'Loose Talk'
By Benjamin Benedict

What Does China Think?

This is the title of a newly published book by Mark Leonard. Mr Leonard discusses the thoughts and aims of Chinese intellectuals and the policy-making elite. Occasionally, he drifts towards the popular attitude to these various propositions, but these are infrequent diversions, perhaps because there is not much point in discussing the general public’s attitude to concepts over which they have no influence. This is not to suggest that the Chinese people do not consider these things. I suspect that they do and that political (one could almost say ‘philosophical’) thought is very much part of the Chinese make-up. Indeed political philosophy plays a major role in this book. We have parables of horses painted to look like zebras, until the people become used to the stripes at which point true zebras can replace the horses. But this is not a concoction of poetic anecdotes. I don’t doubt that it truly represents political thinking in China. Mr Leonard, with his think-tank background is the ideal person to tackle this picturesque intellectualism and his enthusiasm for it is contagious.

What is unexpected is the clarity that he brings to the subject, and there is the comforting knowledge that behind the all-encompassing Chinese one party system, there inevitably are two main factions. These are presently The New Left and The New Right. Alongside such intellectual dissertation comes fascinating real time experimentation exampled by ‘inner-party democracy’. It seems however, that China is only dabbling with democracy, and in fact has moved away from it’s wider application, having realized that it has little or no influence on economic development, (why they ever thought it might, I can’t imagine) and more pertinently that it could lead to the break-up of what is actually an Empire of many disparate parts, much the same as Russia was, pre-Gorbachev. Mark Leonard relates that in many of their eyes, Democracy = Chaos and my own reflection is that what they in China term ‘incremental democracy’ is in fact what we in the West are the result of, and are still evolving from.

The clarity of Leonard’s book points to a fundamental naiveté which might derive from the intelligentsia of a country that up until now has had little interaction with the rest of the world, but is that truly the case? Is this in fact the naiveté of all political intellectuals, and as a consequence of Mr Leonard himself?

He does observe however, that behind all this political speculation the Chinese leaders show adeptness at realpolitik. They are world-wise enough to see that in the international arena ‘swagger’ as he puts it, gains a country less than a more conciliatory stance. He goes on to say that China is using the United Nations as a powerful amplifier and is not only changing the balance of power in many parts of the world, but also ensuring the importance of national sovereignty.

On this latter point, I must take issue with Mr Leonard. To my mind, China’s adherence to what Mr Leonard calls ‘an older idea of sovereignty’, only goes as far as it suits them. The rules of not invading other countries, not trying to overthrow regimes, and above all not interfering in the internal affairs of other states, did not apply to Tibet and would not apply to Taiwan. It is a stick with which to goad those nations that see it as their duty to call a halt to genocide, nuclear proliferation, or possibly a regime that is imploding on itself. By purporting to have this ‘older idea’, China conveniently relieves itself of these duties, and actively criticises those who are prepared to get their hands dirty. It is nothing more than an excuse, and a poor one, at that.

Send your opinions regarding Mr. Benedict's writings to bbenedict@netlistings.com