INTERPRETING CHINESE

FOREIGN POLICY
The Micro-Macro Linkage Approach

Quansheng Zhao

HONG KONG
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD NEW YORK
1996
 NTERRETING CENESE FOREIGK OLIT THE STUDY OF CHNESE FOREICN F O I

Ihave a d s oblem Keneh Lekerth

or e pie, a

elanons s beely n e n t r sape. ic a ed e s mderivciup

shoirty nogrs de s t wiey aceqee

nd Wes
sacea i peuae fasn ie farter cails f r aore meTiri

Single-Level Appruaches to Analysis

or t e sa of a coey's faren poicy. Kecne Wal r ernple

a classic sady o aemasoai elnens then (Wu 15
epicty dstngeshs
ad t emanai sysacm Tae vanvus proahs s a i n hav
s n t i i r te audy of Chinese Sorenga polic a aken can n fxt. be avded mto o o p s cginei s

dhe qanëry mi qerty af resed a t e suhject Lets hirx hok scme o he dasc sngk-drvel prroats ha ae
gscsset t h e g s s o e ekd boaeer, one should
s rbiems m sudy ef Chinee forein paliy Ham poper a te tcii Fr years inamnonal eiuts theonsts nt t
Hding a tp sinciogis s iniied weakness s a aur proble

ree facn hre cæsed hs icinc: t e ancertan rolc of a couney s fereagn pohcy and niernatoeai tehavaur S e a r a

caspureve foreu pcc poli ane a generi: seond. the poiry as sur ral n the unamanaai svseem. Frn the ralist' per
s s a s thaz have the mest nduener
spective. the miemahnal t
e far paiscy a e been zmel prtay a srudenes of do
t v r re seenty. malrary capatihy. politnal aleans L NES
eSc Cunese z r s , mi t r i e parzle) fn a r muny of these and the pursut and balaunce poaer Mrgehn nd Thmpon
bave aiso bern engasad xher s of resesrh as well as n drawng
he n s fr LS peiacy ow ard Ohua 1985 Waltr. 19 Thas "bulkard-hail mxkel. a Chrstpber R2 ant
Ome ohcr conspacuoes probiem s a lack of imag1native andtheoret Margot Light (198 157 hve termed it. fcre polar a o s
sees
A deirmnd primar1h by the muerplay of aterruunai i r s
p r h e s tcouid icad to comprehenarve and conceptual ways
 INTERPRETING CHINESE FOREIGN
POLICY
T0 THE STUDY OF CHINESE FOREIGN POoLICY

Interdependency theorists, the other hand, analyse the multiple

on means 'any event extenal to the object that modifies this object in any
channels and actors in the interaction of world politics,
the impact of manner. David Easton (1965: 37-39) also stresses, 'demands as the
non-military instruments of state craft, and the role of economic vari- inputs of a system'" That is to say. the policy-making process is af
ables in the intermational system that make the world more complicated fected by demands from various directions and sources.
and interdependent (Keohane and Nye, 1989). In tems of foreign policy
Type A views the intermational environment as the principal source
issues, many believers of interdependency emphasize the importance of of policy inputs. Type B sees domestic determinants as the major factor,
international political economy, and pay more attention to the influence whereas Type C believes that individual decision-makers hold the key.
of domestic politics and the ways in which its fuctuations shape per Understandably, the following areas are more useful sources of data for
ceptions of national interest and the fomulation of diplomatic strategies fleshing out the above theoretical models respectively: the interactions
Specific foreign-policy decisions, as Alexander George (1980: 114) among states in the intermational arena to the first approach, the study
points out, 'may be more responsive to the internal dynamics of such of the domestic roots of foreign policy to the second approach; the
a policy-making process than to the requirements of the foreign-policy psychological and ideological motivations of decision-makers to the
problem itself'. third approach.
Social-psychologists(orpoliticalpsychologists)take individual decision- The differences among various schools of thought in the study of
makers as their unit of analysis and the behaviour of these indiv1duals as Chinese foreign policy correspond with the development of approaches
the object of systematic observation. According to this school of thought, in international relations theory as a whole. In practice, however, one
although the state is the basic actor in international politics, state actions should notice that people writing at one level may well be aware of the
can be analysed most effectively by focusing on the behaviour of 'those multi-faceted, multi-layered reality of intemational relations and may
individuals whose responsibility is to act for the state' (Herbert Kelman simply want to elucidate one part, without necessarily believing in the
1965: 586). The role of decision-makers in the formulation of foreign overall primacy or exclusiveness of that argument or level." In some
policy, therefore, is elevated to the predominant determinant of foreign cases, with edited, collective volumes in particular, scholars may be
policy. assigned to concentrate on one level to analyse Chinese foreign policy.
All these schools of thought- realist, interdependency, or social A number of studies concentrate on the international constraints of
psychological- when applied to the study of foreign policy, can be Chinese foreign policy (the Type A approach) with specific purposes.
more or less regarded as representing single-level analysis. As illus- Several works, for example, have examined China's position in the worid
trated in Table 1.1, each attributes the primary inputs to the formulation system and the intermational community (Bamett, 1977: Yahuda, 1983a:
of foreign policy to one main factor. To discuss the policy-making Chan. 1989; Dreyer and Kim, 1989; Jacobson and Oksenberg, 1990),
process further, we first need to define two important concepts -input
and ouput. According to Karl Deutsch (1966:
or Sino-US-USSR strategic triangle (Kim, 1987; Chang, 1990: Ross,
the
88), outpul means 'any 1993). From thesc studies, we may learm a great deal about the inter-
change produced in the surroundings by the object'; whereas input national environment that Beijing has faced since 1949, and about
China's relations with the major players in world pol1tical economy.
Table 1.1: Single-Level Analysis Approaches Approaches of Types B and C have also been applied to the analyss
of speciic aspects of Chinese foreign policy. On the institutional and
Input Output societal level of analysis, a number of scholars have examined Chinese
Type A
foreign policy behaviour by focusing on the decision-making process
Intemational Constraints
Foreign Policy (Garver, 1982; Bamett, 1985; Zhao, 1992). Along the same hne, the
(Structure and System)
Type B perceptions of the Chinese elites toward the outside world have also
Domestic Determinants
(Society and Instututions)
Foreign Poliey become a focus of research. Studies on Chinese perceptions of the
Type C Decision-makers' Influence major powers, such as the Soviet Union (Rozman, 1987), Japan (Whiting.
Foreign Policy 1989), and the United States (Shambaugh, 1991), are works of this kind,
(Psychological and fdeological Factors) and have attracted attention in the field. Others have attempted to study
 12 INTERPRETING CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY
THE STUDY OF CHINESE
FOREIGN POLICY
decision-makers' strategies (Bobrow, Chan, and Knngen, 1979) or
Those who favour the Type B analysis focus on
coalition politics (Pollack, 1984a). the domestic
minants of Chinese foreign policy (Gottlieb, deter
Another group of studies deals with China's bilateral relations with 1977: Lieberthal.
Mancall. 1984: Bachman, 1989). Both scholars and 1984
other countries without necessarily concentrating on one particular level. policy-makers have
These include studies of China's relations with the United States (Tow, increasingly recognized the infuence of domestic
politics
policy, and a number of commentators have gone so far as to foreign
on

