ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an archetype of Chinese strategic preferences in UN Security Council decision-making shaped in the formative period. It examines what China’s strategic preferences (SP) were in the formative stage, where China’s SP came from, and whether and when they change. China’s entry into the UN brought about China’s increasing participation in the international treaty system, as most UN specialized agencies now accepted the People's Republic of China's (PRC). The chapter assesses the extent of continuity and change in China’s fundamental beliefs and national goals, and the impact of China’s ‘thought reform’ during the later stages of the formative period. It presents an elaboration of the voting options for member states, and examines China’s behaviour pattern over voting and consultation in the Security Council, based on data for the formative period from 1971 to the mid-1980s. China’s voting and consulting behaviour pattern in the UN Security Council ranges from tacit acquiescence to more active cooperation.
