The impact of changes in political leadership on the foreign policies of the People's Republic of China - Essay Example

? The impact of changes in political leadership on the foreign policies of the People's Republic of China Introduction China is one of the most rapidly developing countries in the world. Many people believe that China may become a superpower in near future itself and the supremacy of America in global political and economic matters will be ended shortly. Even though communism is prevailing in China for the last few decades, it doesn’t mean that China’s internal and external policies undergone no changes. Some of the communist leaders in the past were adamant in implementing communist policies whereas modern political leaderships seems to be adopting more liberal approaches in implementing communist policies in China. Deng Xiao Ping is considered as the father of modern China. Even though Mao was one of the most charismatic leaders of China, his economic and political policies were strictly in line with communist principles. He never tried to dilute communist principles even for the betterment of China. However, the leadership followed by Mao was not so, especially Deng Xiao Ping. Deng succeeded in putting strong bases to China’s economic growth without sacrificing many of the communist principles. The leaders succeeded by Deng were also followed the same path of Deng and currently China is one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Interpreting China’s foreign policy is an important key to understand the tides of global affairs in 1990’s, not only because China, with the world’s largest population wields demographic and economic clouts, but also it arguably the most dynamic country in the second half of twentieth century (Zhao, 1996, p.4). As a key player in global economic and political spectrum at present, China’s foreign policies are studied with curiosity by political analysts. This paper analyses the impact of changes in political leadership on the foreign policies of the People's Republic of China. Political leadership and China’s foreign policies Sun Yat Sen era Sun Yat Sen is often referred as the father of China. He assumed power immediately after the destruction of Qing dynasty, but forced to resign in 1912 because of his differences with the Nationalist party and the government. But he was successful assuming power again in 1923. He was a visionary leader who worked hard for China’s economic progress. “Sun summarized his policies in the Three Principles of the People--nationalism, democracy, and socialism” (Chinese Cultural Studies). He was a great admirer of Soviet Union and was keen in keeping stronger ties with Soviet Union. He tried hard to implant a Soviet model of economic growth in China. He was a liberal leader and was not much adamant in implementing communist principles. In fact he had respect towards democracy. After the death of Sun Yat Sen in 1925, Chiang Kai Shek assumed power and continued the good work of Sun Yat Sen. Chiang Kai Shek Era Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of China till the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1949.he was successful in keeping China away from the two World Wars. He was keen in keeping good relations with Western countries such as America and Britain. He was a strong critic of communism and did everything possible to avoid the growth of communism in Chinese soil. However, October revolution in 1949, forced Chiang Kai Shek to accept defeat and hand over the power to communist leader Mao Zedong. Mao era Even though, Mao was responsible for the Cultural Revolution in China, his contributions to China’s economic progress were limited. He was a leader who strictly followed communist principles in all internal and external matters. “Mao followed an aggressive foreign policy towards China’s neighboring countries” (Hongyi, 2010, p.17). It should be noted that China attacked India during Mao era. At sunrise on October 20, 1962, China's People's Liberation Army invaded India with overwhelming force on two separate flanks - in the west in Ladakh, and in the east across the McMahon Line in the then North-East Frontier Agency. The Chinese aggression, and the defeat and humiliation it wreaked on an unprepared India, One relates to the timing of the invasion masterminded by Mao Zedong. The aggression was executed cunningly to coincide with the Cuban missile crisis that brought the United States and Soviet Union within a whisper of nuclear war (Chellaney, 2002) Mao was more interested in expanding China’s territory. He claimed that some portions of India belong to China and it should be returned. The clam raised on India’s north eastern state Arunachal Pradesh by Mao is still consider seriously by some of China’s current political leaders. Another motive which forced Mao to attack India was to avoid the possible nuclear war between America and Soviet Union over Cuban missile issue. It should be noted that both Cuba and Soviet Union were/are communist countries and an attack on these communist countries by a capitalist country like America was indigestible to China. During Mao era, China kept strong relationships with all the other communist countries including Soviet Union and Cuba. Mao was reluctant in solving the problems of the Chinese people. In his thirst to expand communism all over the world, he pretends like a blind man while