Examining how China's contradictory foreign policy rooted in China's complex party-state structures is fragmenting and particularizing the international order. China's Foreign Policy Contradictions explains the fundamental contradiction in China's foreign policy: contrary to its claims, China does not consistently uphold the principle of state control in its international affairs. This inconsistency is shaping China's impact on the international order.
This anthropological study of the foreign policymaking of the opaque Chinese party-state examines three case comparisons: the Responsibility to Protect, Hong Kong and the World Trade Organization. Based on in-depth interviews with party-state officials and an analysis of official documents, the book
reveals the internal discussions, diverse set of interests, and dynamics and processes of a party-state in a state of constant transformation. The book demonstrates how competing sources of the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy combine with the complex and dynamic structure of the
Chinese party-state, resulting in contradictory foreign policies. It demonstrates how both legitimization and the party-state structure constitute vulnerabilities of the party-state. Even though China struggles with these domestic vulnerabilities, this does not prevent it from projecting its power
internationally or shaping the global order. The book argues that two sets of domestic vulnerabilities explain China's contradictory foreign policy and undermine its ability to project and promote a China Model as an alternative to the existing international order. China's contradictory foreign
policy is likely to lead to a more particularistic, plural and fragmented international order.
