ABSTRACT
The most visible changes in China’s foreign policy since the “reform and opening up” era of the late 1970s and 1980s have included the country’s approach to multilateralism as well as strategies by which to engage international regimes and organisations. China has also become more adept at influencing, and sometimes creating “norms” in the international system. Norms are described as informal understandings which guide and govern social behaviour not only of people but also international actors including states. During the entire period of Republican China between 1911 and 1949, China was divided into competing fiefdoms under the partial control of a variety of foreign powers, thus preventing China from engaging the international system as a unified state. The Dengist reform era required China’s approach to international organisations to be quickly and effectively redesigned. In the late 1970s, China was approaching each institution from a weakened position.