1991; Harding, 1992; Foot, 1995; Ross, 1995). Japan (C. Lee. 1976 and claim, as
David Bachman (1989: 31) does, that domestic factors
1984: Bedeski, 1983), the Soviet Union (Dittmer, 1992), and Vietnam "have had a
(Ross, 1988) Some focus on the making of China policy in other greater impact than intematronal factors in shaping Chinese
countries, such as in the United States (Sutter, 1983; Tan. 1992), the policy' Each of China's domestic political campaigns (such foreign as the

former Soviet Union (Rozman, 1985), and Japan (Zhao, 1993a). These Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957, the Great Leap Forward of 1958, and
the peak of the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1969).
analyses generally concentrate on the ongoing bilateral relationships, Kenneth Lieberthal
(1984: 43) asserts, 'has had clear and direct implications for its
starting with neither the intemational nor the domestic elements, but posture
toward the rest of the world'. This school of
rather somewhere in the middle- that is, choosing not to
emphasize that domest1c factors are important to every
thought has
emphas1zed
any one particular element. country's foreign policy.
but they are perhaps more inportant to the PRC's
Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that there are indeed preferences among extemal behaviour
than to that of most other countries The constant
scholars who consider one particular level of elements to be the
pri challenge which
Taiwan presents in both the domestic and intemational arenas has
mary source of Chinese foreign policy. Scholars, for made
example, who Beijing supersensitive to such issues as reg1me leg1timacy, termtoral
subscribe to the Type A approach have emphasized the
intermational constraints to the formulation of Chinese
importance of sovereignty, and national survival.
foreign policy Adherents of the Type C approach believe that
(Levine, 1980; Ng-Quinn, 1983; Pollack, 1984b; Ross, 1986; foreign policy1s
1989: Tow, 1994). They especially stress the extent to which Cumings
the inter-
determined, ultimately, at the level of individual decision-making, and
take this as the primary level for
national environment, and
superpower bipolanity in particular, frames
analys1ng Chinese foreign policy
Cultural (political) psychology., and
Chinese foreign policy options. William Tow (1994: group theory are the prefered
120) for example, perspectives of this school of thought, which argues for the decisive
contends that, 'Since the PRC's inception, its
most influenced by the
foreign policy has been impact of the political eaders and their ideologies, strategies, tactics,
balance-of-power, state-centric approach to in- and personal styles, on the direction of Chinese
foreign policy (sce Van
temational politics and security.' According to this
the intemal elements of Chinese group of scholars, Ness, 1970; Hinton, 1972; Amstrong. 1977,
OLeary. 1980; Shih, 1990:
politics are less important to Chinese Hunt, 1996). A factor related to this
foreign policy, or as Jonathan Pollack (1984a) puts it, they are 'not the based perspective is that intemal power
psycho-cultural and ideological-
critical determinant". Robert Ross (1986: stniggles among political leaders
286) has argued along this profoundly affect the directions of Chinese politics, which, in
line that, "the relative
importance of domestic politics has been a func- infuence tum
tion of the range of choice Beijing's foreign policy orientations
allowed by the pattem of The notable example of this Type C approach is the
Soviet-US-China) politics triangular (i.e. most
Mao-in
command model (Tsou and M. Halperin, 1965: B. Schwartz,
According to this analytical line, Chinese foreign Teiwes, 1974; Pye, 1976; M. Meisner, 1977)." This
1967
extermal actions are seen as policy issues and analytical approach.
responsive to the changing dynamics of the which was especially
popular during the 1960s and 1970s when Mao
international environment. "The extermal sources of was still the dominant
Bruce Cumings (1989: 220) Chinese policies', figure on China's political scene, assumes that
argues, can be viewed as 'a matter of Chinese domestic and foreign policies 'reflected the
changing
attttudes
conditioning and shaping' Chinese options. One well-known of a Party Chaimian who remained very much in control of his
is China's
yibiandao (leaning to one side) policy, example country's
affairs' (Harding, 1984: 296). In
Soviet Union (vis-à-vis the United meaning to favour the a comprehensive study of Mao Zedong's
Mao Zedong in June 1949 and it States). This policy was begun by major policy commitments over half a century (1921-76) (sit out of
lasted until the late 1950s. The 'lean- wenty policy commitments during this period were foreign policy
ing toward the Soviets'
policy has been viewed as a direct result of the ISSues). Michel Oksenberg (1976: 23) concludes that Mao 'achieved the
bipolar structure of world politics in the Cold War ieast success in the foreign policy and economic realms This is a
era."
 FOREIGN POLICY
INTERPRETING CHINESE THE STUDY OF CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY
14

