ABSTRACT
People and policies The decision-making processes guiding the development of Chinese foreign policy have been traditionally difficult to observe, especially from outside the country. Examining the people and agencies responsible for the country’s foreign policy development often provides only a partial explanation or insight into Beijing’s current or future policies. However, what can be argued is that the current perception of China’s international relations as being decided by a very centralised and cloistered elite in Beijing is no longer as valid as it used to be, as the number of actors who participate in the formation of the country’s foreign policy has grown within the Chinese government as well as increasingly outside of it. This chapter will examine the principal government actors and organisations responsible for crafting Chinese foreign policy today, beginning with the upper tier of the Chinese government and working towards lower-level government actors and others with much looser ties to the Communist Party of China (CCP).
