China's pragmatism as a grand national development strategy: Historical legacy and evolution

Issues and Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 6, 2001, Pages 1-28

  Ko, Sung Bin ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

Chinese way of development; Grand national development strategy; Neo conservatism; Pragmatism; Strategic culture

Indexed keywords

EID: 25444492847     PISSN: 10132511     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. On this argument, see Alastair Iain Johnston, Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995).
2. Sun Changjiang, "Twenty Years after the Conflict over the Criterion of the Truth," Ershiyi shiji (Twenty-first Century) (Hong Kong), no. 50 (December 1998): 24-28.
3. "China: Jiang Addresses Plenum Anniversary Meeting," Xinhua, December 21, 1998, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: China-98-355 (December 22, 1998).
4. On the "Four Cardinal Principles," see Deng Xiaoping, "Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles," in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (1975-1982) (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984), 166-91.
5. Examples include the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, the clash between China's fighter jet and the U.S. spy airplane, the NMD (national missile defense) project, human rights issue over Tibet, and the Taiwan issue. On the nationalistic and patriotic sentiment in this period, see Suisheng Zhao, "Chinese Intellectuals' Quest for National Greatness and Nationalistic Writing in the 1990s," The China Quarterly, no. 151 (September 1997): 721-45.
6. Lucian W. Pye, "An Overview of 50 Years of the People's Republic of China: Some Progress, But Big Problems Remain," The China Quarterly, no. 159 (September 1999): 579.
7. The term "neo-pragmatism" is used in order to emphasize "the current" phase of pragmatic strategy adopted by the Jiang Zemin leadership.
8. On this issue, see Benjamin I. Schwartz, "The Intellectual History of China: Preliminary Reflections," in Chinese Thought and Institutions, ed. John K. Fairbank (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), 15-22;
9. Sung-Bin Ko, "The Exploration of Historical-Cultural Perspective on Behavior Pattern of Chinese Intellectuals," Journal of Contemporary China 10, no. 28 (August 2001): 533-49.
10. Yen-P'ing Hao and Erh-Min Wang, "Changing Chinese Views of Western Relations, 1840-95," in The Cambridge History of China, ed. John K. Fairbank, vol. 11 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 201.
11. Yen-P'ing Hao and Erh-Min Wang, "Changing Chinese Views of Western Relations, 1840-95 The Cambridge History of China," Ibid. vol. 11 1982, 201.
12. "Anti-traditionalism" in the May Fourth period is often referred to as "iconoclasm." See Maurice Meisner, "Cultural Iconoclasm, Nationalism, and Internationalism in the May Fourth Movement"
13. and Lin Yu-sheng, "Radical Iconoclasm in the May Fourth Period and the Future of Chinese Liberalism," in Reflections on the May Fourth Movement: A Symposium, ed. Benjamin I. Schwartz (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973), 14-22, 23-58, respectively.
14. For iconoclastic attitudes and traditionalism during the May Fourth period, see Li Zehou, Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shilun (On the history of modern Chinese thoughts) (Taipei: Fengyun shidai chubanshe, 1990);
15. Lin Yu-sheng, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979).
16. Chow Tse-tsung, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1967), 338-42.
17. The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China ( Ibid., 342-47.
18. Benjamin I. Schwartz, "Themes in Intellectual History: May Fourth and After," in The Cambridge History of China, ed. John K. Fairbank, vol. 12 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 438-39.
19. On Liang Qichao's thought and life, see Hao Chang, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and Intellectual Tradition in China, 1890-1907 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971), 237.
20. Liang Shuming, "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies," in Liang Shuming quanji (Collected works of Liang Shuming) (Jinan: Shandong renmin chubanshe, 1989), 321-548, esp. 488-539.
21. For the argument of his philosophy, see Guy S. Alitto, The Last Confucian: Liang Shu-ming and the Chinese Dilemma of Modernity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).
22. Lucian W. Pye, The Mandarin and the Cadre: China's Political Culture (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988), 75-108.
23. Unlike the neo-leftist image reflected in his work and career, Li Zehou is ironically now in exile in the United States, having fled charges of being involved in the Tiananmen prodemocracy movement in 1989. See Li, Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shilun, 397-433.
24. Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shilun, Ibid., 408.
25. Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shilun, Ibid., 403, 420.
26. Zhongguo xiandai sixiang shilun, Ibid., 411-30.
