{
  "id": "RL34588",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL34588",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 344498,
      "date": "2008-07-18",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T03:17:24.980191",
      "title": "China\u2019s Foreign Policy: What Does It Mean for U.S. Global Interests?",
      "summary": "Since the late 1990s, China\u2019s robust international engagement has caught many by surprise and prompted growing American debate over the PRC\u2019s motivations and objectives. This international engagement has expanded while the United States has been preoccupied with its military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress and other U.S. policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned that China\u2019s expanded international engagement could have its \u201csoft power\u201d projection and affect U.S. economic and strategic interests.\nExperience suggests that abrupt, unexplained shifts in policy occur with some regularity in the PRC system. Still, it is possible to point to some fundamental objectives that appear to be motivating Beijing\u2019s foreign policy. These include an imperative to promote and enhance China\u2019s economic development, particularly its voracious need for energy resources and raw materials to sustain its double-digit annual growth; an effort to separate the island of Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty, from its 23 remaining official relationships; and a desire to increase China\u2019s international stature and compete more successfully with perceived U.S. supremacy. To achieve these ends, China in recent years has crafted a multitude of bilateral agreements and partnerships, joined and become more active in existing multilateral organizations, and become a founding member of new multilateral institutions in which the United States is not a member.\nOf alarm to some, China\u2019s policy approach has several competitive \u201csoft power\u201d advantages over the United States. The \u201cunrestricted\u201d nature of Beijing\u2019s overseas loans and investments is attractive to foreign governments wanting swifter, more efficient, and less intrusive solutions to their development problems than western lenders will offer. And Beijing\u2019s large state-owned companies, with deep pockets and no shareholders to answer to, can afford short-term losses in pursuit of longer-term, more strategic gains.\nBut China\u2019s approach also has structural limitations in areas where the United States is strong. Beijing\u2019s foreign development policy operates from a much narrower base, with China\u2019s \u201cwin-win\u201d approach tackling easy issues first and postponing difficult issues, perhaps indefinitely. Acquiring and maintaining an international presence also brings certain complications that are new to the PRC, including multiple opportunities for international misunderstanding, resentment, and cultural backlash. Finally, unlike the United States, China lacks the advantage of a substantial private-sector investment presence overseas.\nWhatever policy options the United States adopts, China\u2019s growing international political and economic clout poses demanding challenges and questions for U.S. policymakers. This report will be updated periodically as events warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}