Heartland 1/2000 A New Silk Road?

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HEARTLAND IS PUBLISHED WITH THE SUPPORT OF

BIRINDELLI E ASSOCIATIstudio legale

HEARTLAND is a world partner of LIMES, the Italian Geopolitical Review, published byGruppo Editoriale LEspresso

It is registered in Hong Kong and in Rome, and published by Cassan Press-HK and byGruppo Editoriale LEspresso

For any information, please contact Limes, viale Castro Pretorio 116, 00185 Rome (Italy).Tel. 0039 06 4940432; fax 0039 06 4940403; e-mail: [email protected] website address: http://www.heartland.limesonline.com

Editors: Lucio Caracciolo and Michel Korinman

Managing Editors: Francesco Sisci and Zhang Xiaodong

Editing and Secretariat: Rosa Balfour, Huang Jianliang, Yu Shicun, Xiang Daiyun


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5 Why Heartland7 Romano PRODI - Building Bridges between Asia and Europe

11 ZHU RONGJI - Dont Be Pessimistic about the Euro

PART I WHAT CHINA STANDS FOR

17 WANG XIAODONG - The West in the Eyes of a Chinese Nationalist31 ZHANG XIAODONG - Geopolitical Changes in the Western Regions47 Francesco SISCI - The Pope in China: Still a Long Way to Go57 Fabio MINI - From the Rim to the Heart71 ZHANG JIE - The Foundationers Associated with Mr W.s Funds

PART II FROM ASIA TO ASIA

93 Tommy KOH -ASEM is a Sunrise Organisation97 Alison BROINOWSKI -All in the Same Boat?

Australias Relations with Asia107 Michel KORINMAN and Lucio CARACCIOLO - There is No Australasia113 Marie-Sybille de VIENNE -What if Dr Mahathir Was Right?121 Paolo COTTA-RAMUSINO and Maurizio MARTELLINI - The European Policy

towards Korea

PART III WHAT IS ASIA?

135 V.K. NAMBIAR - The Indian Bridge141 YUMIKO YAMADA -Asia Viewed from Japan149 Vitalij TRETJAKOV - To Stay in Europe, Russia Must Become

an Asian Power153 Frdric DURAND -A New World

MORE HEARTLAND

159 Luca M. BIRINDELLI - China: One Country, Two Systems,Several Markets (Go West)

163 Leonardo DINI, Stefano CELLETTI, Franco CUTRUPIA - Doing Italian Businessin China

165 Camillo DONATI - We Behave Like the Church

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A NEW SILK ROAD?

WHAT IS GEOPOLITICS? GEOPOLITICS IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE CLASH OFcivilizations that the political scientist Sam Huntington made famous.It is more; it is the opposite of racism. It postulates the uniqueness of thehuman species. Every nation has a right to its historical representationsand constructs. Every nation has a right to its arguments. Every nation

has a right to its geopolitical projects.Geopolitics is also the opposite of exoticism, which in fact is a way

of expelling from a literary point of view entire peoples from ourmindset. Exoticism is a mild form of colonialism. Instead, for usdistance is not significant: the geopolitical dialogue is in any caseequal, even if the interlocutor is thousands of kilometres away. Beforeglobalisation, Europeans could believe that the exotic approachserved to marginalise Asia; and Asians could think that it served torestrain European influences in Asia. But now, to close up and to

impose closure on others means to be lost. We have moved fromexoticism to endoticism: we are all actors of one world. Each with hisown way of thinking.

Why Eurasia? Why are Europeans rediscovering Asia and Asiansare increasingly interested in Europe? For Europeans, to projectthemselves in Asia is also a way of making Europe. Just look at howeasily the Europeans who live in Asia group together. Also, singleEuropean states do not have the appropriate dimensions to establish anequal dialogue with their Asian partners. And it is evident that Asiansare not interested in having the US as their only Western interlocutor.

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We know that today Eurasia does not exist. But it is necessary thatthe dialogue between Europe and Asia makes a qualitative leap. Econo-mic and trade relations are important, but are not all.Via economics,

relations must move onto geopolitics. The Silk Road grows through ageopolitical dialogue.

