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China Government and Party Organizations
By the late 1980s, more organizations were involved in China's
foreign relations than at any time previously. High-level party and
government organizations such as the Central Committee, Political
Bureau, party Secretariat, party and state Central Military
Commissions, National People's Congress, and State Council and such
leaders as the premier, president, and party general secretary all
were involved in foreign relations to varying degrees by virtue of
their concern with major policy issues, both foreign and domestic
(see Chinese Communist Party;
The Government
, ch. 10). The party
Secretariat and the State Council together carried the major
responsibility for foreign policy decisions.
In the 1980s, as China's contacts with the outside world grew,
party and government leaders at all levels increasingly were
involved in foreign affairs. The president of the People's Republic
fulfilled a ceremonial role as head of state and also was
responsible for officially ratifying or abrogating treaties and
agreements with foreign nations. In addition to meeting with
foreign visitors, Chinese leaders, including the president, the
premier, and officials at lower levels, traveled abroad regularly.
In the late 1980s, the Political Bureau, previously thought of
as the major decision-making body, was no longer the primary party
organization involved in foreign policy decision making. Instead,
the State Council referred major decisions to the Secretariat for
resolution and the Political Bureau for ratification. Under the
party Secretariat, the International Liaison Department had primary
responsibility for relations between the Chinese Communist Party
and a growing number of foreign political parties. Other party
organizations whose work was related to foreign relations were the
United Front Work Department, responsible for relations with
overseas Chinese (see Glossary),
the Propaganda Department, and the
Foreign Affairs Small Group.
Of the Chinese government institutions, the highest organ of
state power, the National People's Congress, appeared to have only
limited influence on foreign policy. In the 1980s the National
People's Congress was becoming more active on the international
scene by increasing its contacts with counterpart organizations in
foreign countries. Through its Standing Committee and its Foreign
Affairs Committee, the National People's Congress had a voice in
foreign relations matters and occasionally prepared reports on
foreign policy-related issues for other party and government
bodies.
As the primary governmental organization under the National
People's Congress, the State Council had a major role in foreign
policy, particularly with regard to decisions on routine or
specific matters, as opposed to greater questions of policy that
might require party involvement. As in the past, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs was the most important institution involved in
conducting day-to-day foreign relations, but by the 1980s many
other ministries and organizations under the State Council had
functions related to foreign affairs as well. These included the
Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of National Defense, Bank of China, People's Bank
of China, and China Council for the Promotion of International
Trade. In addition, over half of the ministries, overseeing such
disparate areas as aeronautics, forestry, and public health, had a
bureau or department concerned explicitly with foreign affairs.
These offices presumably handled contacts between the ministry and
its foreign counterparts.
Data as of July 1987
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