Chinese Historiography of the PRC's Foreign Policy

The article attempts to consistently trace the historiography of works published in China on the country's foreign policy from 1949 to the present. Special attention is paid to works on Sino-Russian relations. The chronology of publications is linked to the periods of government of the top officials of the party and the state, respectively, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. Mao Zedong's formula of "sticking to one side" and the theories of "intermediate zones" and "three worlds" defined the main features of China's foreign policy during the first three decades. At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, Deng Xiaoping's main foreign policy precepts were formulated, summarized in the formula of 28 hieroglyphs: "observe coolly, strengthen shaky positions, show self-control, cope with difficulties, keep in the shadows and try not to show yourself in any way, be able to defend, albeit clumsy, but your own views, in no case do not climb forward, to the first place, and at the same time do something real." Jiang Zemin successfully completed the multi-year marathon of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (December 2001). The "Zouchuqu" strategy (the entry of national enterprises "outside", i.e. into the world market) and the closely related program for the rise of the "western territories" were proclaimed. Hu Jintao supported the development of the concept of China's "rise", which was later replaced by the doctrine of "China's development", designed to enhance the country's foreign policy. On April 22, 2005, at the Afro-Asian Summit in Jakarta, Hu Jintao put forward his concept of a "harmonious world". At the end of 2012 Xi Jinping for the first time had raised the issue of the need for a "great renaissance" of the Chinese nation. In 2013, he proclaimed the Belt and Road Initiative, that is, a project for the large-scale development of international economic ties "by land", conditionally along the route of the ancient Silk Road, and by sea. Later, he came up with the idea of creating a "community of the common destiny of humanity" in the world, designed to achieve universal, "inclusive" security. At the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022 the idea of the "community of the common destiny of mankind" and the "Belt and Road Initiative" (as one of the main tools for its implementation) were included in the CPC Charter.

Chinese foreign policy, Chinese leaders, Sino-Soviet and Sino-Russian relations