ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to strengthen existing analytical frameworks for understanding China's economic diplomacy so as to make them better grounded empirically. Classic realists have long argued that the primary goal of foreign policy, broadly speaking, is the survival of nation-states in the international system. Chinese economic diplomacy preference formation is shaped by varying direct and indirect policy instruments and at different stages of decision making. In an effort to understand the interaction of different levels of policy processes, Robert Putnam's two-level metaphor posits that the interaction between the international and domestic levels shapes national preferences. The symbolic macrostructure refers to the political motivations, incentives, and ideological beliefs that are part of the interpretive lens through which Chinese decision-makers perceptions are formed. It is important to recognise that within the decision-making process, there are inevitable constraints instigated by the institutional macrostructure of the central government.
