Ambassador Shivshankar Menon (Ashoka University)

In the last decade, China’s Foreign Policy has alienated or worsened relations with most of her neighbours, the exceptions being Pakistan, Cambodia and possibly Russia. Embarking on a nuclear arms race, “wolf warrior” diplomacy and pressing territorial disputes hardly seem likely to serve China in her rivalry with the US. Why has China recently followed a foreign policy course with predictable negative outcomes? The traditional explanations external to China—a shifting international situation, China’s changing global interests, or great power diplomacy—seem insufficient. It may therefore be worth considering whether domestic factors now play a greater role in driving China’s foreign policy than before.