Heartland, what for? This journal is a tool for the dialoguebetween Europe and Asia. It is not just a matter of exchanging ideas onthe pages ofHeartland, but of building a network for debate betweenEuropeans and Asians. Nothing formal or diplomatic, but an open andpromising path. As we all know, the Silk Roads are infinite.

WHY HEARTLAND

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A NEW SILK ROAD?

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BUILDING BRIDGESBETWEEN ASIA

AND EUROPE byRomanoPRODI

AT THE START OF THE NEW CENTURY,the two major themes that have dominated the European political and economicscene in the past fifty years the positive thrust of European integration, on theone hand, and the resolution of the limitations caused by the division of thecontinent into two opposing blocs, on the other have changed the face ofEurope completely.

At the same time, the sustained growth of Asias economy has radicallytransformed the outlook for trade relations: the main axis of international trademay now be shifting not from the Atlantic to the Pacific as some authors hadpredicted but rather to the Asia-Europe route, from the South China Sea to theMediterranean Sea, via the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.

Political developments like the peace process in the Middle East, theenlargement of the European Union and the independence of natural-resource-rich Central Asian countries are contributing to the growth of trade betweenEurope and Asia, as is the accelerating process of establishing a regional identity ina peaceful Asia.

Against this background, relations between Europe and Asia are developing agrowing momentum. When the challenging task of enlargement concludes, theUnion will be able to project its influence far beyond its continental borders, andengage in a genuine partnership of mutual respect and mutual benefit with its

friends in Asia.Economic growth in Asia (and in Europe) and economic integration in Europe

(and in Asia), and the dense network of relations between open economies havecreated a genuinely global market, in which Europe and Asia are no longerisolated partners, but part of a wider system.

These economic processes are increasingly driven more bydirect investmentsfrom foreign sources than by traditional trading relations. Consequently, eachcountrys interest in the economies of the others has increased. Modern companiesdo not perceive distant countries solely as potential markets for their goods, but

also as opportunities for investment, creating employment at the same time. Andsince companies with assets in multiple countries would oppose any attempts atprotectionism, increasing liberalisation is almost irreversible.


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A healthy two-way flow of investments contributes to a countrys wealth; thisgives the economy of each individual country a much greater stake in seeing othereconomies perform well. The increasingly substantial trade and flows of capital

between Europe and Asia are as important for todays economy as the Silk Roadwas in the 13th and 14th centuries.Europe has realised that it can no longer ignore a substantial section of the

globe, one that includes great nations and will soon be the worlds largesteconomic region. Until it manages to be a player on the Asian stage, Europe willbe unable to formulate a truly global policy.

Trade between Europe and Asia has increased by over 100% more than tradebetween the United States and Asia. This is no accident, and was reflected in theregional policy framework developed at the ASEM summit (Asia-Europe Meeting).

The problems that emerged with the Autumn 1997 crisis in the Far East arenot, in my opinion, structural. Asian economies will continue to grow, as theyhave all the physical and human resources they need to do so. They will alsocontinue to be attentive to the need for economic and financial reform, just as wein Europe must always be vigilant in maintaining a healthy economy.

The major obstacles to progress in Asia are more political and social in nature:tensions between neighbours, concerns over security and the possibility ofdisastrous military conflicts together with the need to meet the challenges ofsocial and political change that come with rapid industrialisation. Thedevelopment of economic relations can provide a strong incentive to avoid

political and social conflicts, but the solutions to these problems must be politicaland social in nature. Matters such as human rights and transparent andaccountable government are vital to meeting these challenges, and indeed areuniversal elements which all of us, in Europe and Asia alike, must address.

Chinas growth into a great power will have a substantial international impact.The international community should accept this development, rather than seekingto construct a network of local and global alliances around Beijing. China will playan ever-increasing role in regional and world diplomacy, and will make aconstructive contribution to international politics and the global economy, thus

developing interests favourable to the maintenance of stability.To defuse and isolate potential sources of regional instability, all the regionalpowers should join forces to establish a common definition of acceptable behaviour.The potential economic and security benefits of stability could reward the effortneeded to moderate policies that are not acceptable to neighbouring countries.

