Some politicians in the West, Japan and India continue to fan anti-China rhetoric, labeling it “aggressive”, “deceitful”, “oppressive”, “uncivilized”, “mercantilist”, and other expletives. But an examination of China’s history and economic and geopolitical policies shows that the country has done far less harm than many of its accusers have.
Unlike the West, China did not colonize the countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East to which its naval fleets traveled between the 12th and early 15th centuries. Unlike Japan, China did not invade its neighbors and force the conquered nations’ women to be sex slaves for its soldiers or commit barbaric atrocities against the general population. Unlike the United States, China did not surround itself with military bases in other countries.
China did not write the rules for the post-World War II economic and geopolitical orders that favored the West in general and the US in particular.
China’s mistakes allowed European colonization
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, China mastered the art of ocean-going navigation, making expeditions as far away as Africa and the Red Sea. Some historians even suggest that Chinese seafarers might have visited the Americas. Large numbers of soldiers or ex-servicemen were deployed in the expeditions, affording China the opportunity to colonize and enslave the lands and peoples its armadas visited had they wanted to. Instead, China turned isolationist, banning all seafaring expeditions and wanting nothing to do with the outside world.
China’s dynastic rule was the root cause of its decline into backwardness and poverty. The first and second emperors were benevolent, but the third and subsequent ones were mostly incompetent, corrupt and self-serving, spending lavishly on their decadent lifestyles and funerals and ruthlessly suppressing dissent. Not looking after the interests of the country and people culminated in the loss of community spirit and in regional division.
The “playboy” emperors also banned innovation and imposed isolation on the country, which culminated in centuries of backwardness, poverty, internal chaos, foreign invasion and humiliation.
The ban of seafaring expeditions in the early 15th century made European and Japanese colonization of Asia possible. Before the European maritime powers mastered shipbuilding and navigation, China had sent more than 100 ships to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa and the Middle East. But then the third Ming Emperor burned ocean-going ships, banned maritime expeditions and disallowed innovation in order to keep his lineage in power.
Because the emperors disengaged themselves from running the country and involvement in state affairs, official corruption became rampant. For example, European and Japanese imperialists were able conquer China largely because of corrupt Qing officials.
The majority of Chinese did not care who governed them as long as their rulers provided them with a stable environment in which to earn a living and an opportunity to become rich. The British recognized and took advantage of China’s internal divisions and people’s lack of patriotism, which was why Britain was able to rule Hong Kong for more than 150 years without universal suffrage.
Many in Hong Kong today would prefer non-democratic British colonial rule to authoritarian governance by mainland China. But it could be argued that Hong Kong is freer now than when it was under British rule. Many people in Hong Kong believe the British would never have allowed Occupy Central or the Umbrella Movement to take root.
That said, the Chinese have sometimes rallied to defeat brutal and uncaring rulers. The Mongols, Manchus and Japanese were driven out of the country because of the atrocities they committed against the Chinese people.
Western-style democracy and China
Western-style democracy was never demanded or pursued by the vast majority of the Chinese people. One reason is that they have never experienced it or do not know what it is.
For example, someone once asked Martin Lee – whom some had labeled as a “traitor” or “running dog lackey” because he championed British colonial rule but traveled around the world to denounce Chinese dictatorship when Hong Kong returned to China – if democracy could give him a job. In another example, in a village election in southern China, people questioned the merit of universal suffrage, complaining that secret ballots might be rigged.
Another reason is that most Chinese see democracy as dysfunctional and protecting the interests of the well-organized and those connected to the political establishment.
What is demanded and desired by the Chinese is a stable environment in which people can improve their living standards and exercise their entrepreneurial spirit. To that end, the Communist government has succeeded, which explains why it has the support of more than 80% of the people, according to the US-based Pew International Opinion Poll.
China under Communist rule
To be sure, China’s Communist rulers have not been perfect. Indeed, they have made many mistakes and created huge problems.
Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward movement caused massive starvation and huge waste of resources because that policy was not well thought out. The Cultural Revolution almost turned into a civil war because Mao and his supporters were determined to hang on to power and carried a continuous class struggle.
Later on, over-investment and excessive dependency on exports resulted in unsustainable economic growth. Quantity-over-quality economic growth culminated in China being the most polluted nation on Earth, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and costing the nation more than 2% of its gross domestic product every year.
Transforming from central planning to a market economy has resulted in increasingly unequal income distribution. Lack of accountability has led to rampant corruption and abuse of official power.
However, the leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping appeared to recognize the problems they had created and were determined to address them. Mao was aware of the damage his Great Leap Forward had caused, stepping down and allowing Liu Shaoqi, the No 2 man in charge, to take over the government and stimulate recovery in 1960.
