Influence Of Public Opinion On Chinese Diplomatic Decisions

Driven by the trends of globalization and information technology, diplomaticdemocratization and openness has become the main development direction of diplomacytoday. China’s diplomacy today is also in its important transition period. We find thattogether with China’s increasingly open diplomatic decision-making mechanism, the factorsthat can affect foreign policy decisions are also increasingly diverse. As a domestic andsocial factor, the impact of public opinion in China’s foreign policy decisions has becomeincreasingly prominent.Based on the fact above, this paper aims at exploring the real impact of public opinionon China’s foreign policy decisions. By describing changes of the roles of public opinion inChina’s foreign policy decisions from the perspective of historical evolution of foreignpolicy decision-making mechanism in China, this paper demonstrates the growing process ofpublic opinion in China to us in a specific way. Then, it elaborates three ways in whichpublic opinion can have its influence on China’s foreign policy-making process. They are themass media, interest groups and non-institutional collective pressure forms. Next, byselecting and analyzing one living example, the Sino-Japanese disputes over the DiaoyuIslands, this paper shows the real influence of public opinion on China’s foreign policydecisions in this event. Finally, on the basis of the previous case study, this paper will discussthe positive impact of public opinion on Chinese foreign policy decisions, namely promotingscientific and democratic decision-making, providing strong public support for foreignpolicy as well as providing more leeway in foreign policy decision-making. At the same time,public opinion in Chinese foreign policy decision-making process also has negative impactsbecause the complexity of public opinion might probably impede the authenticity ofinformation in the decision-making process, and irrational nationalist tendencies in publicopinion might also hinder the implementation of the country’s foreign policy.Therefore, facing the flourishing public opinion today, only by maintaining a goodrelationship between foreign policy-making and public opinion can we make fully use of itspositive effects. So in order to achieve this, this paper argues that the government needs tomeet the public’s right to know some relevant information on diplomacy. Meanwhile, great importance should be attached to public opinion in decision-making process and measuresshould be taken to properly guide the public opinion and draw strength on it, so as to ensurerational development of public opinion.