27. On the "preliminary stage of socialism," see An-chia Wu, "The 'Initial Stage of Socialism': Background, Tasks, and Impact," in Mainland China After the Thirteenth Party Congress, ed. King-yuh Chang (Oxford, Boulder, and San Francisco: Westview Press, 1990), 30-49.
28. Chih-yu Shih, State and Society in China's Political Economy (London and Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995), 2-5.
29. See Kaplan Misra, "Curing the Sickness and Saving the Party: Neo-Maoism and Neo-Conservatism in the 1990s," in Chinese Political Culture: 1989-2000, ed. Shiping Hua (Armonk, N.Y. and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), 133-60. Bracket is added by the author.
30. On these terms and various ideological currents, see Merle Goldman, "Politically-Engaged Intellectuals in the 1990s," The China Quarterly, no. 159 (September 1999): 700-711;
31. Feng Chen, "Order and Stability in Social Transition: Neoconservative Political Thought in Post-1989 China," The China Quarterly, ibid., no. 151 (September 1997): 593-613;
32. Zhao, "Chinese Intellectuals' Quest for National Greatness and Nationalistic Writing in the 1990s," 725-45;
33. Suisheng Zhao "In Search of a Right Place: Chinese Nationalism in the Post-Cold War World," The University Service Center Seminar Series (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), no. 12 (1997).
34. For example, regarding the category of "neo-conservatives" - such as Xiao Gongqin, Li Zehou, Wang Shan, and Cui Zhiyuan, a reviewer of the draft, He Baogang (East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore), pointed out that Xiao Gongqin is not against globalization, Li Zehou is against radicalism, Wang Shan is a nationalist, and Cui Zhiyuan stresses participatory democracy in management system. The terms "neo-conservatives" and "neo-liberals" are borrowed in part from Chen, "Order and Stability in Social Transition" (cited in note 24 above) and Feng Chen, "An Unfinished Battle in China: The Leftist Criticism of the Reform and the Third Thought Emancipation," The China Quarterly, no. 158 (June 1999): 445-67.
35. The argument below draws from Zheng Yongnian (East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore), "Globalization and State Transformation in China" (Unpublished manuscript, November 2001).
36. Qin Hui, "Where is the Junction between Liberalism and Nationalism," Dongfang (The Orient), 1996, no. 3:45.
37. Li Shenzhi, "Globalization and Chinese Culture," Taipingyang xnebao (Pacific Journal), 1994, no. 2:3-11.
38. See Luo Rongqu, "The Chinese Way to Modernization," Zhongguo shehui kexue jikan (Chinese Social Science Quarterly) 17 (Winter 1996): 43-53;
39. Liu Junning, "Liberalism and Justice: Replies to Some Major Criticisms," Dangdai Zhongguo yanjiu (Modern China Studies), 2000, no. 4:60.
40. Bao Tong, "See Through the Essence of the Chinese Communist Party," Xinbao (Hong Kong Economic Journal), June 29, 2001, 32.
41. Liu Xinwu, "To Establish the Concept of Shared Human Civilization," Dongfang, 1996, no. 6:25;
42. Liu Junning, ed., Ziyou zhuyi de xiansheng: Beida chuantong yu jindai Zhongguo (The herald of liberalism: The tradition of Beijing University and modern China) (Beijing: Zhongguo renshi chubanshe, 1998).
43. Xiao Gongqin, "Ideological Innovation and Political Stability," Shanghai lilun neikan (Shanghai Theory) 20, no. 2 (1995): 7-9.
44. Li Zehou and Wang Desheng, "The Dialogue on the Cultural Status Quo and Moral Rebuilding," Dongfang, 1994, no. 5:70-71.
45. Wang Shan, Disanzhi yanjing kan Zhongguo (Looking at China through a third eye), translated by Wang Shan (Taiyuan: Shanxi renmin chubanshe, 1994), 146-48.
46. On the revival of neo-Maoism and its relationship with neo-conservatism, see note 23 above.
47. Cui Zhiyuan, "Mao Zedong's Idea of Cultural Revolution and the Restructuring of Chinese Modernity," Xianggang shehui kexue xuebao (Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences), no. 7 (Spring 1996): 49-74.
48. Cui Zhiyuan, "The Angang Constitution and Post-Fordism," Dushu (Reading), 1996, no. 3: 11-21.
49. On a Confucianism-based argument of Chinese identity and "cultural nationalism," see He Baogang and Yingjie Guo, Nationalism, National Identity and Democratization in China (Aldershot and Sydney: Ashgate 2000), 3, and esp. chaps. 4 and 5.
50. Also see Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, eds., China's Quest for National Identity (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993).
51. Chen Xi, "Nationalism Among Chinese Intellectuals," Chinese Strategic Review 1, no. 6 (1996): 10.
52. Wang Gungwu, The Revival of Chinese Nationalism (Leiden: International Institute for Asian Studies, 1996), 7.
53. Xiao Gongqin, "Deriving from Nationalism a New Resource That Congeals the State," Zhanlüe yu guanli (Strategy and Management), 1994, no. 4:21.
54. Zhanlüe yu guanli (Strategy and Management), Ibid., 22-24.
55. However, Wang Shan rejects the utility of both Confucianism and patriotism as the source of a new value system in Chinese society. Confucianism, he argues, historically only served the rulers and is therefore inappropriate for today's common belief. See Wang, Disanzhi yanjing kan Zhongguo, 55.
56. See note 22 above. On the spirit of oneness and egalitarianism, see Thomas A. Metzger, Escape from Predicament: Neo-Confucianism and China's Evolving Political Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), 191-93.
