China’s Rise and its Discursive Power Strategy

It is increasingly evident that China has attached more attention to discursive power in foreign policy since the early 21st century. Both top leaders and government agencies have been active in advocating for a new discourse on various international occasions. Previously, China has been reluctant to join the debate in international affairs, and been instead preoccupied with domestic affairs since the late 1970s. The situation has changed since 2009 because of China’s rapid rise to become the world’s second largest economy. With regard to the motivations behind the Chinese government’s support for discursive power, the dominant explanation is based on the “rise of China” argument. However, this argument does not explain the causal relationship between China’s rise and its discursive power strategy. So, this paper aims to clarify the motivation behind China’s discursive power strategy through document reviews and interviews with mainstream scholars. It concludes that a discursive power strategy has been the fundamental principle of the Communist Party of China since its establishment in 1921. Since China’s adoption of an opening-up policy in 1978, this tradition has been suppressed but not eliminated entirely by top leaders. As China continues to rise on the world stage, the principle will drive China to create a new political model rather than be a mere follower of the established political order.