Deng Xiaoping recognized that to gain popular support, the government must improve people’s livelihoods, prompting him to reform China’s economic system from central planning to a market economy and governance from strong-leader rule to collective leadership. Their successors, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, followed and expanded Deng’s economic and political reforms.
The pragmatism and resilience of successive generations of leaders probably made China what it is today, addressing its problems head-on. Jiang opened China’s doors wider, encouraging foreign investment. Hu rebalanced the economy from export-driven to domestic-demand-led and raised the minimum wage. Xi has spent hugely on green energy development (US$320 billion) and mounted an anti-corruption campaign. To sustain popular support, future leaders will likely follow their predecessors.
Foreign criticism
China critics would suggest that the Communists’ only legitimacy is economic growth. But isn’t that the key to the legitimacy of every government, whether democratic or autocratic? Donald Trump’s election platform was to “bring back jobs to America”. One of the main reasons George H W Bush lost the 1992 US presidential election to Bill Clinton was the latter’s declaration that “it’s the economy, stupid”.
Some in the West opine that the economic numbers coming out of China are “fake news” or exaggerated. While that accusation has been true for the numbers published by some local governments, the central government did revise them to reflect the real state of affairs. Had GDP not grown at such high annual rates, China could not have become the second-largest economy in the world, consuming more than 40% of global resources, and sending tens of millions of tourists overseas.
On China “bullying” its smaller and weaker neighbors, one should examine the history of the territorial disputes in its entirety before forming a conclusion. The Communist government did not draw the “Nine Dash Line” in the South China Sea, and the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations demanded that Japan returned the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands to China after World War II. Moreover, China did not colonize other countries although it had the power to do so in the past. Finally, China always calls for dialogue and diplomacy to address differences.
On China being a currency manipulator, one should study its currency policies. From 1994 to 2005, the Chinese currency was pegged to the greenback at a fixed rate of US$1 to 8.28 yuan. Perhaps under US pressure, the yuan was then pegged against a basket of major currencies at a narrow range, culminating in an appreciation of 34% against the dollar from 2005 to 2013. During that period, the volume of trade and the US current-account deficit increased, which brings into question the validity of the claim that China was a currency manipulator. That charge has become even more invalid in the past two years because China burned more than $250 billion to shore up the value of the yuan.
There might be two reasons that the US trade deficit with China has increased. First, more than 60% of its “imports” from China are actually owned by US firms outsourcing production to China or re-exports of products made in other countries, including the United States itself. Chinese factories, some of them owned by foreign investors, are in fact contractors.
Second, the value of US “imports” from China is inflated. For example, the real value of China’s contribution to the production of Apple’s iPad is only $11, but US Customs lists the value as more than $172, the total cost.
The only reason anti-China US politicians and pundits accuse Beijing of being a currency manipulator is the value of trade and the size of the trade deficit, more than $50 billion and $20 billion respectively. Neither the World Trade Organization nor the US Treasury Department labels China a currency manipulator based on that.
As for the alleged abuses of human rights and suppression of religious freedom, seeing is believing. Visit China and determine for yourself whether the Chinese government is as repressive as its critics claim.
An excellent summary. Well said!
1) China never had the power to colonize its neighbours and the last time they tried under Ming Yongle, they went bankrupt. Only industrialized powers have the power to colonize pre-industrial countries/societies and China was a laggard even in Asia. But had they been early to industrialize, the record shows they would not have been passive or benevolent as they claim.
2) First consider the Tibet/Xinjiang conquest and genocide of the 19th and 20th centuries. Tibet’s population today is less than in 1950. These former countries are far smaller and less powerful/populated than China which makes them a good proxy as to how China would have behaved historically to others if they became far more powerful.
3) Then consider China as understood as the Yellow River civilization that conquered and displaced indigenous peoples from all over what is now known as China. With the power of industrialization, the “Han” would have replicated the process throughout SE Asia, displacing indigenous peoples and taking all the prime farmland much like what the Europeans tried to do in Africa, only there weren’t enough of them. China wouldn’t have had that problem though.
4) China is the one fanning anti-western/japanese sentiment these days, not the other way around. Just look at patriotic education. So if you are going to criticize the Western media for “very slight” anti-China bias, it is far more appropriate to criticize China state media and education. The Chinese authorities manipulate public opinion, control the media/education which is why the country can’t be trusted. Unlike the West, there is no public pressure originating from free press to do the right thing in foreign policy. Give a very Nationalist China the power of the West, and it will make for a very worrisome situation.
