China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2019 | Page 21

China Policy Journal
China’s system is never a monolithic
one, because its vast territory is
endowed with diverse geographical
conditions and imbalanced economic
development levels in different provinces
as well as sectors. The norm of
“fragmented authoritarianism” invented
by Lieberthal captures this diversity
and imbalance (Lieberthal and Oksenberg
1988). However, insightful as it is,
it may not fully reveal the operational
dynamic of this system. This paper argues
that, inside China’s political system
and policymaking regime, there is a
“policymaking pendulum” permanently
swaying between the structures and
momentums of vertical and horizontal
fragmentations. China’s foreign policy
think tanks, such as the CIIS and SIIS,
are embedded in this fluctuating system
with their operational activities largely
shaped by somewhat cyclical shifts of
top leadership’s perceptions, preferences,
and practices between horizontal
and vertical fragmentations. This
dynamic process drives both the “dual
leadership” and the “stove-piping,” two
major mechanisms outlining CIIS and
SIIS’s interactions with political power
and their relevant policy influence.
Table 1: The Executive Network of China’s Foreign Policymaking
Executive hierarchy
Functional divisions
The foreign
affairs system
(System 1)
The foreign
economic
affairs system
(System 2)
The state
security system
(System 3)
Central level (Level A) A1 A2 A3
Provincial level (Level B) B1 B2 B3
Below-provincial level (Level C) C1 C2 C3
As Table 1 and Figure 3 show,
the foreign policy-related executive
structure of China includes three competence
modules: the foreign affairs
system, the foreign economic affairs
system, and the state security system.
It also contains three hierarchized territorial
executive level: the central level,
the provincial level, and the below-provincial
level. The crisscrossing between
these competence modules and executive
levels creates a network of information
and resource flows that shapes
the activities of foreign policymaking
and implementation. In this paper, the
gathering of information, resources,
and power along the lines of competence
modules is defined as “vertical
fragmentation,” which derives from
Chinese bureaucratic jargon of “tiaotiao,”
while the convergence along the
territorial executive level is defined as
“horizontal fragmentation,” which derives
from Chinese bureaucratic jargon
of “kuaikuai.”
Records in the past show this dynamic:
Whenever the top political lead-
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