China’s Foreign Policy Concepts and the Marxist Approach to State Capitalism

Introduction. Neither foreign investments (Western powers made the latter in a variety of economies without any such effect) nor Beijing’s economic course at large (neighboring Japan and Republic of Korea have experienced comparable economic development rates but tended to remain inert enough on the world stage) could explain the growth of China’s international influence anyway rooted in its rapid and comprehensive development over the last thirty years. The lack of understanding gives rise to wariness and anxiety in the West, and the standard ‘explanation’ is that the PRC be striving for world hegemony based on Marxist ideology. Goals. The study seeks to substantiate the conceptualization of Chinese foreign policy as a function in implementing the Marxist research method for international relations addressed by Chinese theorists and practitioners as core scientific approach. Materials and methods. The work investigates foreign policy concepts of the PRC articulated since the late 1990s, sections of official documents and speeches by China’s top officials dealing with foreign policy, and relevant writings of Russian and foreign political scientists and sinologists. The study rests on retrospective, comparative and systemic historical approaches, as well as discourse analysis, which make it possible to examine the formation and development of the conceptualization of foreign policy in connection with domestic political and economic factors. Results. The paper features the PRC’s transition to the conceptualization of foreign policy rooted in a scientific approach centered around the Marxist method and employed by Chinese theorists and the top leadership. Although the West considers Marxism a mere ideology, it is as important to understand Chinese attitudes towards the latter, including the implicit ones, especially since the results achieved and plans for the future ― particularly in international relations ― are quite understandable from these very positions. In this regard, the article presents some theoretical aspects of Chinese ‘state capitalism’ and ‘Sinicization of Marxism’, given that the both can be called specifically ‘Chinese’ only in the sense of their actual implementation in China. Conclusions. The study attests to the modern Chinese leadership tends to employ a systematic scientific approach to foreign policy activities which results in formalized global concepts proclaiming ― mutually beneficial development of all countries of the world. Their ultimate goal is to ensure the safe development of the PRC which is believed by Chinese communists to have somewhat systemic advantages when compared to other nations. Instead of ideological ‘export of revolution’, socialist China is attempting to scientifically substantiate the prospects of its systemic victory in competition with capitalism through the development of production forces under the control of more advanced ― according to Marxist methodology ― production relations.

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