to confront militarily stronger European powers. By the early 20th century China’s defeat at the hands of the imperialist powers had become the catalyst for a revolution against the dynastic regime. Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and for several decades the country was torn apart by warlords, civil war, and Japanese invasion.

In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and established China’s current government. The Communists initiated many social and political changes. The most significant campaigns were the transition to a planned economy in the 1950s (see Communism: Centrally Planned Economy); the Cultural Revolution, in which students loyal to Communist leader Mao Zedong attacked intellectuals and party leaders, in the late 1960s; and the economic reform movement, begun in the late 1970s, that reintroduced aspects of a free-market economy and encouraged foreign investment.

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