which takes as its key causal

typical example of foreign policy analysis
commitment and preferences.
explainung concrete internalional events, d1plomatic and negoluation pro-
factors an individual leader's personal cesses, and, m particular, situations where policy choices and prcferences
is valuable in explaining some
While each of these three approaches are involved.
have inherent shortcomings.
aspects of Chinese extermal behaviour, all One of the main reasons for what Kenneth Liebernthal called the
intermational constraints have often paucity of theoretical ngor ts the gap between the field of China
Advocates of the importance of
intemational system in the for-
overemphasized the role played by the studies and the development of social science theones. The
importance
to the world structural
mulation of Chinese foreign policy. According of conceptual guidance area special1sts has perhaps best been
for de
nature of the post-war intermational struc-
for example, the bipolar scribed by Lucian Pye. a leading China scholar and fomer president of
view,
ture has severely limited Chineseforeign policy options. These limia the American Political Science Association. Pye (1975: 21) argues that.
tions have made Chinese foreign policy "largely consistent since the as the division of labour between general theorists and area specialists
end of World War II and 'even in the post-Mao era', because Beijing eroded. nomative and larger conceptual questions have become more
has been forced lean toward either the United States or the Soviet
to important. The micTo-macro linkage approach. which will be elabor
Union (Ng-Quinn, 1983: 204, 211). China's strategic
and economic ated in next chapter. can be considered one of the efforts to bridge this
United States,
policies throughout the 1970s are seen as 'shaped' by the gap. While the theoretical model developcd in this study may not neces-
as China adopted the policies that 'the United States wanted it to have sarily achieve the optimal 'succinct and persuasive fashion' (called for
(Cumings, 1989: 220). By overemphasizing the impact from outside, by Samucl Kim) it nevertheless attempts to integrate some aspects of
the influences of Chinese domestic politics and Beijing's abilityto social science theory with the study of Chinese foreign
maintain a 'neutral position' or an independent foreign policy have
policy.
been underplayed or altogether neglected.
Conversely, but equaly mistakenly, scholars who focus on domestic
constraints have often paid too much attention to factors such as the
policy-making process and political institutions, as well as to poliical
culture and ideology, and have overlooked the influence of the chang-
ing international structure. For example, as Samuel Kim (1989: 24)
points out, if all Chinese political factions in the post-Mao era were
committed to Mao's vision of an evil 'revisionist' Soviet Union as some
of these scholars believed, 'any immediate prospect of Sino-Soviet
rapprochement 'would have been impossible'" Yet that is exactly what
happened when the two communist giants gradually normalized their
relations from the middle to late 1980s.
As for those studies that concentrate on the part played by individual
decision-makers, these analyses also tend toward over-simplification.
a psycho-cultural
By applying perspective, for example, Chih-yu Shih
(1990) has attributed Chinese foreign policy behaviour patterns over
the past century from Li Hongzhang of the
Qing Dynasty. to Yuan
Shikai and Chiang Kai-shek of the
Republic of China, to Mao Zedong
and Zhou Enlai of socialist China, and
finally to Deng Xiaoping of the
present, reform-oriented China -
to a single factor. namely, 'face-
saving'. Although this approach may be helpful in explaining the back-
grounds against which foreign policy issues are framed, it usually falls
into a predetermined mould, and
becomes irrelevant to the task ot
 THE MICRO MACRO LINKAGE
APPROACH 19