watching China’s internal economic problems. He did nothing to control the population growth or to increase the economic growth. On the other hand Deng, the communist party leader who succeeded Mao, made lot of changes in the economic policies which put the base for the enormous economic growth in China at present. Mao was keen keeping everything tight under the control of the communist party. China behaved as an opaque entity during this and even Soviet Union was treated suspiciously by China during Mao era. Mao closed all the doors towards China and very little was known to the external world about China during this period. Mao miscalculated that the cooperation with other countries is not much important for China’s growth. Deng era Lieberthal (2003) has mentioned that “the political considerations in Beijing dictated the pace and thrust of the reform process throughout the 1980’s. Moreover, Deng pushed China more towards openness, greater political stability and economic progress” (Lieberthal, p.123-134). Deng implemented many economic reformation policies and he opened Chinese economy much wider to the private capital investment. Deng was not much interested in keeping an aggressive policy towards China’s neighbors. He had realized that population growth is the major obstacle in front of China’s economic progress. He implemented many policies to control population growth. At the same time, he realized that more economic reforms are necessary to give momentum to China’s economic progress. Moreover, he believed that China should open its market more widely for foreign direct investments. He realized that foreign investments are necessary for China like heavily populated countries to develop properly. Keeping all these views in mind, “Deng has realized that the economic reforms would be ineffective unless the party could also be reformed and started his reformation process in China by restructuring not only the economic system, but the political spectrum as well” (Gittings, 2005, p.173). Deng did everything possible to attract foreign direct investment to China. The rest is history. China is currently the number one exploiter of globalization. They are the most rapidly developing economies in the world at present. Even when global recession caused huge challenges to many other prominent countries like America and Britain from 2007 onwards, China’s economy reacted well to these challenges. It would have been a different story, had Deng followed in the footsteps of Mao. Gao (2005) has mentioned that lot of small scale industries under private ownership has been developed as part of Deng’s reformation process (Gao, 2005). It should be noted that private capital is not allowed under communist principles. However, Deng modified those principles to attract more investments in China from foreign entrepreneurs. During the Deng era, Chin opened their economy more widely to foreign investments. However, Pexin (2003) argued that China opened the economy more cautiously than any other country (Peixin, 2003). China never opened their critical sectors for private participation during Deng era. Recent changes in China’s foreign policies Overholt (2005) mentioned that China opposed the “global economic order, political order and the major global institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank before the reforms started in China” (Overholt, 2005, p.3). Even globalization was unacceptable to China during the initial stages of its introduction. Chinese leaders argued that capitalist countries introduced globalization to loot the wealth of poor countries. They had seen some hidden agenda behind the curtains of globalization. However, Chinese political leaderships in 80’s and 90’s quickly released their mistakes and embraced globalization with both hands. Now, it is generally accepted that globalization brought wonders to Chinese economy. China’s foreign policies are more acceptable to the west at present which is evident from the fact that many Western companies are currently operating in China. Moreover, America is the biggest market for China at present. McEachern (2009), pointed out that “China is currently account for 80% of the toys sold in America” (McEachern, 2009, p.270). It should be noted that American market was inaccessible to China in the past. However, present political leadership in China is keen maintaining stronger trade relationships with America and other western countries. They are not ready to sacrifice China’s interests for safeguarding communist principles. Pei & Lee, (n. d) mentioned that “a series of unofficial exchange visits between US nuclear weapons experts and their People’s Republic of China (PRC) counterparts started from 1978 onwards” (Pei & Lee, n. d, p.1). These facts clearly indicate that China’s relations with America are strengthening at least in the surface level. China is currently working on a foreign policy which is based on the political `preservation of the CCP regime, China's economic prosperity, and Beijing's pursuit of power and prestige. These three motives are stable and overlapping, featuring Taiwan and the relationship with the United States as the key issues. Beijing is expected to be motivated by these peculiar motives over the next two decades; but new internal and external developments may greatly change these motives and generate new impetus for China's foreign policy (Wang, 