Europes ability to increase its diplomatic role in Asia depends not only oncloser economic ties, but also on the experience it has acquired in building itsinstitutions. Existing institutions, such as the United Nations and the World TradeOrganisation, could be used to launch productive forms of cooperation.

At the same time, Europe must not just focus on Asias economic importance.We must also work together in the political field, and we must also work toincrease our mutual understanding and awareness.

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When Europes first overseas expansion began in the 16th century, Asia wasby far the richest region in the world, and its civilisation was probably the mostadvanced. The spectacular growth of the last few decades, in spite of the recentcrisis, has resulted in a situation in which it would not be unrealistic to expect a

return to that happy state of affairs.I do not believe that there will be a clash of civilizations. There areopportunities to work together, as long as Asians and Europeans are ready toshow each other commitment and goodwill. In the aftermath of the Cold War andits rigid divisions, the old fault lines have failed to give way to new ones. There hassimply been a reaffirmation of the importance of diplomacy as a way of findingsolutions to shared problems that sooner or later would hinder our progresstowards a better future.

In the same spirit of keeping channels of thought and debate open, I wouldlike to wish Heartlandevery success in its endeavour. In our global economy,time and distance count for less and less. Geographical borders are increasinglymeaningless. Isolation is the way of the past, not the way of the future. In a worldof such rapid change, continued discussion of the issues that shape the destinies ofso many people everywhere is absolutely essential, for the sake of stability, and forthe sake of progress.

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THE SILK ROADS

Bursa

Istanbul

T U R K E Y

Ulaanbaatar

Beijing

Fuzhou

K A Z A K H S T A N

R U S S I A N F E D E R A T I O N

M O N G O L I A

C H I N A

I N D I A

P A K I S T A N

AFGHANISTAN

I R A N

I R A Q

S A U D IA R A B I A

Y E M E NO M A N

SYR I A

1

23

45

6

7

1 - G E O R G I A2 - A R M E N I A

3 - A Z E R B A I J A N4 - T U R K M E N I S T A N5 - U Z B E K I S T A N6 - T A J I K I S T A N7 - K Y R G Y Z S T A N


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HEARTLAND Why is the euro in such a bad situation? What could the EU do to chan-ge it?ZHU RONGJI Im an engineer instead of an economist. However, I have beenengaged in economic work for 50 years, and hence having some experience. Ithink EU is very promising and has actual strength as an economic entity. Ofcourse, in comparison with the economic entity of USA, EU has not been as

prosperous for such a long time and its economy has not developed so fast asUSA. However, USA is only a country, while EU includes more than ten countries.There exist some differences between the economic developments of so manycountries, and it is certainly not easy to coordinate the actions of these countries.

As an economic entity and an economic community with great differences ineconomic development, I think it is quite an achievement for it to reach thecurrent level of development. It indicates that the European politicians are quiteskilled in organisation and management. Therefore, from a long-term point of

view, EUs economic development is quite promising and very hopeful. Of course,

the euro has depreciated from 1.17 at the beginning to about 0.9 currently. I thinkthis is a very specialised issue that needs to be analysed. There are a lot of causesfor such a situation. I mean it is only a specialised issue but not a full reflection ofeconomic strength. It is also very difficult to maintain a common currencyinvolving more than ten countries and to maintain its stability. As per analysis of

various conditions, it is entirely unnecessary to be pessimistic about the euro. Ithink that with the coordinated development of all EU countries, it is unavoidablefor the euro to appreciate gradually. At the same time, China will never undersellits foreign exchange reserve, your euros. Never.HEARTLAND Can you tell me the amount of Chinas existing euro reserve?ZHU RONGJI It does not mean I dont want to tell you. I myself do not know theamount.

