crs_reports: R49319

Congressional Research Service reports with summaries, authors, and topic classifications.

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R49319 China’s Diplomacy: Selected Issues for Congress 2026-08-25T04:00:00Z 2026-08-28T14:38:48Z Active Reports Ricardo Barrios   The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) uses diplomacy to influence governments, publics, international organizations, and international affairs across the world. Under Communist Party of China (CPC) General Secretary Xi Jinping (2012-present), the PRC has adopted a more dynamic, expansive foreign policy vision than that which the PRC had articulated since the 1990s. This more dynamic vision has led the PRC to launch multiple large-scale global initiatives that aim to influence development, security, and values internationally. Increasingly, PRC efforts to shape the landscape in these areas, and others, have implications for U.S. foreign policy and interests. A socialist state under the leadership of the CPC, the PRC appears to be pursuing several goals by diplomatic means, according to scholars and analysts. These goals include safeguarding a broadly defined conception of national security; blunting U.S. power and influence relative to the PRC’s own, such as by promoting multipolarity; using diplomacy to isolate Taiwan, to unify the PRC with the self-ruling island; reforming international institutions; and fostering economic growth and technological development, which may in turn enhance the PRC’s diplomatic capabilities. Policymakers, scholars, and analysts hold divergent views with regard to the PRC’s ultimate foreign policy goals. Some argue that the PRC seeks global hegemony and to usher in an “antidemocratic order” with itself at the center. Others contend that the PRC wants “status and authority without responsibility” and is “more inwardly focused than externally oriented.” Others yet suggest that the PRC seeks regional primacy in the Indo-Pacific, but has more modest ambitions globally. In his address at the CPC’s 20th National Congress in 2022, Xi articulated the goal of building the PRC “into a great modern socialist country that leads the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence by the middle of the century.” Although the PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducts most of the party-state’s diplomacy, ultimate authority over foreign policy rests in the CPC Central Committee and, in particular, its Central Foreign Affairs Commission. Numerous other entities, including CPC bodies, government ministries, state-owned and private enterprises, state-affiliated organizations, state media, and local governments all play roles in China’s foreign affairs. PRC foreign policy has exhibited several distinctive characteristics over the past five decades including an explicit emphasis on state sovereignty; the eschewing of mutual defense agreements and formal alliances, and the development of semi-hierarchical “strategic partnerships”; and the prioritization of the United Nations (UN) and broader UN system, which the PRC maintains is at the “core” of the international system. Today, the PRC engages with other countries and international institutions in many traditional areas of international affairs, including international development and international security. The PRC has engaged in what it calls “international development cooperation” to varying degrees for decades, which reflects, in part, the PRC government’s efforts to leverage export promotion to fuel economic growth and advance China-centered and China-controlled global infrastructure, transportation, trade, production networks, and standards. China’s increasing efforts to position itself as a third-party mediator in international conflicts and use its veto power as a permanent member of the UN Security Council also illustrate growing PRC influence over and interest in matters related to international peace and security. PRC ambitions to isolate Taiwan have at times shaped its bilateral and multilateral engagements. Since the 115th Congress, some Members of Congress have placed PRC diplomatic activity within the context of competition between the United States and the PRC. In the 119th Congress, Members have introduced legislation with provisions related to U.S. competition with the PRC, such as monitoring the PRC’s diplomatic posture, countering its purported foreign malign influence, and leveraging U.S. foreign assistance to gain the upper hand in “strategic competition” with the PRC. Other pieces of legislation seek to address PRC activity in, or cooperation with, third countries and international institutions. During the 118th Congress, the House passed H.Res. 11, which established the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (SCOC) “to investigate and submit policy recommendations on the status of the [CPC’s] economic, technological, and security progress and its competition with the United States.” The House retained (via H.Res. 5) the SCOC during the 119th Congress, broadening the committee’s jurisdiction to include policy recommendations to counter the “ideological threats” posed by the CPC to the United States and U.S. allies and partners. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R49319/R49319.2.pdf https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/HTML/R49319.html

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