New Groups Influence Foreign Policy in China: Think Tank

Source: AFP

Forces outside China's traditional power bases are increasingly shaping the country's foreign policy and pushing for more international participation, the SIPRI think tank said in a report Monday.

"These are still groups on the margins. But it is significant that the top leadership now has to take into account diverse views," director of China program at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Linda Jakobson, told AFP in Helsinki, where the report was launched.

New pressure groups such as state-owned enterprises, local governments, expert advisers, as well as public input via media and online communities , are all being heard to some extent in the inner sanctum of the Communist Party of China, the report said.

These rising pressure groups are able to make an impact not only through traditional channels such as personal networks, but increasingly by writing newspaper columns, blogs, making public speeches and even through television debates.

SIPRI's report said that these new groups are especially eager to see China more strongly defend its interests on the global stage, which would involve becoming more active internationally.

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Editor: Shanna Chu