Dont Be Pessimistic about the EuroPremier ZHURONGJIs Answers to Our Reporters Questions


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HEARTLANDWhats the influence of IT development on Chinas politics?ZHU RONGJI This question covers many other questions. I can not give you animmediate and clear explanation. Do you mean the development of Chinas e-

commerce or the development of network economy or any other things? Chinasnetworks have developed very quickly, and the number of Chinese Internet usersis almost doubled every half year. China currently has over 10 million Internetusers. With the development of networks, we have encountered many new things.Regulation and legislation are required in many aspects. We are wanting inexperience in this aspect, and its a very serious issue on how to manage networksin a standardised way.HEARTLAND Do you think is it beneficial for the EU to strengthen its internalcoordination?ZHU RONGJI Thats sure. But it is not the focus of what I mean. I mean thecoordinated development of the economies of all EU members, since there is agreat difference between the development degrees of them. EU includes some

very developed countries and some moderately developed countries, and thereare some very poor regions in some countries. Therefore, the economic policies ofthese countries are also quite different. These facts lead to their differences inother aspects and different requirements.HEARTLANDWhat do you think about the Taiwan issue?ZHU RONGJI Concerning our policies toward Taiwan, we remain unchanged. Ourconsistent policy is peaceful reunification and one country two systems, which

were clearly explained in President Jiang Zemins declaration of eight points. Its apity that many countries fail to completely understand what President Jiang said.For example, what we mean by reunification and one country two systems is

very liberal for Taiwan. We will neither change its current political and economicsystems, nor interfere with any of their matters. Such a policy is more liberal thatthose for Hong Kong and Macao. In other words, Chinese government will notsend army to Taiwan, and the leader of Taiwan may also hold an important post inthe central government of China. Thereby, none of their vested interests will bedamaged. However, we must admit that there is only one China and Taiwan is only

a part of China. This is a clear-cut point. Its a pity that the current Taiwan leaderdoes not admit there is only one China, and he even dares not to admit that he is aChinese. How can the reunification be realised in such a situation? Our requirementis very simple. We can negotiate about anything so far as you admit there is oneChina. However, after contacting many leaders of European countries, I find quite anumber of them fail to have a full understanding of the one-China policy, and theydo not know the true nature of Taiwan leaders clamour for independence.HEARTLAND Some people say Taiwans direct election is very democratic. What do

you think about it?ZHU RONGJI Is the so-called election in Taiwan really democratic? Why is it so highlyestimated? In Taiwan, he (means Chen Shuibian) only got 40% of the votes. Hehas no experience of holding power at all. They themselves also admit that what

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they are playing at is black gold politics. Therefore, such a kind of direct electionis entirely meaningless. In addition, we are very clear that without Li Denghuisplaying of his personal roles, Taiwan would take a totally different standing point

now. So we may say the so-called direct election can not lead to democracy. Whatis direct election? Even the election systems of those big Western powers are notcompletely same. I think French Presidents are directly elected, while USAPresidents are not. Are the Italian Presidents directly selected? Also no. Then, whatkind of direct election you are peddling to me? The so-called direct election takesdifferent forms in different countries. Both USA Presidents and Italian Presidentsare not produced through direct election. While French President and Premierhave different functions, respectively in charge of internal affairs and diplomaticaffairs. For the difference of political, cultural and historical backgrounds betweendifferent countries, their political systems are also not completely same. Thereeven exist some countries still carrying on the system of constitutional monarchy

with kings and queens. According to our own conditions, China currently adoptsthe system of peoples Congress, according to which, the peoples deputies areselected first and the government is selected by the peoples deputies then. I dontthink such a system of peoples Congress is the most democratic one, and we willnot ask the other countries to follow us. However, such a system is suitable for theconditions of China. We will neither evaluate, nor criticise any foreign countryselection system. But Taiwan is not a foreign country, and we know so much aboutit. While you say Taiwan Presidents are produced through democratic election, we

think its quite a joke.HEARTLAND Does China have any new measures to propel its private economy?ZHU RONGJI Our formulation about private economy has been dramaticallychanged. In the past, we said private economy is a supplementation to the socialisteconomy, while at present, we say it is one of the integral parts of the socialisteconomy. We admit and encourage the development of non-public-owned andprivate economic sector. This sector has really seen great development in China inthese years. The development would be greater when foreign-funded economy isincluded. Foreign-funded economy certainly belongs to private economy, and our

relevant policies have been greatly liberalised. For example, in the aspect of creditpolicies, havent these private economic sectors developed under the support ofcredits? They could not gain any development without loans granted by thenational banks. So far as they are beneficial for the development of the wholenational economy, our attitude towards private economy and individual economyis to encourage and support their development. The development of this kind ofeconomy also has a backward and illegal side. For instance, recently a Chinese TVstation reported that some private enterprises in Zhejiang Province had employeda large number of child labourers. Such a phenomenon is absolutely illegal andmust be resolutely eliminated. Certainly, this is only some particular phenomenon,and it will not influence our encouraging and supportive attitude towards the legaland healthy development of private economy.