2005, p.669) Feng, (2007) argued that “China has not balanced against power, nor has China balanced against threat, as the balance of threat theory would predict. Instead, China has formed friendly strategic partnerships constructively with most of the major powers in the world” (Feng, 2007, p.4). Modern political leadership in China has realized that the growth of Chinese economy is heavily dependent on the international selling of products manufactured in China. Chinese market is too small when we consider the volumes of products produced in China. China forced economists to change some of the established economic principles. Economists earlier argued that population growth is a major obstacle in front of economic growth. However, Chine taught the external world that these curses can be converted to blessings. They used their manpower judiciously to maximize production. Cheap labor helped them to reduce the prices of their commodities in international market. Currently products from other countries are struggling to compete with Chinese products as far as price is concerned. China realized that a transparent global market is necessary to sell out the products produced in China. Keeping these points in mind, China started to establish warm relationships with neighboring countries and other foreign countries. “During 1997–2005, the PRC’s average annual growth rate in real GDP was 8.9%. During the forecast period of 2005–2010, it was assumed that the PRC continued its historical growth trend of 8.9% per year” (Mai et al, 2010, p.5). Moreover, “the PRC’s exports increase by about 46%and imports by about 45% relative to their respective baseline levels in 2010”(Mai et al, 2010, p.7). All these statistics clearly suggest that China is currently maintaining a warm relationship with external world and its foreign policies have been changed considerably from the Mao era. “China’s increasing economic activities in Africa and Latin America proves beyond doubt that China is actively participating in global issues more than ever” (Iain). As mentioned earlier, Earlier China was reluctant in establishing relationships with non-communist countries. However, at present they are keen in establishing relationships with even poor countries or regions. Chinese leadership has realized that even Africa can contribute heavily to China’s economic progress. It should be noted that African region was once neglected by many of the global powers. The strategic importance of African region is increasing currently as more and more countries are interested in investing heavily in Africa now. China knows very well that in a globalized world, cooperation with other parts of the world may bring more good than harm. China is often criticized for its disrespect towards human rights. The 1989 Tiananmen square massacre is still in the memories of people. However, many people believe that China’s human right foreign policies are currently undergoing drastic changes. The changes in China's human rights foreign policy are the product of identity transformation that began in the late 1970s and still continues to the present. This identity explanation not only accounts for the changes in China's approach to international human rights but also continuity in China's stance on certain human rights issues (Chen, 2007, p.1). China started to respect human right issues more frequently now because of their awareness that no administration can continue in power for longer period by avoiding the interests of the people. It should be noted that many of the Arab dictators who exploited religious beliefs to continue in power, forced to step down because of people’s protests. Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are countries which underwent revolution in recent times. Chinese leadership is also aware of such a turnaround in their soil also. So, they started to talk more loudly about human right issues at present. “Business Week recently published an article reporting that China is becoming hostile to foreign capital and that China’s policy on foreign investment will change to reflect that attitude” (Xianrong, 2006, p.17). China is restricting foreign investments in some sectors in order to avoid future problems. For example, real estate is an industrial sector in which China is currently restricting foreign investments. This is only a precautionary measure to avoid speculations in the market. “When speculation peaks and sparks an economic crisis, foreign investors will withdraw their capital and the domestic population will be left to deal with the economic crisis” (Xianrong, 2006, p.17). Earlier, China was reluctant in accepting visa applications form foreigners. Even if a foreigner granted permission to enter China, his activities were monitored continuously in the past. However, the scenario has changed a lot now. “Those who apply to come to China for justifiable reasons will be given every convenience”; said Wei Wei, Director of the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (People & points, 2008, p.3). Plenty of foreigners are currently working in China even though their activities are constantly monitored. “China has signed the Framework Agreement with ASEAN on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation with the aim of establishing China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone in 2010” (Peixin, 2003). In other words, China is currently