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 (par-ty-government, 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 decision-making, the institutional structure, and the perceived value coordinates, respectively. The constructed model systematically identifies the dynamic weights of various factors in the diplomatic decision-making process and their interrela-tions. This method overcomes the limitations of a single explanatory paradigm and provides a scientific tool for predicting the trajectory of China’s diplomacy.