“Community of common destiny”: the evolution of the foreign policy concept of China (the late 1990s – present time)

Abstract

The article seeks to analyze the evolution of China’s foreign policy concept since the late 1990s to present. In the second half of the 90s. China’s international policy has entered an active phase. Traditionally giving priority to domestic policy in relation to foreign one, the Chinese leadership has faced an obvious imbalance in the growing military and economic power of the PRC and the country’s position in the international arena. Contrary to popular belief that China does not have a long-term foreign policy strategy, the author believes that it exists, but has a hidden character. Based on an analysis of official sources such as the Constitution of the PRC, reports of the General Secretaries at congresses of the Chinese Communist Party, “white papers”, the author attempts to examine the evolution of the concept of international politics of the PRC and to trace its continuity in the specified time period. The author hypothesizes that the concepts of “peaceful rise” and “peaceful development” of China prepared the ground for the leadership of the People’s Republic of China to put forward an unprecedentedly ambitious doctrine of the “community of common destiny for humanity”. This doctrine, which implies significant obligations on China as a guarantor of stability in the world, challenges the current “Western” world order, shifting the centers of power in the international arena.