strengthening its relations with regional players. However, they are keeping a separate foreign policy towards India. On one side China is trying to strengthen their relationships with US like democratic countries whereas on the other side, they are keeping aggressive approaches towards neighboring India like democratic countries. Pakistan is one of the closest allies of China at present. It should be noted that Pakistan is the number one enemy for India. The strategic relations with Pakistan would help China to block the progress of India up to certain extent. India is currently raising major challenges to China’s rising as a superpower. India’s economic growth is causing huge concerns to China. So they are currently trying to prevent India from achieving superpower spot. “According to People's Daily, April 2008, for more than 700 years, the central government of China has continuously exercised sovereignty over Tibet, and Tibet has never been an independent state” (BBC News, 2008). Another reason for China’s aggressive approach towards India is India’s soft policies towards Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama. China believes that India is encouraging Dalai Lama to fight for freedom of Tibetans. India has given shelter to Dalai Lama which increased China’s dislike towards India further. Conclusions China’s foreign policies have been changed a lot in the past because of the changes in the perceptions of the different political leaders who ruled China during the past few decades. Sun Yat Sen was friendlier with Soviet Union whereas Chiang Kai Shek was friendlier towards America. Mao who captured power from Chiang Kai Shek was not much keen in establishing warm relations with other countries. On the other hand, Deng has revolutionized China’s foreign policies. He established warmer relations with other countries in order to find market for Chinese products. The political leaders who followed Deng also adopted the same foreign policies of Deng. China is currently keeping an aggressive foreign policy towards India in order to prevent India’s progress towards superpower spot. References 1. BBC News. 2008. The Tibet issue [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7410745.stm [Accessed on 01 March 2012] 2. Chen, D. 2007. Explaining China's Human Rights Foreign Policy: an Identity-Based Approach. Conference Papers -- International Studies Association, 2007 Annual Meeting, EBSCOHost 3. Chellaney B. 2002. Forty years after Indo-china war. [Online] Available at: http://www.reversespins.com/fortyyears.html [Accessed on 01 March 2012] 4. Chinese Cultural Studies. 1995. [Online] Available at: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinhist.html[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 5. Feng H. 2007. Chinese Strategic Culture and Foreign Policy Decision-Making: Confucianism, Leadership and War. Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (May 11, 2007) 6. Gittings, J. 2005. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; illustrated edition (September 23, 2005) 7. Gao,T. 2005. Globalization and China: Impacts on the Economy and People's Quality of Life. Hofstra Universty. [Online] Available at: http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/biz_mlc_gao.pdf3[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 8. Hongyi L. 2010. The Domestic Sources of China's Foreign Policy: Regimes, Leadership, Priorities and Process. Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 21, 2010) 9. Iain, J. A. 2008. Is China Rising?”. [Online] Available at: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/global/assets/CGI/Johnston_paper.pdf[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 10. Lieberthal, K. 2003. Governing China: From Revolution to Reform. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Second Edition (December 15, 2003) 11. McEachern, W.A. 2009. ECON Macro 2. Publisher: South-Western College Pub; 002 edition (September 11, 2009) 12. Mai Y. H., Adams P., Dixon p., and Menon J.2010. The Awakening Chinese Economy: Macro and Terms of Trade Impacts on 10 Major Asia-Pacific Countries. Asian Development Bank. ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration. [Online] Available at: http://www.adb.org/documents/Papers/Regional-Economic-Integration/WP66-Mai-The-Awakening-Chinese-Economy.pdf[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 13. Overholt, W.H. 2005. China and Globalization. [Online] Available at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/2005/RAND_CT244.pdf[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 14. People & points. 2008. Beijing review. July 10, 2008. EBSCOHost 15. Peixin, Z. 2003. China and Globalization. [Online] Available at: http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng/dsjh/t27161.htm[Accessed on 01 March 2012] 16. Pei H. D. & Lee P. H. n. d. Chapter 1. A Counterintelligence Reader, Volume 4 [Online] Available at: www.fas.org/irp/ops/ci/docs/ci4/ch1.pdf [Accessed on 01 March 2012] 17. Wang F.L. 2005. Preservation, Prosperity and Power: what motivates China's foreign policy? Journal of Contemporary China, Nov2005, Vol. 14 Issue 45, p669-694, 18. Xianrong Y. 2006. Foreign Investment Welcome Beijing Review September 14, 2006. EBSCOHost 19. Zhao Q. 1996. Interpreting Chinese Foreign Policy: The Micro-Macro Linkage Approach Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 17, 1996) Read More