Why Xi Jinping's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 48, Number 20, May 14, 2021 III. The China Wave BOOK REVIEW Ten Years Later: Why Xi Jinping’s ‘New Era’ of Modern China Is Here to Stay by Robert Wesser hard not to conclude that we are witnessing its final The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational phase. The CCP is the world’s second-longest ruling State regime … and no party can rule forever.” That was six by Zhang Weiwei years ago. Horizon Media Co., Ltd., 2011 World Century Publishing Corp., Hackensack, Of course, not only have none of these predictions NJ, 2012 been correct, but the exact opposite has happened. The Hardback, 205 pages question is, why have these so-called China experts been so wrong? Aside from those who simply spin false narratives for propagandistic pur- “With decades of hard work, social- poses, one of the main reasons for ism with Chinese characteristics has such glaring errors in analysis is that crossed the threshold into a new era. they absolutely insist on imposing This is a new historic juncture in Chi- relatively recent Western neo-lib- na’s development....” eral ideological prejudices upon — Xi Jinping, what is in reality a long and com- “Report to the 19th Na- plex Chinese historic process span- tional Congress of the ning over four millennia. The fact is Communist Party of that the current course charted by China,” 2017 Chinese President Xi Jinping can Aside from those who have been only be understood when viewed in closely following the work of Helga the context of China’s long, rich his- Zepp-LaRouche and EIR over the tory of development, rather than as past decade, most Western so-called some transient episode in the rocky analyses about the current trajectory history of post-1839 modern China. of the Chinese nation have been mis- erably wrong in their views and fore- The Civilizational State casts. Until very recently, the past two decades have In 2011, Chinese scholar Zhang Weiwei published seen no lack of failed Western forecasts warning about The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State, origi- the imminent collapse of China’s Communist Party-run nally in Chinese, a book detailing precisely this idea. system and government. Perhaps the most notorious of Zhang is a former interpreter for Deng Xiaoping and is these was Gordon Chang’s 2001 book, The Coming regarded as one of China’s leading experts on foreign Collapse of China, with his “forecast” being reiterated affairs. The China Wave, which has been recommended by him regularly. In 2015, Georgetown University pro- to dignitaries by Xi Jinping himself, explores the funda- fessor David Shambaugh claimed that “We cannot pre- mental ideas governing the outlook of the present Chi- dict when Chinese communism will collapse, but it is nese leadership and its self-conscious commitment to a 46 ‘Peace that Enables Men and Nations To Grow’ EIR May 14, 2021 © 2021 EIR News Service Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited. long-term historical perspective. Zhang argues that Importantly, Xi deliberately (and consistently) uses the China is not (and has no desire to be) a “Western de- Confucian term xiaokang shehui ( ), or mocracy,” but instead is a “civilizational state” which is “moderately prosperous society” to refer to China’s ob- “now the only country in the world which has amal- jective over the coming period. Xi’s 2017 speech to the gamated the world’s longest continuous civilization Nineteenth National Congress of the CCP announcing with a huge modern state.” Identifying with this “con- the “New Era” for China strikes the same chord: tinuous civilization” includes a renewed appreciation of the to- Rooted in a land of more than tality of Chinese history and cul- 9.6 million square kilome- ture, including the revival of ters, nourished by a nation’s Confucius and the Chinese Clas- culture of more than 5,000 sics. Zhang contends that this years, and backed by the in- shift in Chinese identity to the vincible force of more than civilizational state, made possi- 1.3 billion people, we have an ble, in part, by Deng Xiaoping’s infinitely vast stage of our “opening up” to the West in the era, a historical heritage of 1980s, has greatly contributed to unmatched depth, and incom- the extraordinary recent growth parable resolve that enable us of the Chinese economy and its to forge ahead on the road of global influence. socialism with Chinese char- At the beginning of his presi- acteristics.2 dency in 2012, Xi Jinping’s visit and speech to the newly reno- The Confucian Revival vated China National Museum in Xi Jinping’s revival of Con- Beijing was an important indica- fucius and Confucian ideas is an tion of this commitment to a his- important ingredient of this re- torical identity for China. The newed