Explainer | Communist Party’s little-known department gives China ‘extra hand’ in foreign relations
- Central Committee’s International Department plays an active role in overseas engagement but is largely overlooked
- The ID’s stated aim is to support state diplomacy through party-to-party exchanges
This is the eighth in the South China Morning Post’s series of explainers about China’s Communist Party, in the lead-up to the party’s 100th anniversary in July. Here, Kristin Huang explains the important role of the party’s little-known International Department in China’s foreign relations.
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Earlier this year, ID representatives met their counterparts from the Communist Party USA to talk about “international solidarity” and celebrate the two parties’ history and friendship. They also held a video conference with the Communist Party of Britain, in which the localisation of Marxism theory was discussed.
The meetings were typical of the ID’s engagement with other communist parties around the world. Since China’s reform and opening-up policy began in 1978, the ID has expanded its relations with non-communist parties such as social democratic parties, including those not currently in power.
What is the International Department?
The ID was set up in 1951, two years after the foundation of People’s Republic of China, to oversee the party’s relations with foreign communist parties – especially the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which had a similar International Department.
At the time, with little international recognition of China’s government, the ID had a unique historical role in helping the country to build informal diplomatic relations.
After China and the Soviet Union’s split over ideological differences in the 1950s and 1960s, the ID began engaging with more overseas parties across the political spectrum, a process which continued in the following decades as China transformed into an economic powerhouse.
In April this year, the ID held a sharing session with Syria’s ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party on poverty alleviation. The same month, it met representatives from seven parties in Morocco, including the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party – a moderate Islamist party – to talk about communication exchanges on the Belt and Road Initiative.
“As Chinese economic power grows, China has to build more ties with more parties in the world, including parties in opposition, because they can also be in power someday or edge against the ruling party’s power in parliament,” said Peng Peng, executive chair of Chinese think tank the Guangdong System Reform Research Society.
Because of this, the ID’s importance has grown rather than waned over the years, he added.
The department falls under the direct leadership of the Central Committee, the party’s highest organ of authority, which is currently composed of 205 full members and 171 alternate members.
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In a 2007 paper on the International Department’s “quiet diplomacy”, David Shambaugh, an internationally recognised authority and author on contemporary China, wrote that “no ruling party or government in the world mounts anywhere near as extensive an effort to maintain links with domestic political parties, groups and personages, as does the ID”, though it has largely stayed out of the media and scholarly spotlight to this day.
How is the ID different from China’s foreign ministry?
In theory, the ID and foreign ministry operate under completely different systems – the former is part of the party, whereas the latter is part of the government, similar to the US State Department.
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The current head of the ID is Song Tao, a seasoned diplomat who has served as Chinese ambassador to Guyana and the Philippines, and as the disciplinary chief of the foreign ministry.
Unlike many other countries where political affiliation is less of a factor for civil servants, it was not unusual for Song to switch between working at the foreign ministry to the party’s own diplomatic branch.
The foreign ministry handles interstate relations, and represents the country’s interests. For example, it would be the government body in charge of state visits by foreign leaders.
According to the ID’s website, its function is to serve China’s policy of reform and opening-up as well as to support state diplomacy through party-to-party exchanges and cooperation.
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Peng said the ID was an important part of China’s foreign relations due to the country’s unique political system.
“China was founded as a communist country, and in the beginning not so many countries had set up formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, he said. “Thus it was necessary for the Chinese Communist Party to reach out to the outside via its own organs.”
So what does the ID actually do?
According to a 2020 report by Christine Hackenesch from the German Development Institute and Julia Bader from the University of Amsterdam, there were 3,658 delegation contacts with direct interaction between the ID and foreign representatives between 2002 and 2017.
The ID organises visits abroad for its own director and for ministers of other departments of the Central Committee, and for members of the Politburo Standing Committee who are responsible for foreign affairs.
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It also sends staff to Chinese embassies to collect information such as political developments for foreign parties and to maintain contact with partner parties. This is where the ID and China’s foreign ministry overlap and support each other.
Although the party has its own intelligence branch – the research office – the ID also gives advice to the Secretariat of the Central Committee and the Politburo Standing Committee.
In addition, the ID receives party delegations in China and trains third-country party officials interested in learning from China’s experience. Some material help is also provided as part of its engagement with foreign parties, such as support for training or party schools.
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The ID reaches out to foreign parties both in power and in the opposition. In Brunei for example, the ID maintains ties with representatives of the royal house. In some other countries, the ID also contacts research institutions and business actors.
Has the role of the ID changed in the Xi era?
When Xi Jinping took office in 2012, he opened a new phase in China’s global rise, in which Beijing proactively began aiming to shape global norms and institutions in a way that was commensurate with the country’s economic and military strength.
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This announcement underlined the prominent role assigned to the ID, according to Hackenesch and Bader’s report. Since Xi took office, “the party channel increasingly serves as an instrument to advance China’s ideas for reforming the international system and as a tool of authoritarian learning and diffusion”, they said.
However, in his 2017 speech Xi said the party wanted to engage other political parties to take a more active role in tackling world problems, and not to export the “China model”.
“[China] will proactively push forward the construction of a global network of partners and will proactively push for political solutions for international hot issues and difficult problems,” he said. “We will not require other countries to copy what we do.”
