Part of the country series of articles.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: EXERCISE HEIGHTENED CAUTIONPARSTATE advises that China periodically experiences mass mobilisations and political upheaval, which can occur with little or no warning. The ability of the Commonwealth to provide consular assistance in rural areas is limited.
| People's Republic of China | |
|---|---|
| People’s Republic | |
 |
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| Capital | Beijing |
| Languages | Mandarin, Cantonese, and many regional languages |
| Population | 1,242,000,000 |
The People’s Republic of China is a Maoist single-party state in East Asia and one of the world’s major powers, though what that means has changed many times since 1949. The country has undergone several self-described revolutions since the founding of the republic, each purporting to correct the errors of the last, and the party apparatus is simultaneously one of the most centralised institution in the world and one of the most chaotic. Foreign observers have learned to wait before drawing conclusions about any given policy, as it may be repudiated within a decade by the same government that introduced it. China maintains claims on both Manchuria and Taiwan and regularly threatens both.
China regards the Soviet Republics as revisionists and traitors to the international communist project, and this hostility shapes much of its foreign policy. It competes aggressively with the Soviets for influence across Southeast Asia and Africa, backing third-worldist movements and governments to undermine Soviet alignment. In practice its support is unreliable, but China’s sheer size and ideological energy make it impossible to ignore. Its relationship with the Kingdom of Laos is the most visible expression of this competition, backing a monarchy against the Soviet-aligned Lao PDR if only to confront Soviet expansion in Asia.