A Parliament of Paper Tigers

A Parliament of Paper Tigers, The position of the Dutch Parliament on Dutch-Chinese relations 1978-1999 This thesis contributes to the scientific debates about Dutch foreign policy, Dutch-Chinese relations and Dutch parliamentarian history. Not much has been written on these subjects combined. The main question is: What role did the Dutch Parliament play in Dutch-Chinese bilateral relations between 1978 and 1999? The Dutch Chinese relations were marked by several political crises in which the Dutch Parliament played a remarkable role. The Dutch Parliament did not use all its legal tools and was not able to influence Dutch foreign policy towards China much. This can be explained by the following factors; Parliament was badly informed, Parliament was divided, European institutions partly took over the decision making process, Parliament had limited time and resources, parliamentarians are not experienced diplomats and Parliament was influenced by public opinion. Because parliamentarians made a lot of public statements without being able to influence foreign policy making much, they can be seen as a Parliament of paper tigers.