Seeing like the CPC: Unpacking China’s Party Diplomacy

• In Event: Dimensions of Chinese Foreign Policy

Abstract

China’s party diplomacy is broadly defined as foreign interactions conducted by Party organs in the name of the Communist Party of China, instead of the People’s Republic of China. In studies of China’s foreign policy, little attention has been particularly paid to the Party per se. This is largely because of the conventional understanding that the boundaries between the Party and the state are blurred and that the two are to a large extent indistinguishable. However, in recent years, the Party has become increasingly active and high-profile internationally in its own right, with Party organs hosting a range of high-level activities. Party diplomacy has become an important vehicle through which the one-party state seeks to pursue higher status and shape global politics.

In order to explore patterns and features of China’s party diplomacy, I analyze an original dataset regarding the CPC’s foreign interactions during 2013-2016, President Xi’s first four years in power, registering over 1,500 events. Quantitatively, with an analysis of formal, bilateral visits between the CPC and foreign actors, it is shown that the Party is more likely to interact with states that are of either ideological or geopolitical importance to the one-party state.

Next, by qualitatively interpreting the dataset, I propose a typology of party diplomacy, grouping its functions into four ideal types: complementary, auxiliary, entrepreneurial, and parallel. The typology affords a framework to examine how party diplomacy interacts with and influences China’s diplomatic affairs in the conventional sense.

The study has important implications for understanding how China’s institutional features shape the rising power’s statecraft and ultimately impact the dynamics of great power competition.

Author

• Yao Wen, University of Toronto