ABSTRACT
China’s attitude and policy toward multilateralism has evolved from nonparticipation and antagonism in the 1950s–early 1970s to embracing and active involvement since the 1980s. China’s change of multilateralism policy is an important part of the dramatic transformation of the nation’s overall foreign policy in the post-Mao era. Having greatly benefitted from the multilateral system since the 1980s, China is motivated more than ever today to promote multilateralism and use multilateralism as an important diplomatic weapon to pursue its national interests and help achieve its major foreign policy objectives. Given the nation’s rising power and influence, China’s promotion of multilateralism has been greatly impacting international politics and economics in general and the existing multilateral system in particular.
