Website review: Asia Times Online :: China News - A...
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atakent50 rated 22 months ago- A symphony of civilizations From the page: "In other words, will China tend to behave like the US, indeed at the center of a unilateral pax Americana, or more like the members of the European Union embarked to build a republic of nations? Peace or war at a massive scale in the 21st century will depend largely on the answer to this question. Obviously, a pax Sinica would collide with the pax Americana; in such a scenario, indirect or direct conflicts between the two hegemons seem unavoidable. But if a cooperative Chinese civilization joins the efforts of a cooperative Europe, not only could an unprecedented area of peace and prosperity be opened on Eurasia, but the US could rediscover the wisdom of the Jeffersonian spirit, or face the risk of being isolated from the dynamics of a post-imperial Eurasian world-continent. One may try to anticipate the nature of Beijing's posture in world affairs by looking at what can be called China's experience of diversity. Here, we are looking for a factor that partly explains China's current relatively good relationship with its 14 land neighbors (given the heterogeneity of China's periphery, this is already a remarkable diplomatic achievement), its strong engagement into the United Nations system and the World Trade Organization, its commitment to the ASEAN+3 process, the six-party talks on North Korea or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Beyond more obvious and immediate tactical concerns, or strategic choices, Zhou Enlai's "Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence", or more recently the SCO's "Shanghai Spirit" (mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and common development) might well also be linked with a tradition of having to handle pluralism and to cope with complexity. Since it shares with the Old World an accumulation of experiences in dealing with a high level of internal diversity, the Chinese world is more likely to adopt the European quest for equilibrium on the global chessboard. As custom deeply influences individuals' behavior, history has profound impact on the reflexes or responses of political entities. The US, which never had to manage internally a multilateral subsystem, is just not well equipped to accept and live within a genuine global multilateral system. Discussing the trans-Atlantic divide, Robert Kagan affirms that "on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" (Paradise and Power, 2003). But to continue the astronomical metaphor, if one can say, indeed, that Americans are from one planet, both Chinese are Europeans are from constellations. " To summarize the article. For sure, China will regain its place as a world power. The question is: will it try to do so like the United States and dominate the world? Or will it do so in a spirit of cooperation with willing partners? What can America learn from the transformation which China needs to make?
- SchreiberBike rated 23 months ago
From the page: "In other words, will China tend to behave like the US, indeed at the center of a unilateral pax Americana, or more like the members of the European Union embarked to build a republic of nations? Peace or war at a massive scale in the 21st century will depend largely on the answer to this question. Obviously, a pax Sinica would collide with the pax Americana; in such a scenario, indirect or direct conflicts between the two hegemons seem unavoidable. But if a cooperative Chinese civilization joins the efforts of a cooperative Europe, not only could an unprecedented area of peace and prosperity be opened on Eurasia, but the US could rediscover the wisdom of the Jeffersonian spirit, or face the risk of being isolated from the dynamics of a post-imperial Eurasian world-continent. One may try to anticipate the nature of Beijing's posture in world affairs by looking at what can be called China's experience of diversity. Here, we are looking for a factor that partly explains China's current relatively good relationship with its 14 land neighbors (given the heterogeneity of China's periphery, this is already a remarkable diplomatic achievement), its strong engagement into the United Nations system and the World Trade Organization, its commitment to the ASEAN+3 process, the six-party talks on North Korea or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Beyond more obvious and immediate tactical concerns, or strategic choices, Zhou Enlai's "Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence", or more recently the SCO's "Shanghai Spirit" (mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and common development) might well also be linked with a tradition of having to handle pluralism and to cope with complexity. Since it shares with the Old World an accumulation of experiences in dealing with a high level of internal diversity, the Chinese world is more likely to adopt the European quest for equilibrium on the global chessboard. As custom deeply influences individuals' behavior, history has profound impact on the reflexes or responses of political entities. The US, which never had to manage internally a multilateral subsystem, is just not well equipped to accept and live within a genuine global multilateral system. Discussing the trans-Atlantic divide, Robert Kagan affirms that "on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" (Paradise and Power, 2003). But to continue the astronomical metaphor, if one can say, indeed, that Americans are from one planet, both Chinese are Europeans are from constellations. " To summarize the article. For sure, China will regain its place as a world power. The question is: will it try to do so like the United States and dominate the world? Or will it do so in a spirit of cooperation with willing partners? What can America learn from the transformation which China needs to make?
- laodan rated 23 months ago
A symphony of civilizations Much truth here about geo-politics or international relations. I had (and this reinforced with time) the same feeling as Jean Monet about the Chinese: "I found myself face to face with men who seemed far more subtle and intelligent than Westerners". Yes, Europe appears indeed very primitive when compared with China. Yea, "because of their past internal diplomatic arrangements, Europe and China see almost instinctively the nuances between these extremes and the advantages of maintaining equilibrium among various poles of power. History has trained the two old worlds to deal better with complexity, uncertainty and the art of concessions". I guess the same could be said of India, Persia and Arabia... And furthermore, as David Gosset states: "The US, which never had to manage internally a multilateral subsystem, is just not well equipped to accept and live within a genuine global multilateral system." Yes you generally are dumb simply because you did not go through experience. And again yes, "In the US, many would have first to recognize that reality is complex and uncertain and that compromise is not necessarily a betrayal of ideals, or negotiation a waste of time." David Gosset is director of Academia Sinica Europaea at the China Europe International Business School, Shanghai, and founding director of the Euro-China Forum. """ On December 1, 2005, Premier Wen Jiabao gave an interview to the French newspaper Le Figaro. As an introduction, he made a reference to the scholar Gu Hongming (1857-1928): "It seems that only the French people could understand China and the Chinese civilization because the French share an extraordinary quality with the Chinese, namely subtlety." And Wen added: "So when I meet French friends, I do not feel there is estrangement between us." We have also this reference to subtlety to describe the Chinese mind, but this time in Jean Monnet's words; remembering his stay in Shanghai in 1934 and 1935, the father of the European community writes: "When I reached Shanghai ... I found myself face to face with men who seemed far more subtle and intelligent than Westerners" (Jean Monnet, Memoirs, Collins, English translation 1978, p 110). """ URL: A symphony of civilizations