Table 2.1: The International-Domestic Linkage

Approach

2 The Micro-Macro Linkage Approach Input Ouiput

Intemational Constraints
Plus
Foreign Policy
Domesnc Determ1nants

As discussed in the previous chapter, one may adopta vanety of notions,

In a 1981 article relations theory and foreign policy studies have
approaches and perspectives to study foreign policy. increasingly seen the
need to integrate the various elements of policy input to
entitled (like this book) 'Interpreting Chinese Foreign Policy', Arthur analyse and
scholars have tended, naturally, to focus on those explain foreign policy issues One of the earlier eflorts in this dircction
Huck observes how
was to combine the analysis of
approaches favoured within their own fields of study: "Historians have foreign policy at both the intermational
been inclined to stress the historical legacy and the similarities with and domestic levels.
inclined to stress factional
past behaviour. political scientists have been
and its outcome; economists have stressed the problems of The International-Domestic Linkage Approach
politics
resources and dependency: strategists have emphasized the military
balance; ideologists have underlined ideology." As early as 1969. James Rosenau (1969: 1-16), in his edited volume
In order to help bridge the gap between China studies and social Linkage Politics: Essays on the Convergence of National and Interna-
science theory, an important objectuve stated earlier, this study adopts
an interdisciplinary perspective, calling to the attention of Chinese
tionalSystems, strongly expressed the need for a lunkage approach to
analysis. He advocated a new method that would combine the shaping
for influence of intermational constraints and domestic deteminants as
eign policy special1sts the development of the social science concept of policy
micro-macro integration. As a relatively new theoretical development inputs to explain a country's foreign poliey. Henry Kissunger (1969
in the study of international relations (which we will discuss later), the 263) also has stated that a systematic assessment of the mpact of
micro-macro linkage approach has never previously been applied to the domestic elements on foreign policy 'would have to treat such factors
as historical traditions, social values, and the economic
study of Chinese foreign policy. system. This
approach, illustrated in Table 21, can be labelled the international-
The tradition of interpretive theory. or hermeneutics, in social sci domestic linkage approach.
ence is to 'uncover the internal coherence amongst ideas, beliefs, inten-
ions, actions and practices, to show how the understanding of The emphasis of the intemational-domestic linkage approach is on
participants makes sense in terms of the institutions and relationships the interdependence and overlap of national and international systems.
within which they are located' (Gibbons, 1987: 3-4). '||}nterpretive The development of th1s approach represented a significant effort to
social science', as Paul Rabinow and William Sullivan (1979: 5) state. situate and advance the study of foreign policy issues in the field of
can be called a retun to the objective world, secing that world as in international relations. The connection between intemal and external
the first instance the circle of elements has been advanced by the political scientist Robert Putnam
meaning within which we find ourselves
and which we can never fully (1993). who states that the foreign policy-making process can best be
surpass."Following this theoretical line,
understood as a 'two-level game', in which policy-makers pBay at the
this study attempts to
develop an interdisciplinary and interpretive
politics of both the intemational arena and the domestic enviroment.
approach-micTo-macro l1nkage- to exanmine Chinese foreign policy
Recognizing the deticiencies in the interpretive power of the singie Following Rosenau's lead, many scholars have since asserted the necd
level analyses discussed in the to intcgrate domestic and international analyses to illuninate a country's
previous chapter, specialists in internationa
 FOREIGN POLICY
CHINESE
INTERPREING THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE APPROACH
20

1986; Haggard and

Simmons, 1987: Rohrlich,
foreign policy (McKeown, including the intemational-domestie linkage approach, have not gone
1987: Odell, 1990). micro' enough The 'micro level" in the context of these theones is
the international-domestic linkage
One of the carliest efforts to adopt made in 1979 by
only 'ident1fied with natton-states vis-à-vis the international environ-
Chinese foreign policy was
approach in the study of the World
ment and the macro-level factor (Rosenau. 1990: 25) Sone domesuc
the United Nations, and
Samuel Kim in his book China, factors, such as interest groups and the foreign policy-making com-
sources of China's
domestic and international munity, have occasionally been treated as micro-level units, "but rarely
Order, which e x a m i n e s
intemational community and Beijing's rela- does the level of analysis go lower than that (Rosenau. 1990: 152)
extemal behaviour in the
his later studies, Kim (1989a: 21-23) The advantage of the macro-oriented theones. as represented by the
tions with the United Nations. In
formulation of 'a variety of domestic/ international-domestuc linkage approach. is that they can provide the
has subsequently advocated the
and quantitative analy-
extermal linkage hypotheses for both qualitative overall histonical, structural, and societal backgrounds of the najor
the intermational environment
ses', in which either domestic sources or foreign policy issues. They may, however, lead to structural determin-
rather than an absolute and
are viewed 'in a relative and probabilistic,
ism (the idea that foreign policy is shaped only by the intermational and
deterninistic manner. domestic structures) and neglect the dynamics of indiv1dual decision-
Similar efforts have been made by a number
of other scholars. Kuang- makers' choices and preferences at the micro level.
sheng Liao (1984), for example,
has analysed the linkage between The need for foreigin policy analysis to connect to the micro-level
his book Antiforeignism factors has also been raised by Alexander George, who advocates the
domestic politics and foreign policy throughout
Hamrin (1986: 50-51) also has actor-specific' theory. In an effort to "br1dge the gap' between the
and Modernization in China.Carol
Chinese international behaviour at worlds of academia and policy-making. George (1993. 9) argues.
stated that in order to understand
look at, "both the intemational situation to
any given time, one must Practiioners find it dificult to make use of academic approaches such as struc-
the attitude toward the outside world
which China must respond and
studies tural realist theory and game theory. which assume that all state actors are alike
the Chinese
leadership". Several comprehensive
prevailing within and can be expected to behave in the same way in given situations, and which
on Chinese foreign policy such as those of Thomas Fingar (1980), Hary rest on the simple, uncomplicatcd assumption that states can be regarded as
Allen Whiting
Harding (1984), Lillian Haris and Robet Worden (1986), rational unitary actors On the contrary. practitioners believe they need to work
David Shambaugh (1994), and Robert
(1992), Thomas Robinson and with actor-specific models that grasp the different internal structures and behav
Ross (1995) have given welcome attention to both intemational and ioural patterns of each state and leaders with which they must deal
domestic analysis.
line that the drastic change of domes- This theoretucal effort represented by the actor-specific models has,
One may then argue along th1s
tic politics in the post-Mao era has redirected China's foreign policy as Valeria Hudson and Christopher Vore (1995: 229) state, 'enommous
goals by replacing Mao's 'closed-door policy with Deng's 'open-door theoretical, methodological, and policy potential: a potential that is only
starting to be recognized as researchers work to develop theones that
policy. Furthermore, this linkage approach helps to frame the argument facilitate our understanding of why certain foreign policy decisions are
that China's further integration into the world economic system and its
made, at particular points in ume, by ind1vidual decision makers and
reform policies have caused Chinese foreign policy to become more
collectivities of decision makers.
pragmatic and flexible.
There is, therefore, a need to go beyond the argument that both
Nevertheless, the international-domestic linkage approach also has
international and domestic elements are important and to link these
its limitations. Although the intemational system and domestic con
macro-level elements to the micro level in order to provide a franve-
straints must be distinguished from each other., they both in fact focus work that can answer such questions as: How have such elerments as the
on the macro level (as defined later in this chapter); what is missing in
international environment, domestic institutions, and social condituons
the linkage politics model is an examination of the interaction of these
converged on the policy-making process? By what mechanisms are
factors with individual decision-makers at the micro level. As Rosenau
himself has observed 21 years after the publication of his linkage
these elements converged as policy inpuis? How do the elements inter
moder
Most theories of world politics tend to underestimate, even ignore, the
act among themsclves, ultumately influence policy-makers, and alter
policy outcomes?
interplay of macro and micro dynamics. The fact is that these theones.
 POLICY
INTERPRETING CHINESE FOREIGN
THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE APPR0ACH
11
The Micro-Macro Linkage Model Table 2.2: The Micro-Macro
tried to integrate macro
Linkage Approach
Recent research efforts in social theory have
and micro analyses.' It has been said that micro-macro linkage 'emerged Input
to be of focal
Output
and it continues
as the central problematic' in the 1980s,