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HEARTLANDWould you please tell me the causes of the decline of trade volumebetween China and Italy?ZHU RONGJI I think it is not declining now. On the contrary, it dramatically

increased in the period from January to May of this year. In the past two or threeyears, the foreign trade growth of whole China was null or even negative for theinfluence of the Asian Financial Crisis. However, Chinas foreign trade saw greatgrowth in the following five months, and our trade with Italy also increased to ahigh degree. We attach a great importance to the cooperative relations with Italy ineconomy and trade. Personally speaking, I have paid great attentions tocooperation with Italy. Because Italy boasts very good experience in technicalpromotion and technical reform of middle and small-sized enterprises, Icooperated with Italian parties in many projects in the 80s. Italian industries havetheir own features, which are very important for China. I believe the cooperationbetween China and Italy is very promising. Our purpose is to further improve theChina-Italy cooperative relations in economy and trade, especially in the aspects oftechnical cooperation between middle and small-sized enterprises.HEARTLAND Concerning the issue of Vatican, when will you invite the Pope to visitChina?ZHU RONGJIWe have contacted the Vatican party for many times, and we havemade it clear that our relations could only be established on the basis of only oneChina. It means that Vatican must admit that the Peoples Republic of China is theonly legal representative of China, and Taiwan is only a part of China. This is our

principle and standing point. Of course, we also insist that the internal affairs ofChina should not be interfered in the name of religious freedom. Religiousfreedom has been included into our law, and hence we maintain and protectreligious freedom. However, such a matter should not be used to interfere ourinternal affairs. I think we are just negotiating about this principled stand. ThePope will be invited to China after this issue is settled. Is the negotiationunderway. I think probably yes.

(by Barbara Alighiero and Francesco Sisci)

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Part I

WHAT CHINA

STANDSfor


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A NEW SILK ROAD?

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THE WESTIN THE EYES

OF A CHINESE NATIONALIST byWANGXIAODONG

TO PROMOTE COMMUNICATION, DEEPENunderstanding and remove misapprehension between Chinese and Westernerswould be to the happiness of all human beings. I feel quite abashed that I havetaken so long to complete this article. One of the important reasons is that Ireally cannot find enough time, or build up enough writing passion to composean article in terms of Western academic norms. Frankly, I think that Westernacademic norms often set up a barrier in the expression and communicationof ideas. The so-called rigid demands do nothing but raise the entry barrier.Removing the entry barrier would require a large amount of spare time andmoney. In the Third World, at least in China, it would be very difficult for a

researcher or thinker to have enough resources to meet the Western academicnorms without the mighty patronage of Western academic institutions. One ofthe consequences is that what Westerners hear about Chinese ideas, or at leastabout those of the Chinese intelligentsia, is in fact born under Western auspices,and therefore to the Westerners liking; otherwise, the researcher might notbenefit from those auspices another time. These Chinese ideas are far fromgenuine Chinese thoughts, and from these Westerners will never get to knowthe real ones. Even from a general point of view, leaving aside China, the so-called academic norms usually clash with freedom of thought and creativity,

barring many intelligent minds from a charmed circle of mediocrities. In thelong run, neither the works by Confucius nor the Bible fit in with Westernnorms.

I do hope that the above digression about Western academic norms will notbe edited, for this is an ideological exchange, which might not be withoutimportance.

First, I would like to introduce some of my ideas, but the introduction mightnot be comprehensive and profound enough due to the limited space. In fact, tohelp foreigners know Chinese nationalists comprehensively and profoundly, it isnecessary to compile an anthology including the main thoughts of Chinesenationalists. Westerners have published a few, which, however, mainly includecritiques of Chinese nationalists by Westerners and some pro-Western Chinese


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intellectuals.1 Given that few texts have been written by Chinese nationaliststhemselves, could those criticisms be serious, earnest and responsible toknowledge (here we can also see that the so-called academic norms of

Westerners cannot guarantee the quality of research)? Of course, one of theimportant reasons for the absence of texts by Chinese nationalists is that theywould not be published (by contrast with the claim by Western researchers thatthe Chinese government has been instigating and making use of nationalists).Fortunately, Internet provides Chinese nationalists with an unprecedented spaceto express their ideas. The texts of Chinese nationalists on Internet are a splendidsight.

