The popularity of international league tables has intensified the competition in the global higher education market. Countries across the world have been actively participating in the global ranking exercises, aiming to enhance the competitiveness and reputation of their higher education systems globally. Like its Western counterparts, China has also committed to establishing world-class universities. In this context, the article examines the internationalization of higher education in China. Discourse analysis is adopted to analyze milestone policies issued in the past three decades to illustrate China's changing response to internationalization, which can be categorized in distinct stages, including awareness, response, and adaptation to and determination of the process of internationalization. The shifting strategy toward internationalization indicates that higher education is increasingly used as an essential tool to enhance China's national competitiveness and international influence as a whole.