The Challenge of Learning about China

By Bernard Yegiora

The world we live in is changing at a rapid pace. This view unfortunately is not shared by many in the poor developing nations of the world, especially for those in the remote places up in the highlands, and even in the islands of PNG. For them change is happening at a snail pace.

The City of Changchun where I live is a growing organism, with continuous construction going on; I wonder when the city will stop growing. I was surprised to see how fast the Chinese were able to build a 15 storey building in just 8 months. Beginning in spring last year, they worked really hard up until the beginning of winter. The building is now awaiting finishing touches, which will be done after the bone crunching northeast winter is over.

In January last year, on my way to Harbin which is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province way up north close to the Russian boarder, I was fascinated by the complex mega highway. I noticed that some sections of the highway was elevated off the ground by big concrete slabs , that made me imagine parts of the Highlands highway where that kind of engineering structure would prevent erosion and pot holes.

This new experiences and sights prompted me to question why China is developing at this pace. I do not know the answer to my own question because there is more than one answer. We could say it is because of their authoritarian system of government, their economic model, the ingenuity of their political leaders, their culture, the geographical location, Confucianism and the list goes on. I now realize that to understand the changes happening in China it would take a life time.

Why do we need to understand China? Recently, like an eagle it has soared up replacing Japan as the second largest economy in the world and is slowly ascending. So it is necessary by all means to preoccupy one’s mind because we are on the verge of a new world order. From PNG to Sir Lanka to Sudan to Colombia the Chinese juggernaut is moving at a pace that is quite stunning.

The building of new dormitories in the University of Goroka and the general increase in Chinese investments in PNG are clear examples. China has already joined the trend in seeking and receiving investments, which in the long run will intertwine all states together making it difficult for one to attack another when there is a conflict, making diplomacy the best tool to help find a win-win solution for both parties in a bilateral dispute, or multiple parties in a multilateral dispute.

While some marvel at the changes happening in light of China’s increased influence in the world, critics have likened China to the West and the rising power pattern that it displayed through out history. Reading through comments on a particular blog site about PNG, it came to my attention that many bloggers influenced to a great extent by Western historical experiences have already constructed in their mind an image of China that is similar to the West.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, which is influenced by their experience. I can not say that their assumption is wrong because I can not predict the future; more so, no one person has monopoly over knowledge. I want to share with you what I have learnt so far about China.

China during the imperial period was strongly a Confucius State. Confucianism was declared as the guiding ideology. As time lapsed, the Confucius state evolved, integrating during the Song dynasty period from 960AD to 1279AD Buddhism from India and Taoism to create neo-Confucianism. But sadly Confucianism was seen as the factor that was contributing to China’s backwardness during the period when Western modernization was fashionable giving way for democracy, communism, and other Western ideas to flourish.

However, China managed to break the spell it was under by realizing that the path the West was leading us to was all premeditated, aimed at safe guarding their own interest by maintaining the status quo. As such, the revival of Confucian norms in the 21^st Century has blown the sail of China’s ship in a different direction, inevitably shown in its approaches internationally by not intervening in the internal matters of other sovereign states, and by giving unconditional aid.

The golden rule of ‘means’ preached by Confucius advises; “not to do unto others what you do not like them to do unto you”. This explains the Confucian pacifist culture where the act of war was only permitted for self defense to counter the adversary’s first blow.

Confucius tradition distinguishes between 2 types of rulers; the King (wang) who relies on moral force such as virtue and benevolence, and the Overlord (ba) who relies on physical force. We can analytically draw an obvious correlation, the West who relies on physical force to spread democracy like in Iraq, and to get other states to do what it wants, depicts the second type of ruler, and China is trying to promote itself using soft power diplomacy as a benign nation interested in peaceful development.

In addition, Taoism advocates non-activity or non-intervention (wu wei). “He who acts, harms; he who grabs, lets slip. Therefore the Sage does not act, and so does not harm. Does not grab, and so does not slip.” This passage from the Tao Te Ching explains China’s foreign policy of non-interference. Accused of supporting notorious leaders of rogue states like Zimbabwe, Sudan and Iran, China is not buying the argument because if it acts it will harm itself in the long run.

I believe many of you ordinary Papua New Guineans are accustomed to using the word ‘komunist’ in pidgin to describe China, but are not aware of the fact that China has moved away from this ideological tag regardless of a Leninist model of party rule as described by Richard McGregor. It no longer has a communist command economy but a capitalist market economy where simple village people are free to sell their goods openly in the streets.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is the phrase used commonly nowadays to describe China’s system. It operates in a manner that is similar to its imperial system where this time it is not the Emperor with the mandate of Heaven but the Party who is contemporary China’s alpha and omega. The Chinese Communist Party is the largest party on earth with around roughly 78 million members.

Politically and economically China varies from all other countries in reference to its structure, but it can not survive on its own due to the forces of globalization that is causing all states in the international system including PNG to be interdependent on each other. China depends solely on the Western liberal economic order created by the West to further pursue its development endeavour, let us not forget that China is still a developing country and peace is a prerequisite for attainting its goal of being a developed nation.

Furthermore, China claims that it is a status quo power, unlike the rise of Germany and Japan in the past; it is not interested in challenging the existing world order. Maintaining a harmonious world is what it is interested in; this is strongly supported by the US’s view of China as a “Responsible Stakeholder”.

The opportunity to live and study in China has helped me to really understand the Chinese society and its position in the world. However, like I said before, no one has monopoly over knowledge, there are still more aspects of China that I do not know.