| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article explains principles and practices in China's foreign policy decisionmaking-and their implications for its policy toward South Korea. The author
argues that more serious attention should be paid to "democratic centralism" as a
guiding principle of decision-making, even in foreign affairs. This principle
favors consensus-building, coordination, and compromise in policymaking. As a
result, China often suffers time-wastage and inertia on non-routine issues in its
policymaking, which is quite different from the image of the top-down model.
Reflecting the structure of Chinese policymaking, China's foreign policies are more
likely to be risk averse, conservative, and prone to following status-quo policies.
China prefers the status quo to renovation of its Korea policy. Instead of taking
any new initiatives, China's foreign policy toward the Korean peninsula is likely to
adhere to its current policy priority of maintaining stability on the Peninsula. It is
also noteworthy that China may gradually depart from its slow and reactive foreign
policies to more proactive ones. As China becomes more capable of processing
non-routine issues, while making them routine ones, more proactive policies will
be realized although the gradual nature of Chinese decision-making is expected to
remain intact for the time-being.
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