The Discussion On China's Non-Aligned Foreign Strategy

Since the modern times, China's foreign policy has experienced a transformation from no allies to form an alliance with other countries passively, to form an alliance with other countries actively, and currently to pursue non-aligned strategy actively. This thesis firstly traces back to the historical development of this transformation, and then analyzes the pros and cons of these different alliances from the perspective of alliance theories and systematically describes the establishment and persistence of China's non-aligned strategy, and finally discusses the fundamental justification for China's continuing adoption of non-aligned strategy and its prospects.The reasons that why Chinese foreign policy fluctuates between alignment and non-alignment are because of the following three factors: the change of international configuration, the change of the domestic situation, and the change of the view of the leaders.International situation has been changing since the 21st century which arouses a series of debates on whether China should continually carry out the non-aligned strategy by scholars both at home and abroad. From the point of view of this thesis, carrying out the non-aligned strategy is still the rational choice in the early 21st century. This is mainly based on the consideration of both historical and realistic. Historical factors contribute to the non-aligned strategy are the traditional culture which advocates peace, the worry concerning the system of unequal treaty, the motivation generated by nationalism and patriotism, the internalization of the state sovereignty consciousness, etc. Realistic factors contribute to the non-aligned strategy are the needs of domestic economic development and social steady, the fact that China is still a developing country although it is already a great power, the decrease of the influence of the alliance politics since the nuclear era. From the point of view of this thesis, China should continually carry out the non-aligned diplomatic strategy at the beginning of the 21st century through the following five aspects: continually adjust the relationships among great powers and carry out the policy of partnership instead of alliance; strengthen Asia identification base on the Asia-Pacific and create a favorable neighboring environment; be actively involved in the international society and to be a responsible actor; pursue the new multilateralism and actively participate in the global governance; advocate constructing of the harmonious world and strive for the'Peaceful Rise'.