concem in the 1990s (Ritzer, 1992: 224).

The issue of levels of analyses Macro-Level:
International Constra1nts >>Domestic Determinants
has become closely connected to what is called
m i c r o - m a c r o
dichotomy (Structure and System (Society and Institutuons)
Forengn Pohcy
As Heinz Eulau (1986: 67) argues, "linking different
and integration.
the levels of individual or small-group behaviour and
levels of analysis, Micro-Level
the global levels of institution, community. or nation, constitutes a Decision-Makers
major unsolved item on the methodological
agenda of the behavioural
persuasion, and a challenging one. The micro-macro problem is believed
to be 'one of detemining how to represent the relationship between macro integration Is regarded as critical to the
study of intenational
levels of analysis' (Cook, O'Brien, and Kollock, 1990: 175). relations and foreign pol1cy: the study of Chinese foreign policy is no
A further challenge is that it is not just a matter of 'linking' (or exception.
establishing cause and effect between) elements at the macro
and micro One needs first to define the tems 'micro level' and 'macro level' in
levels. One may also regard this task as, what Jeffrey Alexander (1987 the context of a specific subject such as foreign-policy
of the micro-macro link", analysis. In
299) termed, an 'hermeneutical reconstruction general, the micro-macro dichotomy is understood to convey a sense of
which can be regarded as a reconceptualization of the legacies of social relativism. Drawing an analogy from the history of the life sciences
science theorists Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto, and Talcott Parsons. (physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology), Jeffrey Alexander
Alexander's theoretical framework rejects tendencies either toward (1987: 290-291) points out that "the terms "micro" and "macro" are
macro-determinism or micro-determinism, or an excessive reliance upon completely relativistic. What is macro at one level will be micro at
cither macro or micro levels as prime determinants; it emphasizes in- another." This is a useful point to keep in mind when trying to under-
stand the
stead the movement and mutual infuence between the two levels. Macro- evolutionary process of variables at d1fferent leves. One may
determinism and micro-determinism are represented by structural tor example, regard this analysis as an examination of muluple levels
functionalism/confuct theory and symbolic interactionismlexchange of activity and/or causation. "Multiple levels' refers to intemational
theory' respectively (Ritzer, 1992: 592). Each school of thought has its structure, domestic institutíons (national bureaucratic, provincial, re-
own analytical focus: while the former emphasizes elements at the gional, societal, etc.). as well as to individual leaders.
macro level, the latter concentrates on the micro level (Ritzer, 1991: But for the sake of lucidity and consistency, we still need a more
592). In short, it combines the analytical advantages of, for example, precise definition when applying the tems to the analysis of a specific
structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism; at the same time subject. For general social science purposes, the ucro level is defined
as 'the empirical reality of the individual in everyday life', and the
this theoretical framework avoids the shortcoming of one-sidedness
macro level refers to 'social reality or the social world' (Ritzer, 1990
that exists with these two approaches.
348). This is also because most social scientists 'use these terms em-
The micro-macro linkage issue has also become a focal point in var-
pirically' (Ritzer. 1992: 542), as manifested in this book. In this study.
ious sub-fields of social science theory, such as confict theory (Collins,
the mucro level refers to decision-makers (whether individuals or small
1990) and rational choice theory (Friedman and Hechter. 1990). Those
who groups), whereas the macro analysis focuses on the intemational cie-
are concerned with the micro-macro links claim that the
tation between micro and macro theory
confron ments (relating to system and structure) and domestic elements (aspects
belongs 'to the past (Eisenstad1 of society and internal institutions).
and Helle, 1985: 3). Richard Munch and Neil Smelser (1987: 385)
Table 22 depicts a three-way interaction: while international
con-
believe that 'those who have argued polemically that one level is more Straints and domestue deteminants are involved in a dynamic relatonship
fundanental than the other. must be regarded as in
error. MiCro
 CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY
INTERPRETING
THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE
APPROACH 5
Evolution Theoretical
Table 2.3: Bernhard Giesen's Table 2.4: The Micro-Macro Linkage Model of
Model Chinese Foreign Policy (1949-present)
Situation Structure
Process Macro- Macrostructural Change Micro Processes in Beijing
Structures (key analytical concepts
Symbolic Rational Symbolic core structure, Worldviews,
relevant patterm of morals
interpretation of
Reality Symbolic From Orientational change in the
the situation conceiving Macrostructure Revolution nterpretat1on of the intemal
Practical Action Practical core structure, Valid institutions to and external environments
valid rules and norms, and structures of Modernization
Reality leam1ng and adaptation: the
interests induced by differentiation
changing priorties of foreign
social positions
policy
Material Organic behaviour Material core structure, Material Instututional From Increased scope and degree
Reality material resources, resources, size Macrostructure Vertical AuthoritarianLsm of participanon in foreign
and techniques of collectuvity, to
policy-making. changes of
available in a situation technostructure Horzontal Authorntarianism rules, noms, and mechanisms
in policy-making process
See Giescn (1987, 349)
Power/Regime From Dynamics of individual
Macrostructure Rigidiry leaders power and authority:
at the macro level. they also converge on, and receive feedback from towards regime legit1macy, decision-
individual decision-makers. Rather than simply describing the impor Flexibility makers preference and
tance of both international and domestic elements, the challenge with choices; foreigm policy
strategies and tactics
the micro-macro linkage approach lies in analysing:

the channels and mechanisms through which demands from the

national and domestic environments converge on the policy-making
inter Giesen's contribution to macro-micro l1nkage is not only his division
of social realities into three distinct dimensions: he also has differentiated
process
how the changing dynamics of domestic and intermational environ- each category in terms of process, situation, and structure,
demonstrating
how the macrostructure is manifest at the micro level (Giesen, 1987:
ments affect each other in shaping a country's external behaviour
and 348)
how they influence individual decision-makers in the formulation
foreign policy. The Micro-Macro Linkage Model of Chinese
To meet this challenge, we need to introduce new Foreign Policy
concepts that can
help to clarify and advance our understanding of the ways in which and
the mechanisms by which movements Applying Giesen's evolution theory allows us further to develop the
from macro to micro and vice
versa occur, In pursuit of this
objective, we may first divide socia micro-macro linkage model of Chncse foreign policy (as shown in
Table 24).
reality into different dimensions, and then examine their interactions
with micro-level actors. In an excellent Table 2.4 offers comprehensive picture of the micro-macro inkage
a
study on micro-nmacro
Bermhard Giesen (1987) has introduced the evolution-theoreticalinterplay
mode approach be applied to the study of Chnese foreign policy. In
as it can
This model divides social this model there are three dimensions of the macrostructure - sym
reality (macro-structure) into three dimen bolic, insttutional, and poweriregime - and corresponding to each
sions: symbolic,
practical, and material (see Table 2.3).
 CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY
INTERPRETING
THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE APPROACH
macrostructure is a different set of individual and group processes
dimension in this model coTesponds clear, here. that the channels, mechanisms,
(Please note that the powerlregime and pattems of these inter-
actions are situational and case
to the material dimension in Giesen's
model). contungent. They may differ over such
how variables as time, space, and the
The first dimension of macro-micTo linkage concentrates on
particular
1-7) points out, in the real world, "the
issue. As Jon Elster
(1993:
have affected number of possible
fundamental changes in the symbolic macrostructure
of condituons is too great for us to be permutations
domestic environments able to establish the
Beijing's interpretation of the intermational and mechanism operat1ng in each of them', and 'a mechan1smcharacteristic
the interpretive lens
Since ideological concepts and beliefs are part of 1s a
specific
role in the world. causal pattem that can be recognized after the
through which leaders have viewed China and its event but rarely fore-
the shifts in these factors is crucial to understanding the
seen. We may reach two
points from here First, this model is not
following intended to construct a 'general or 'grant' theory to cover
The second dimension
changing pnorities of Chinese foreign policy. of human activity; this 'is and wll every aspect
deals with the impacton China's foreign policy of changes in the always remain an illusory dream
institutional macrostructure- which refers, for our purposes, to the
(Elster, 1993: 2). Rather. as Allen Whiting (1994: 507) has
put it. "Theory
established systems through which policy-makers must operate, and
aims at
explanation of a
behavIour over a prolonged
category of
period
of time. The mico-macro
includes such factors as the rules and norms of political actions, the linkage approach only lays out an analytucal
framework as a starting point to study
mechanisms of the policy-mak1ng process, and the scope and degree of fore1gn policy issues. Second.
the micro-macro linkage model is
participation within a given political structure. The last dimension of essentially an approach to interpret
ing causal relationships among various factors at the micro and
micro-macro linkage, the powerlregime macrostructure, sheds light on levels, and is not intended to be a tool for
macro