The Oppression of Chinas National Interests by the USA

If people say that China was aggressive in Maos time, then, in the years afterMaos death, China adopted a completely defensive posture, and even a tendencyto follow the USA. China no longer has the inclination to challenge the USsnational interests. Therefore, the clash of national interests is caused mainly by theoppression of China by the USA.

The oppression of Chinas national interests by the USA is represented in afew aspects known to all. First, the issue of Taiwan. The USA has played a criticalrole in severing the state on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Had the USA notintervened, there would be no severed state. However, American efforts to attempt

to break up China go well beyond the issue of Taiwan. Often Westerners use theexcuse that the state has been severed for over 50 years and that the USAs role isto maintain the status quo, without exerting further oppression of Chinas nationalinterests. Then American support of the separatists of inland Tibet and Xinjiang is,no doubt, aggressive and invasive. Some might say that the US government hasnot openly indicated its support for the separatists of Tibet and Xinjiang; at most, ithas interviewed the Dalai Lama, or shown concern towards human rights in Tibetand Xinjiang. To this claim I answer that not only do the US authorities interfere,the USA does.

I want to make a special mention of the Tibet issue. It is known to all that inrecent years a movement in the USA to support the independence of Tibet issurging, in which Hollywood and the American media are involved. I rememberan article in an American magazine (Timeor Newsweek, I cannot rememberclearly) saying that it has become fashionable in the American entertainment circleto support the independence of Tibet. Their excuses appear justifiable, saying thatChina suppresses human rights and the freedom of religious belief, and so on.Most of these are lies. I admit that there are serious human rights problems inChina. I also know that, having been in contact with Western culture, the Dalai

Lama has well familiarised himself with Western human rights ideologies, and

THE WEST IN THE EYES OF A CHINESE NATIONALIST

18 1. See for instance J. UNGER, Chinese Nationalism, New York 1996.


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knows very well what he should say to fawn upon the Westerners. Viewed fromWestern standards, however, before the Peoples Republic of China controlledTibet, the state of human rights in Tibet under the theocratic reign of the Dalai

Lama was much worse than in the areas dominated by Chinese people of Hannationality. In those days serfdom was practised in Tibet, which is not far fromslavery. Well, the Westerners might argue that it is part of the unique Tibetanculture and religious belief. So why do Westerners claim that human rights are auniversal value? Why has the Chinese substantial and obvious improvement ofhuman rights in Tibet been distorted as a trampling of human rights?

I also want to comment a view expressed in a letter by an American in the1990s to Ma Lihua, a Han writer living in Tibet, which goes as follows: Thedifference between assistance and intervention rests on whether the other side isseeking it. When Tibetans are seeking help to make progress, and only at thistime, if one will and can offer help, will that assistance be understood as a kind ofsocial progress and be readily received? Then one can become a helper, a knightwith shiny armour and be considered the saviour. And if the other side has noreceptive capability, all the assistance one hopes to give and all the well-meantmotives will be dissipated in a hostile environment. Therefore, assistance mustsought and hoped for.2 The Americans view sounds very reasonable, but whentalking about some Tibetans seeking assistance, which people of the area does theUS refer to? Some Tibetans have sought assistance: I hear that in the heart of manylate serfs, Mao Zedong is still a Buddha. But when the USA intervened in Kosovo,

was it because the Serbs had asked for it?!Approaching this issue from the human rights perspective, I think Westerners

do not have enough grounds to accuse China and give support to the Tibetanseparatists. It appears that Westerners are full of a sense of justice, but they arecompletely under the influence of an ill-natured propaganda by the hegemonicmedia. When talking about national interests, the misleading propaganda by theWest, the USA in particular, is obviously a threat to Chinas national interests. To agreat majority of Chinese, further improvement of human rights in Tibet isacceptable (and in the whole of China), but the attempt to separate Tibet from

China is unacceptable and those who are conspiring to do this are no doubt anenemy of China. Viewed from the experience of other areas in the world,separatism has brought nothing but revenge and harm to human rights, though itmight play to geopolitical interests of the USA or the West.

