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POLITICAL SYSTEM
AND STATE STRUCTURE
Constitution: China has drafted four
constitutions since the founding of the People's Republic, respectively in 1954,
1975, 1978 and 1982.
The present constitution, drawn up after discussion attended by representatives
of all of China's people, came into effect following approval by the Fifth
Session of the Fifth NPC on December 4, 1982. This constitution continues
the basic principles underlying the first constitution of 1954, while
effectively distilling the experiences gained in China's socialist development
and adopting the relevant experiences of other nations, all with careful
consideration of the then realities and the prospects for further
development. As a result, it is a constitution with Chinese
characteristics, well suited for the betterment of the nation politically,
economically and culturally during the new era of socialist modernization.
FOREIGN POLICY
China pursues an independent and peaceful foreign policy directed toward
peace. The basic objectives of this policy are to safeguard the
independence and sovereignty of the country, strive to create a long-standing
and favorable international environment for China's reform, opening to the
outside world and modernization drive, safeguard world peace and promote common
development.
China's independent and peaceful foreign policy has the following major
components: Adhering to independence. China decides on its
approaches and policies regarding international issues independently. In
international affairs, China shall decide its own stand according to the rights
and wrongs of an affair, shall never yield to pressure from any big countries,
and shall not form alliances with any major power or group of nations. Safeguarding
world peace.
China shall neither take part in any arms race, nor engage in military
expansion. China shall adhere to opposing hegemonism, power politics and
aggressive expansion in any form; and adhere to opposing the infringement by any
country on other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity or interfering
in other countries' internal affairs on the excuse of ethnic, religious or human
rights issues.
Establishing friendly and
cooperative relations. China is willing to establish and develop
friendly and cooperative relations with all countries on the basis of the
following five principles: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal
affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. China
shall not decide its relations with other countries according to social or
ideological systems. Developing good-neighborly relations.
China actively develops friendly relations with its surrounding countries,
safeguards the peace and stability of the region and promotes economic
cooperation at the regional level. China maintains that the disputes
concerning borders, territory and territorial water left over by history be
solved through dialogues and talks so as to seek fair and reasonable
solutions. If a dispute cannot be solved right away, it may be put aside
for the time being, and common ground be sought while reserving differences.
An unsolved dispute should not affect normal relations between the relevant
countries. Strengthening unity and cooperation
with developing countries. China has always taken it as the basis of
its foreign policy to strengthen unit and cooperation with developing
countries. China has consistently attached great importance to developing
all-round friendly and cooperative relations with the Third World countries,
actively seeking mutually complementary economic, trade, scientific and
technological cooperative channels, strengthening consultation and cooperation
with them on international issues, and jointly safeguarding the rights and
interests of developing countries.
Opening to the outside world. China opens to developed countries as
well as to developing countries. On the basis of equality and mutual
benefit, China actively conducts extensive international cooperation to promote
common development. As the largest developing country in the world and a
permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is willing to make
unremitting efforts for world peace and development, and the establishment of a
new peaceful, stable, fair and reasonable international political and economic
order.
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PRINCIPLES
GOVERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES
With the inauguration of the PRC on October 1, 1949, the Chinese government
declared solemnly: "This government is the sole legal government
representing the people of the People's Republic of China. It is ready to
establish diplomatic relations with all foreign governments which are willing to
observe the principles of equality, mutual benefit and respect for each other's
territorial integrity and sovereignty."
There is only one China in the world. Taiwan Province is an integral part
of the territory of the PRC. Any country seeking to establish diplomatic
relations with China must show its readiness to sever all diplomatic relations
with the Taiwan authorities and recognize the government of the PRC as the sole
legal government of China. The Chinese government will never tolerate any
country scheming to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one
Taiwan"; nor will it tolerate any moves on the part of countries having
formal diplomatic relations with China to establish any form of official
relations with the Taiwan authorities.
DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN RELATIONS
Acting in accordance with the above mentioned principles, China established
diplomatic relations with 19 countries in the 19 months between October 1949 and
May 1951. Between the second half of the 1950s and the late 1960s, a large
number of newly independent nations established diplomatic relations with China.
By the end of 1969, the countries having diplomatic relations with China had
increased to 50. In the 1970s, the door was opened, allowing normal
relations between China and the United States, and China's legitimate seat in
the United Nations and the Security Council was restored. These
developments allowed China's foreign relations to enter a new stage.
Japan, the United States and other Western countries joined a great number of
Third World countries in establishing diplomatic relations with China, raising
the total number of countries having diplomatic relations with China to 121 by
the end of 1979. In the 1980s, even more countries in Asia, Africa, Latin
America and Oceania established diplomatic relations with China.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, China has established diplomatic relations
with still more countries, such as Israel, the Republic of Korea and South
Africa, as well as with the newly independent republics that emerged from the
former Soviet Union. By the end of 1998, 160 countries had diplomatic relations
with China.
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