Conclusion: Tactical or Fundamental Change?

Abstract

The question on the minds of many observers of China’s growth and development is, what role will China be playing in world politics over the next twenty years? There is no way that we can know. Three decades ago, nobody could foresee what is happening in China today, and it is equally difficult to predict what will happen in the two decades ahead. What the authors of this book set out to investigate is what we can learn from China’s diplomatic approaches and practices that offer some guide to understanding the likely international role for China over the next two decades. We assume that diplomacy, both as an instrument of foreign policy and as a learning and socializing process that fosters both positive and negative change, is an indicator of China’s present thinking about its future role. In this concluding chapter we will look directly at Chinese thinking behind its new diplomacy, considering particularly the issue of whether or not China’s embrace of new diplomacy is a tactical or fundamental change.