ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the bases upon which the Chinese Communist Party has conducted its foreign relations. It reviews the claims that Chinese foreign policy has been driven by two irreconcilable claimsm, the claim to territory that was part of the greater Chinese empire, and the claim to ideological leadership in the Third World. It will do this by setting out the historical and contemporary trajectories of Chinese foreign policy in relation to three groups of countries and territories: the United States and the former Soviet Union, China's Asian neighbours, and the 'near abroad' of China that might also be called Greater China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is widely assumed that historical tradition has conditioned the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China. National interest and ideology have both been important to the construction of legitimacy of the state and hence are necessary components of all policy making in China.