historic Chinese identity. new museum, now the largest in This was signified by Xi’s now the world outside of the Louvre famous visit to Confucius’ birth- in Paris, featured a “Road to Re- place, Qufu, in 2013 and his sub- juvenation” exhibit, fusing post- sequent celebration of the mas- 1839 China (i.e., following the ter’s 2,565th birthday in 2014. launching of the British Opium China: a country of 5,000 years of continuous According to Xi: civilization. Here, a portrayal of Confucius, War against China and the subse- made during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). quent “century of humiliation” Confucianism has recorded under foreign domination) with the rich cultural tradi- the Chinese nation’s spiritual activities, rational tion of “5,000 years of continuous Chinese civiliza- thinking, and cultural achievements in building tion.” In the speech, Xi detailed his idea of the “Chinese their homeland, reflected spiritual pursuits of the Dream,” a dream that would guide “the historical strug- Chinese nation, and provided a key source of nu- gle of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in trition for the survival and continuous growth of forging valiantly ahead.” He then proceeded to forecast our nation. that by “the time of the 100th anniversary of the Chi- nese Communist Party [2049], the objective of con- the-road-to-rejuvenation/ structing a moderately prosperous society in a compre- 2. Xi Jinping, “Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately hensive manner can absolutely be realized.”1 Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” Report deliv- ered to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 1. Xi Jinping, “Speech at ‘The Road to Rejuvenation,’” China Copy- October 18, 2017. right and Media, November 29, 2010. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/download/Xi_Jinping's_report_ https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/speech-at- at_19th_CPC_National_Congress.pdf May 14, 2021 EIR ‘Peace that Enables Men and Nations To Grow’ 47 rise from peasantry, pass all levels of exams, and reach the highest- level government offices, while also preventing the privileged from advancing without demon- strating competence and moral character. Although the Confucian exam- ination system as such ended with the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, the same principle of meritocracy is employed in the se- lection of top government officials in the PRC today, sans the required mastery of the Confucian classics. CGTN President Xi Jinping reviews Confucius books during a visit to Qufu, the philosopher’s This can be seen, for example, in birthplace, in November 2013. the short, English-language ver- sion video How Leaders Are Not only was this a clear break from the mass “Anti- Made, which hit the internet in China in 2013. The Confucius Campaign” from 1973-76, during the night- video (which was made for children) promotes the idea mare of the Cultural Revolution, but it ended more than that the rigor and effectiveness of the current selection a century of anti-Confucian sentiment in China (en- of Chinese Communist Party leaders by merit and ex- couraged by British influence during the May 4th perience is more efficient and effective than Western Movement in 1919)3 by clearly identifying the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with this time-honored foundation of Chinese civilization and culture. One key feature of the Confucian tradi- tion that has generally characterized the most successful Chinese dynasties was the meritocratic system for choosing govern- ment officials, as opposed to primogeni- ture, or outright purchasing of offices. This system, called xuanxian juneng ( ) or “selecting the virtuous and recommending the able,” goes back to at least the Han Dynasty’s compilation of the Confucian Book of Rites two millennia ago. Candidates for government appoint- ments had to pass a series of rigorous cc/Daniel Case The National Museum of China in 2014, showing the foyer with a model of the exams at many levels demonstrating their Temple of Heaven. mastery of the Confucian classics. Histori- cally, this “rise by merit” system has been key to allow- democratic methods. The video quickly went viral, un- ing social mobility in China, as, theoretically, one could derlining the immense popularity of this ancient tradi- tion among the Chinese population today.4 Gan Yang, the dean of the Liberal Arts College at 3. Mike Billington, “The May 4th Movement—British Orchestration of U.S.-China Conflict: Three Pertinent Cases,” Executive Intelligence Review, Vol. 47, No. 21, May 22, 2020, pp. 13-21. https://larouchepub. 4. An English version of the video may be viewed at: https://youtu.be/ com/other/2020/4721-british_orchestration_of_us_china_conflict.html