5) China backs North Korea, the most repressive and murderous country in the world today bar none and is primarily the reason why the Korean peninsula remains split today, because reunification would not be in their interests. So they place their own petty geopolitical interests and insecurities over the welfare of the Korean people.
6) China’s building SCS islands would be like the US building islands all over the Caribbean and threatening trade tariffs and arresting fisherman if these countries fail to show the “proper respect” and made “disparaging comments” against it. So much for Chinese diplomacy. And don’t draw a false equivalence with Cuba or Venezuela, because these countries don’t just criticize the US, they have a bad human rights record. Other countries, Ecuador for example, can criticize the US with no fear of sanctions. China on the other hand sanctions or threatens to sanction countries simply for speaking badly about them, but they don’t care how badly they behave otherwise. North Korea is the clearest proof.
7) China certainly would like overseas bases in the future (when they master carrier warfare). They are already in discussions with Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Djibouti. But unlike the US, other countries don’t trust China very much.
8) China was historically a closed power who never benefited the world (exceptions are paper, gunpowder basically). And guarded its “secrets” to making money like silkworms rather than spread knowledge to the rest of mankind. They were that kind of selfish, self interested power.
9) Just “looking around” in China is a bad way to understand the human rights issue, because these things obviously take place behind closed doors, not out in the open, which is why there is a problem to begin with.
10) It’s true China traditionally never bothered the world (beyond Han colonization) because it was so large, unstable and difficult to rule already. But they only repressed their own people, so that’s okay for you I guess. People call China uncivilized because until very recently, (last 100 years), they had a primitive/barbaric legal system, repressive administrative structures, absurd policies of dealing with foreigners and a refusal to trade that contributed to the opium wars. If your defence is that China had the right to preserve its own stability, well since it was a rotten system to begin with, it’s a pretty bad argument.
11) The European perspective is that China was the one bullying them for refusing to open up their markets where they could sell their manufactured goods, and forcing them to run a large silver deficit (that also wrecked China’s economy due to inflation). Since the Europeans couldn’t stop buying porcelain, the emperor used this knowledge to continue extracting silver from them, by restricting trade, thus “bullying” them. The view that mid 19th century Europe had nothing worth buying for China is Chinese imperial propaganda that is still unfortunately repeated in pro-China history books. (British manufactured goods were coveted all over the world) Unfortunately the shrillness of Chinese criticism over Western colonialism means they feel they have more reason to hate the West than say India or Africa, for things that happened over two hundred years ago that did more cosmetic damage than anything, magnified ten thousand fold into serious psychological trauma (and an inferiority complex) due to nationalistic (and xenophobic) narratives over the generations that was used to exert control and domination over the Chinese people.
agree
speculation, but quite possible
speculation, but quite possible
half and half…. both sides r equally guilty here. the western media’s anti-china bias is much more than "very slight". especially american media
sadly i have to agree on this. altho i should point out that america props up brutal dictators around that world too, and only disposes of them when they become disobedient to uncle sam.
check out the "monroe doctrine". what u have to understand is the concept of Realpolitik which is what all major powers go by rather than the rules and morals they possess. control of the SCS is vital if war ever broke out which is why china must control it one way or another. just like the russians must control their former soviet satellites. the americans r militarily strong enough (and have geographic advantage) such that they do not need to do this, otherwise they would do the exact same thing. i’m not saying its the morally right, but i’m saying that right or wrong, any major power would do the same in the same situation.
once they feel their very survival is threatened, they must do what they feel is necessary. look at the cuban missile crisis. the americans put jupiter (nuclear) missiles near soviet borders. when the soviets wanted to respond in kind by placing nukes in cuba (their ally which granted them permission), the americans (which had no legal or even moral right to object) still threatened nuclear war to stop this. in fact, if it wasn’t for soviet (namely krushev)’s restraint, the americans might already have unleashed nuclear annihilation of the human race (and we wouldn’t be discussing it now)
i doubt they trust the US much either. the US has a very poor record of keeping its promises.
u seem to have a poor grasp of world history leading to a lack of context. the romans viewed non-romans as barbarians too.
also, while the chinese didn’t go around offering their technology, there’s nothing to show they diliberately "guarded" it either. there are actually documented records of them offering its technology to tributary states.
at the same time, did other great empires of the past go around deliberately spreading knowledge for the benefit of mankind? absoluately not. whatever knowledge/technology transfers between different cultures, they happened mostly thru trade or war.
there’s no argument that human rights is absymal in china, but actually most chinese civilians know this and can see this on regular basis
please do some research on other ancient empires. u will see that the cycle of "rise > stagnation/corruption/oppression > decline" is common to all (except that china is the exception in that they kept on resurrecting and coming back).