the importance to the policy-making process of the realm of power, its This model is, however, intended to
pred1cting future events.
possessors, and their means of controlling and wielding it. In particular nterpret the trends and direc-
tions of Chinese foreign policy over tume It features
this dimension is concemed with such issues as how different sources three pairs of key.
guiding analytical concepts as a promising way to apply the
of power are allocated within China's foreign policy community, and approach under each macrostructure: linkage
how they are mobilized by different groups in a struggle for the control
from revolution to modernization
over policy-making; it ultimately deals with the issue of regime leg1t- (descnbing the shift in the symbolic
imacy and foreign policy strategies, tactics, and behaviour patterns. structure):
from vertical authoritaria1sm to horizontal
What makes this model different from others, therefore, is that it not authoritarian1sm (char-
only "links' the micro and macro levels, it also analyses the three d acterizing the changing inslitutional structure), and
mensions of the Chinese foreign policy macrostructure, thereby taking rigidiry versus flexibiliry (describing the fluctuat1ng nature of power/
nto account both elements of the levels' (in a vertical way) and the regime structure).
stuctures' (in a honizontal way). The different macrostructures featured These concepts are employed to
highl1ght the changing dynamics of
under the thrce categories each involve various influences and exigencies. Chinese foreign policy as the PRC has shufted from
being a revolution-
leaving room for decision-makers at the micro level to react. Thus, the ary power to becom1ng a member of the world nation-state system.
choices and preferences of individual decision-makers may play an They are the tools with which this model will nterpret Chinese foreign
active role in the formulation of foreign
policy. The micro-macro linkage policy patterms and policy choices.
model, argues that neither the macrostructure, nor thhe decision-makers Although both the international-domestic linkage approach and the
at the micro level has absolute control over a micro-macro linkage approach can be regarded as linkage theones, the
country's foreign policy two
Their influences are all considered in a relative sense. To understand approaches have quite different understandings of the concept of
the dynamics of foreign one has to look at the mutual
linkage. The fomer deals with two different units- intermational struc-
policy-making ture and
influcnces and the channels and mechanisms between and among e domestic instuutions without covering the dynamics of
elements at the micro and macro levels. ndhvidual actors and their interactions with these two units. From the
One may wish to push this model miCTO-macro link perspective. the challenge of lmkage 'is how to create
further to illuminate precisely tne
interactions between the micro and nmacro levels. It theoretical concepts that translate or map varables at the individual level
should be maac
 FOREIGN POLICY
INTERPRETING
CHINESE
THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE APPROACH 29
28
vice versa' (Gersten.
social systems, and With a much relaxed atmosphere, a number of high-ranking diplomats
into variables characterizing the intermational-domestic
the fact that (now retired) have published their memoirs, contributing important new
1987: 86). Therefore, despite ability in the study
advanced our analytical insights into Chinese foreign policy decision-making. Examples include
linkage approach has greatly criticized as an incomplete, and thus mis-
can be Ambassador Wang Bingnan (1985), who was the major negotiator with
of foreign policy, it the macro level of analysis
which only operates at the US in the famous Warsaw talks before the normalization of rela
leading approach
lionship between the two countries; Ambassador Liu Xiao (1986), who
was ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1962, when Beijing
Micro-Macro Linkage Model
The Application of the was shifting from a "honeymoon period' to open confrontation with
Moscow, and former vice-minister of foreign affairs Wu Xiuquan (1991),
this linkage model to the study of
who participated in negotiations with the United States during the Korean
One major obstacle to applying Lieberthal has suggested, 'a lack
Kenneth War, and was China's first ambassador to Yugoslavia (between 1955
Chinese foreign policy is, as Valerie Hudson
at the micro level.' As and 1958) when Belgrade was a focal point of tension in the interna-
of necessary data'. particularly
221) point out: tional Communist movement.
and Christopher Vore (1995:
There is even a collective volume entitled Nü Waijiaoguan (Women
or burcaucracy in question,
detailed
If the research is not part of the group and
Diplomats) (Cheng, 1995) which features the recollections or records
from a variety of primary sources
accounts of what transpired, preferably of Chinese female diplomats. Most of them are foreign ministers'or
consideralions, such information
Because of security
viewpoints, are necessary ambassadors' wives (though they, themselves, are not appointed to
not available for many years
(when it is declassified or the arch1ves
is usually offcial posts, they also serve as diplomats)." A few of them, are wel
are opened to historians). known appointed diplomats, themselves, such as Gong Peng (bureau
established a policy or system for chief of the News Department of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and wife
The fact that China has not yet
the task of Chinese forcign of Qiao Guanghua); Ding Xuesong (ambassador to the Netherlands and
declassifyinggovemment documents makes
difficult. Denmark); and Gong Pusheng (ambassador to Ireland and wife of Zhang
policy scholars all the more Hanfu). Some top diplomats' wives have also written their own, single
boxes' when conducting a
Inevitably, one encounters many "black volumes. For example, Zhu Lin (1991). the wife of Ambassador Huang
and its formulation
comprehensive study of any country's foreign policy Zhen (the first envoy from the PRC to the United States, from 1973 to
in studies that
Indeed, this problem is likely to be particularly daunting
which emphasizes the chan 77). has published her recoliections, offering detailed description of
apply the micro-macro linkage approach, Huang's more than twenty years of diplomatic service in vanious coun-
nels and mechanisms connecting awide variety of factors at diflerent
tries, including Hungary (1950-4), Indonesia (1954-61), France (1964-
levels. Micro-level analysis, or the actor-specific theory mentioned
carlier, involves what Herbert Simon (1985: 303) called 'specification
73), and the United States (1973-7)
'often
These accounts, though sometimes restrained and unbalanced, are
of the situation' which is 'data intensive', 'time consuming', and welcome addittons to the body literature in the field. for they have
