The Domestic Politics of China’s Global Posture, 1973–78

This chapter provides a history and interpretation of an important segment of this debate: the five years between the Tenth Party Congress in August 1973 and the Fifth National People's Congress in February 1978. It offers a general overview of the domestic politics of China's global posture between 1973 and early 1978. The chapter deals with each of the four policymaking rounds in turn, attempting to show the complex interrelations among them. It considers the implications of the events of the mid-1970s for a more general understanding of the Chinese foreign policymaking process. The combination of threat and opportunity produced strong pressures in China for a reassessment of Peking's policy toward the Soviet Union. Advocates of the first position proposed that China demonstrate its flexibility toward the Soviet Union by restating Peking's negotiating position in ways that might prove attractive to Moscow, and by initiating limited but symbolic unilateral gestures of good will.