ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the relevant policy actors and government departments integral to Beijing's economic diplomacy decision-making process. From the macroscopic perspective, China's state structure is a centralised one characterised by a single, cohesive decision-making body unencumbered by the need to achieve agreement from other decision-making bodies. Yet, Chinese politics and processes have also evolved, especially after the death of Mao Zedong the founding leader of the communist revolution in 1976. Political debates on climate change began in the 1980s, initially led by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), although it was still subject to the State Council. Towards the late 1990s, Beijing recognised its economic and diplomatic success placed it in a more prominent position to operate more actively within world affairs. Economic diplomacy decision-making became less personalised and more institutionalised. In particular, Hu Jintao paid greater attention to formal institutions in decision-making, laid a greater emphasis on proactive and pragmatic diplomacy, and, compared with his predecessors.
