Preface } xiii
and turbulent state’s foreign relations. Pursuit of national interest defined in
terms of security, economic gain, status, and prestige, or merely in terms of
power, is a major conceptual alternative to a focus on the domestic deter-
minants of foreign policy. It is also apparent that national interests have
frequently been important, even determinant, in many PRC foreign policy
decisions. As a historical narrative of PRC foreign relations, this study will
present episodes in roughly chronological fashion, sorting out the factors
that seem to have been involved in making various foreign policy decisions.
Although this work tries to keep a focus on the domestic-international linkage,
no claim is thereby intended to monocausality. The “domestic politics as
driver” approach is offered merely as a convenient and analytically insightful
scaffolding on which to hang an extraordinarily colorful mosaic. I have in-
cluded coverage of important episodes of PRC foreign relations even when
they did not hang neatly on a domestic-international link. Yet when I could,
and to the extent that it made sense, I followed the “linkage” theme. I did not
want theory to overwhelm the central drama: the rise of a proud, capable,
and ambitious people, the Chinese people, led by a Marxist-Leninist state,
the People’s Republic of China, to a position of global eminence and power.
The focus of this work is on the logic and practice of PRC foreign policy.
In line with this, and in an effort to limit length, I will explain the policies of
other powers only to the extent necessary to understand China’s policies. This
may occasionally leave readers feeling I have given the perspectives of China’s
counterparts short shrift. In this event, I beg the reader to keep in mind the
purpose of the work—and the imperative of limiting length.
I sincerely invite fellow laborers in the academic vineyards of PRC foreign
and security relations to forward to me any errors or egregious omissions
they detect. These will be incorporated and will improve future editions of
this work.