A. Doak Barnett

China and the major powers in East Asia

The foreign policy of the Peoples Republic of China has been dominated in recent decades by the problems of dealing with the other major powers in East Asia. Although many ideological, political, and economic aims have shaped particular Chinese policies, Pekings dominant concern has been national security. Since the late 1960s, its leaders have viewed the Soviet Union as the primary threat to China and have pursued a distinctive, Maoist, balance-of-power strategy against it. Chinas post-Mao leaders continue to give priority to strategic considerations and the problems of relations with the other major powers. It cannot be assumed, however, that they will simply continue past policies. The recent changes both within China and in the broad pattern of international relations in East Asia have created a new situation. In this study, A. Doak Barnett analyzes in detail Chinas bilateral relations with the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States. He also examines the changing nature of the four-power relationship in East Asia. On this basis, he discusses possible future trends in Chinese policy and the prospects for achieving a more stable regional equilibrium.

Social Stratification and Aspects of Personnel Management in the Chinese Communist Bureaucracy

ONE significant trend in the Chinese political system in recent years has been the growth of complex bureaucratic patterns of social stratification, even within the ranks of the Party cadres in Communist China. The Party has tried in many ways to resist these trends-for example, by promoting physical labour by cadres, sending personnel to work in rural areas and taking such drastic steps as abolishing ranks within the army but as the egalitarian heritage of active revolutionary struggle has tended to recede into the background, deep-rooted authoritarian and bureaucratic predispositions-especially the tendency to differentiate people on the basis of rank-have reasserted themselves. Consequently, virtually all cadres in Communist China today can be labelled and placed fairly accurately in the hierarchy of power and prestige on the basis of seniority in the Party, salary grade and job rank. Significantly, while formal salary and job ratings are very important, informal ratings based on length of service in the Party appear to be of equal importance, and in fact the former tend to be equated with the latter. The growth of these patterns of social stratification has been a major factor contributing to the steady bureaucratisation of the regime and the erosion of the elites revolutionary character. Despite trends of this sort, however, the communists have been

Mass Political Organizations in Communist China

nese people. One of the top priority aims of the present Chinese Communist regime is complete reorganization of the Chinese body politic according to the Communist pattern, and this aim remains constant despite periodic redefinition of the party’s other policies and programs and occasional reorientation of other elements in the party’s ideological line. In short, political organization per se is both a basic instrument of Chinese Communist power and a primary ob jective of Chinese Communist policy. The central pillar in the structure of political organization under the Chinese Communist regime is the Communist Party itself, a fairly large but welldisciplined hard core of professional revolutionaries, and the direct rule of the party is exercised through two principal chains of command: the army and the government. Chinese Communist Party members comprise a numerical minority of both the &dquo;People’s Liberation Army&dquo; and the &dquo;People’s Government,&dquo; but these two bureaucracies function effectively under Communist direction as the military and civil props of party rule. In addition to these three pillars of political power, however, the Chinese Communists are energetically constructing a fourth: &dquo;Mass People’s Organizations.&dquo;

The Making of Foreign Policy in China: Structure and Process

Part 1 Introduction: trends affecting the policy-making process. Part 2 Top-level policy-making institutions and individuals: Zhao Ziyand on the structure of policy-making Deng Ziaopings role consensus and differences at the top personalized or institutionalized decision making?. Part 3 The role of the Politburo: the policy process - the establishment of special economic zones the role of individual politburo members. Part 4 The party secretariat and affiliated groups: party secretariat membership foreign affairs small group international liaison department. Part 5 The state council: the premier vice-premiers state councillors coordination point for foreign policy other coordinating mechanisms state council research coordination. Part 6 The foreign ministry: sources of information and analysis personnel - sources and characteristics. Part 7 Economic, military, and cultural institutions: ministry of foreign economic relations and trade the military establishment the military commission political-military and military-strategic analysis routine political-military coordination political-military coordination in crisis situations cultural aspects of foreign policy. Part 8 Other sources of information and analysis: the press research institutes intelligence universities the foreign policy community. Part 9 Structure, process, policy, and politics.