(Hudson and Vore, 1995: 211)
requires country orregional expertise' provided first-hand insights into the intcmal workings of the Chinese
This study, it must be made clear, is not intended to open cvery
foreign affairs establishment. They are particularly instructive for the
"black box' in Chinese foreign pol1cy purpose Its is more modest, but
study of Chinese foreign policy n tem1s of its formulation and 1mple
none the less valuable namely, to provide a starting framework mentation, and are helpful sources for thc study of the domestic roots
within which to exanmine the combined impact of international and of Chinese foreign policy.
domestic environments on individual decision-makers, while allowing Furthemore, there have becn some very interesting, unprecedented
us to analyse the choices and preferences of decision-makers when
faced memoirs published outside of the Mainland by those who have moved
with concrete foreign policy issues. abroad. Those memoirs are largely from two groups of people: ex-high-
Having recognized the difficulties in terms of data collection. how ranking ofticials or personal ussociates of top Chinese leaders. The
memoirs of Xu Jiatun (19931, the fomner head of the Chinese Xinhua
ever, on a nore hopeful note, sources from China have increased News Agency in Hong Kong (the PRC's shadow head in Hong Kong). is
mendously and become more accessitble to academic rescarchers sin
the inception of China's Open Door policy toward the outside
wr
 CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY
INTERPRETING
0 THE MICRO-MACRO LINKAGE
APPROACH
fomer group: Mao Zedong's personal physician
a typical example of the
Li Zhisui's (1994) The Private Life of
Charman Mao represents the Introduction to the Other Chapters
latter
These works are nommally far less restrained by political conditions Part II of this book
within China, and therefore often provide
much more de- (Chapters 3 to 6) applies the micro-macro linkage
prevailing model of Chinese foreign policy
tailed pictures of the inner workings of Chinese politics. These first. extemal affairs from 1949 to the
presented in this chapter to China's
at the micro present. It analyses the fundamental
hand materials help to open some of the "black boxes changes in Chinese foreign pol1cy at the macro and micro levels.
level in terms of the top leaders' personal thinking
and perceptions of In so
doing. it examines such issues as the paramount importance of
major foreign (as well as domestic) policy issues. survival (in the face of both external and internal threats) to the regime
has begun to pub- Chinese
An equally important development is that Beijing leadership: China's gradual sh1ft from secunty issues to cconomic
lish its own reference book on China's foreign relations and foreign concerns,
which has further inereased the relative
weighi' of domestic structures
policy. The most inmportant exan1ple is Dangdai Zhongguo Waijiao on forcign
policy (Katzenstein. 1978: 10: and the dist1nctive combina-
of for-
(Diplomacy of Contemporary China), produced by the ministry tion of rigidity and flexibility in Chinese
foreign policy behaviour.
Han Nianlong (1987) as editor-
eign affairs, with former vice minister Chapter 3 concentrates on the symbolic macrostructure and thc chang-
in-chief. There are also publications (books and journal articles) about ing priorities of Chinese foreign policy. It
China's major external actions and fore1gn relations. such as the Ko-
analyses the major shift in
Beijing's interpretations of intemationaB and domestic environments.
rean War and the Vietnan1 War. The increase of English analyses on examining the concomitant chang1ng perveptions and prionties in the
China's foreign affairs by scholars in mainland China is also noteworthy PRC's extemal polcies. lt pays special attention to the
critical changes
Although most works concentrate on China's relations with the United between the era of Mao Zedong and the cera of
Deng Xiaoping Examin-
States (either as a history of bilateral relations, or analysis of US policy ing Beijing's shifting interpretations of the outside world
toward China), a few scholars in China have begun to pay attention to ing and adaptation can help us better to understand the
through learm-
the internal dynamics of Chinese foreign polcy. Wang Jis1 (1994), for of Chinese foreign changing prionties
policy. These changing priorties are more often
example, has written a fine summary about the evolution and charac- than not regarded as responses to the
teristics of Chinese theories of international relations. He also has
changing dynamics of the inter-
national and internal environments rather than to the
individual lezders'
analysed Chinese attitudes toward Westerm theories, stressing "the preferences.
uniqueness of Chinese thinking on world affairs . Another example is Chapier 4 studies the institutuonal macrostructure and
Chen Xiaolu. son of former foreign minister Marshal Chen Yi. Chen process. It examines China's societal and instirutuonal policy-making
the scope and degree of inputs, namely
(1989) published an article in English on the evolution of Chinese participation in the foreign policy-making pro-
foreign policy toward the United States from 1949 to 1955. Chen, using cess, as well as China's
general pol1tucal and economic cond1tions. It
the example of the Korean War, emphas1zed the differences between analyses the changes in rules, normms, and niechanisms in the
policy-
socialist China and the Soviet Union in global strategic thinking as making process, and investigates the interactions between
makers and societal and institutional elements. decision
early as the 1950s. These new publications have provided not oaly
detailed accounts of the intermal workings of Chinese foreign policy- The power/regine macrostructure is the focus of
looks more closely at this dinension and its
Chapter 5, which
making, but also give us Chinese perspectives on international affairs.
which are important contributions to the field as a whole, and are par
inmpact ondecision-makers
policy preferences and choices. Chuna's foreign affairs have been pro-
valuable to the model of micro-macro linkage." Despite the foundly shaped by internal politicals, as well as traditional and ideo-
ticularly logical considerations, and this chapter seeks to develop this concclion
above-mentioned progress, the available materials are still inadeyuate
further by studying Beijing's concems about
for capturing and retlecting the full and complicated picture of Chinese reg1me legiunacy and its
foreign policy. There is a great need for more empirical studies to
characteristic strategies and tactics in dealing with extemal affaur The
analyses of the distinctive combination of rigid1ty and fletibility n
continue this research direction. (For further discussion about a future
Chinese foreign pol1cy behaviour
research agenda.
see Chapter 8.) attempt to answer such questions ax