actually, china was culturally more advanced than its contemporaries for most of history (and this did NOT come from chinese history books). Their legal/admin systems r primitive/barbaric by TODAY’S STANDARDS which is a very poor comparison.
each of the emperor’s varied greatly in their attitude towards foreigners. i believe u r basing most of your opinion that china’s policies of dealing with foreigners based on Qianlong emperor’s (during his later/senile yrs). On the other hand, his grandfather Kongxi was very open/receptive to foreigner’s and foreign technology. Had they changed places, china would have gone down a completely different path.
while i agreed with some of your earlier points and disagreed with others, i hate to say this but this one is absurd. how can you equate refusal to trade as bullying? trade only occurs when there is a willing buyer and seller. if you want to sell me your car but i don’t want to buy it, can you say that i’m bullying you? if you voluntarily come to give me your money because you want to buy my stuff, am i bullying you?
read a university history textbook written by WESTERN HISTORIANS, and it will tell u. china simply wasn’t interested in european goods (whether the rest of the world coveted it or not is irrelevent). and china also had every right not to open its markets.
you are thinking from a globalization mindset which posits that all nations should open their markets to free trade. this idea is a very recent one. back in those days mercantilism was the norm. the european nations likewise wanted to sell their goods to others while preventing other nations to sell in their markets.
lastly however, i do partially agree with u that chinese government does take advantage by playing the victim card by overplaying otherwise legitimate historical grievances.
A good truthful article reflecting the real China.
This Thomas Kwok and his yes, man Leo Shea (both from Toronto, Canada) seem to speak based on speculating circumstances, for example Kwok says, only industralized powers had the power to colonize" where did he get his history?. Spain was not industralized then but sent Columbus to the Americas and colonize them. That is how all the major disasters in the world started from the extermination and enslavement of tmany natives to the exploitation of the natural resources in those continents and consequently providing for the enrichment of the Europeans.
About Tibet and Xinxiang. Again Kwok’s history is totally distorted, Britain tried to intervene and take Tibet away as India still was her colony. China was nascent on her new Maoist government. Britain thought this was her opportnity to take it over but she couldn’t. I guess Britain thought India was going to be her colony forever. Then, USA follow up with this trend and ever since China has become " the invaders".
USA and her allies always operate from that perspective, divide and conquer.
I could go on but I think, this is enough- I think my point was made.
By the way, someone needs to get back to school and study his history books, again.
Disagree. China bashing was always in the Western media to increase readership and disspell the mysteries and myths of China. China revolution of 1949 set free approximately 80% of its peasant population who were illiterate and enslave through indentured servitude and subsistence living. The first priority for the newly found government was to produce enough food to avoid mass starvation and secondly regain the health, national self confidence of the people and consolidate political power. The government also had a massive task to create education centers to develop a literate population.
Confucian Chinese threw most westerner into confusion.
Dear Mr. Moak, if China was a democracy, then it would have been OK to say that the Chinese rulers are good or bad…But when people do not have power to change their rulers, that in modern times is called subjugation…and one should not forget what happened in China after the Communist take over, how many people were killed in the name of an ideology.
One has to accept that democracy is at its best is still has its flaws…But all other ideologies are far far worst….including Communism…which China now only preaches, but practices total capitalism…
It is time that the Communists allow 1/5th of humanity to choose who rules them…If Communists are not bad, the people will elect them…
of all the nations that have a democratic political structure, only a very small number of them "works". whenever most ppl think of democracies, they think of the US and the handful of western european democracies that "work". unfortunately, the majority of democracies don’t work. and wat u hv is a number of equally bad factions fighting for power which is even worse than having 1 strongman in control. if china tried to implement democracy, wat would actually happen would be anarchy. even the military may splinter into differing factions supporting differing sides in fighting for control (keep in mind the chinese military has nukes).
oh CCP’s rulers wasn’t perfect and have made some mistakes that cost 30 million or perhaps more. And you call that mistake?
American colonizers just killed 20 million native Indians, which is smaller than what Communist rulers have killed.
Leo Shea : You are forgetting that the 2nd largest country by population – INDIA is a thriving democrecy. More people vote in Indian general election, then US, Canada, Europe combined… Yes democracy has flaws, but it will be self-serving for Communists to cite them to perpetrate their own dictatorial rules.
well, fine. Americans were never expert in killing their own people unlike the Chinese, oops, the Chicom. And by the way, the Chicom is still busy denying what they have done while the Americans’ killing of the native Indians are well studied and documented. So go figure.