Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Aspects of Asia as an International System
- 2 The Ideal of Hierarchical Order
- 3 Statecraft in the Long Imperial Era
- 4 China’s Forced Entry into International Society and the Transformation of the Ideal of Hierarchical Order
- 5 The Pursuit of a Hierarchical Order in the People’s Republic of China
- 6 Moral Discourse and Ritual in Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy
- 7 Traditional Tools of Rulership in the Modern World
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2024
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Aspects of Asia as an International System
- 2 The Ideal of Hierarchical Order
- 3 Statecraft in the Long Imperial Era
- 4 China’s Forced Entry into International Society and the Transformation of the Ideal of Hierarchical Order
- 5 The Pursuit of a Hierarchical Order in the People’s Republic of China
- 6 Moral Discourse and Ritual in Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy
- 7 Traditional Tools of Rulership in the Modern World
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
Sixty years is a particularly meaningful number in the traditional Chinese calendar, the completion of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. On the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 2009, marked by a grand military parade in the centre of Beijing and many festivities, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had indeed a lot to celebrate. It had successfully hosted the Olympic Games and used it as a sort of coming-out party, displaying to the world the fruits of China’s economic miracle. While the West was mired in the deepest recession since the 1930s, China had avoided a complete crash thanks to a massive fiscal stimulus. The G20, where China could play a prominent role, replaced the G8 as the main forum to discuss global economic issues. China was also about to surpass Japan to become the second-largest economy on the planet, an ascent symbolizing the success of its growth strategy and the enormous economic (and military) capabilities that it had acquired. In short, things were mostly going China’s way and a sense that the world’s centre of gravity was shifting eastwards was spreading in the PRC and around the world.
Against this background, an increasingly confident CCP declared that a ‘new situation’ (xin xingshi) had arisen. At the fourth plenum of the 17th CCP Central Committee in mid-2009, this new situation was described thusly:
The world is currently in a period of major developments, major changes and major adjustments. The multi-polarisation of the world; the deep development of economic globalisation; the constant progress of science and technology; the far-reaching influence of the international financial crisis; the new change occurring in the structure of the world economy; the new situation appearing in the international balance of power; the new characteristics emerging in the global thought and culture exchanges, mixing and confrontation; the continued dominance of developed nations in terms of economy, science and technology, etc.; the trend toward intense comprehensive national power competition and intense battle for all kinds of strengths; the growing number of unstable and uncertain factors; [all these trends] present new opportunities and new challenges for our country’s development.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Hierarchical Vision of OrderUnderstanding Chinese Foreign Policy in Asia, pp. 1 - 19Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2023