57. The debate was initiated by a set of articles in a 1994 issue of Dushu and soon joined by other journals such as Wenhui bao (Literary Gazette), Dongfang, and Chuantong yu xiandai (Tradition and Modernity). See Zhang Rulun, Wang Xiaoming, Zhu Xueqin, and Chen Sihe, "Humanistic Spirit: Whether It Is Possible or How It Is Possible?" Dushu, 1994, no. 3:3-13;
58. Gao Ruiqian, Yuan Jin, Zhang Rulun, and Li Tianwang, "Whereabout of Humanistic Spirit," Dushu, ibid., 1994, no. 4:73-81;
59. Wu Xian, Wang Gan, Fei Jinzhong, and Wang Binbin, "What Type of Humanistic Spirit We Need?" Dushu, ibid., 1996, no. 6:66-74.
60. Xiao Oongqin, "East Asian Authoritarian Politics and Modernization," Zhanlüe yu guanli, 1994, no. 3:28,
61. quoted in Chen, "Order and the Stability in Social Transition," 609.
62. Chen "Order and the Stability in Social Transition" Ibid. 609.
63. On the nationalistic tide in this period, see Song Qiang, Zhang Cangcang, and Qiao Bian, Zhongguo keyi shuo bu (China can say No) (Beijing: Zhongguo gongshang lianhe chubanshe, 1996).
64. In response to this nationalist sentiment, Shen Jim opposed and published Zhongguo bu dang 'bu xiansheng' (China does not want to be "Mr. No") (Beijing: Jinri Zhongguo chubanshe, 1998).
65. On the contradictory policy toward intellectuals by the CCP, see Merle Goldman and Timothy Cheek, "Introduction: Uncertain Change," in China's Intellectuals and the State: In Search of a New Relationship, ed. Merle Goldman, Timothy Cheek, and Carol Lee Hamrin (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987), 13;
66. Merle Goldman, "The Party and the Intellectuals," in The Cambridge History of China 14:218.
67. Pye, "An Overview of 50 Years of the People's Republic of China," 578.
68. Goldman, "Politically-Engaged Intellectuals in the 1990s," 708.
69. See Zheng Yongnian, "China's Incremental Political Reform: Lessons and Experiences," in China: Two Decades of Reform and Change, ed. Wang Gungwu and John Wong (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1999), 11-40.
70. "President Jiang Interviewed by the New York Times," Renmin ribao (People's Daily), August 14, 2001, 1, 4.
71. "President Jiang Interviewed by the New York Times," Renmin ribao (People's Daily), Ibid. 2001, 1
72. On many occasions, Premier Zhu Rongji also reiterated this point. For instance, see "Premier Zhu Rongji Meets the Press," Renmin ribao, March 16, 2001, available at 〈http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200103/16/eng 20010316_65206.html〉.
73. "Jiang Zemin Made an Inspection Tour to Guangdong," Renmin ribao, February 26, 2000, 1, 4.
74. Renmin ribao, Ibid., January 11, 2001, 1, 4.
75. For more on the "rule by virtue" and "rule of law," see Zheng Yongnian and Lai Hongyi, "Rule by Virtue: Jiang Zemin's New Moral Order for the Party," EAI Background Brief, no. 83 (March 12, 2001).
76. "FM Spokesman on China's Entry into WTO," Renmin ribao, September 18, 2001, available at 〈http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/other/archive.html〉.
77. China became a full-fledged member of the WTO on December 10, 2001, following by Taiwan the next day. See "China Poised to Join WTO in December," South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), October 12, 2001.
78. "China Poised to Join WTO in December," South China Morning Post Ibid. 2001.
79. "China Urges Attention on Developing Countries' Interests in Globalization," Renmin ribao, September 21, 2001, available at 〈http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200109/21/ archive.html〉. This is an address by China's deputy representative to the United Nations, Shen Guofang, in the second high-level dialogue on Strengthening International Economic Cooperation for Development through Partnership.
80. "Rising Asian Awareness Conducive to Asia, World," Renmin ribao, February 28, 2001, available at 〈http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200102/28/archive.html〉.
81. "President Jiang Calls for Common Development in Asia," Renmin ribao, February 27, 2001, available at 〈http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200102/27/archive.html〉.
82. "President Jiang Calls for Common Development in Asia," Renmin ribao, Ibid. 2001
83. For the debate on Asian values, see Fareed Zhakaria, "Culture is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew," Foreign Affairs 73, no. 2 (March-April 1994): 109-26;
84. Kim Dae Jung, "Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values," Foreign Affairs ibid., no. 6 (November-December 1994): 189-94;
85. Francis Fukuyama, "Asian Values and Civilization" (Unpublished manuscript), in ICAS (Institute for Corean-American Symposium Studies, Inc.) Fall Symposium on September 29, 1998;
86. and Francis Fukuyama, "Asian Values and the Asian Crisis" (Unpublished manuscript, February 1998).
87. On the issue of Confucianism and modernization, see all articles in Joseph P.L. Jiang, ed., Confucianism and Modernization: A Symposium (Taipei: Freedom Council, 1987).
88. Feng Yu-Lan, edited by Derk Bodde, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (New York: Macmillan, 1964), 172-74.