Factors Shaping the Priorities and Directions of China’s Modern Foreign Policy

The formation and evolution of China’s foreign policy as a global power are determined by the interaction of multidimensional factors. Based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), this study reveals the influencing mechanisms of four key variables: 1) the structural pressure of the international system (power, institutions), 2) the demands of national interests (security, development), 3) the structure of the domestic political system (partygovernment, bureaucracy, think tanks), and 4) ideological and cultural factors (tradition, socialist ideology). The results show that these factors shape the external environment, the basic logic of decisionmaking, the institutional structure, and the perceived value coordinates, respectively. The constructed model systematically identifies the dynamic weights of various factors in the diplomatic decisionmaking process and their interrelations. This method overcomes the limitations of a single explanatory paradigm and provides a scientific tool for predicting the trajectory of China’s diplomacy.