American support of the separatist movement in Tibet and Xinjiang is closelyconnected to its geopolitical strategy. In the USA, some peoples hostility to Chinadoes not arise from human rights issues, but from geopolitical interests or racism human rights are at most a pretext. In 1996, I had a talk with Mr. Ross H. Munro,author ofThe Coming Conflict with China. In his opinion, the USAs concerntowards human rights in China is uncalled for, and the key problem is that the

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192. MA LIHUA, Fleeting Soul, Writers Press, 1994, p. 212.


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USA is an established super-power, while China is a growing super-power(although, few Chinese see their country as a growing super-power). From ahistorical perspective, the only solution to the clash between the two nations

interests is to go to war. In addition, Mr. Samuel P. Huntington, the author ofTheClash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, listed the Chinesecivilisation as an enemy of Western civilisation. I think that Mr. Samuel P.Huntington is a racist, whose clash of Civilizations is nothing but a euphemismused instead of the politically incorrect clash of races. Some Westerners insistthat these ideas are not mainstream and that the US is not set to antagonise China.This is acceptable, as much as it is for China to be alert in case that tendencydevelops. What is more, the armament of the USA, such as National MissileDefence and Theatre Missile Defence, the latter in particular, including earlywarning radars, will be set up at the gate of China to cover Taiwan. Is this not areal threat to China from the USA?

Recently, Westerners like to discuss the threat from China. But in our eyes,China makes no threat against Western countries, because it has neither thecapability, nor the intention to threaten others, while the threat to China from theUSA is obvious to all. On this issue, I think that the USA and other Westerncountries have no right to preach morality and justice to China. China is notpowerful enough to compete with Western countries either in military strength orin control over the media, so we can only sit still while the Westerners demoniseus. As Chinese nationalists, the lesson we have learned is not to listen to the

morality and justice from the mouth of Westerners. In their system, it is strengththat counts; consequently, China must aspire to gain more strength.

The Clash of Ideologies

The clash of ideologies between China and America has two aspects: betweenthe Chinese government and America, and non-governmental groups and America.The two aspects are strikingly different and must be dealt with separately.

The clash of ideologies between the Chinese government and America

focuses mainly on human rights and the system of democracy. In this clash, theChinese government has a completely defensive position of which I can give apersuasive example.

On October 19, 1996, the Strategy and Administrationoffice sponsored aninformal discussion with Chinese experts in international affairs, and RobertHawke, former Australian Prime Minister, attended. In the discussion, Mr. Liu Ji,Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, In modernhistory, no diplomacy directed by ideologies has succeeded.3 Immediately Mr.Hawke retorted, I cannot agree less to Professor Lius analysis. Historical factsshow precisely the contrary: Western diplomatic policy has been dominated by


20 3. See Strategy and Administration, 1996, VI, p. 19.


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ideologies, and this policy has achieved a general victory.4 Mr. Hawke also said alot and eloquently. At that time, the interpreter, Wang Yong, an Associate Professorfrom the Institute of International Affairs of Beijing University, did not dare

translate the words to Mr. Liu Ji, so I decided to interrupt the discussion andtranslated the words to him. I noticed that Mr. Liu Ji was in great embarrassment.As a senior official of China, Mr. Liu Jis attitude was representative: the

Chinese government does its best to avoid an ideological dispute with the West,and expects Westerners not to challenge their ruling with regard to human rightsand democracy.

The clash of ideologies between non-governmental groups and America istotally different. In the areas of human rights and democratic politics, the generalpublic has no clash with Westerners. The serious human rights and democracyproblems of China cause great suffering in the first place to the Chinese. SomeWesterners think that Chinese nationalists disregard the human rights anddemocratic politics advocated by Westerners. With an air of racial superiority, theyclaim that since the Chinese do not want Westerners to strive for human rights anddemocratic politics for them, and are instead willing to be enslaved, then, whyshould Westerners bother? This is totally wrong. Chinese nationalism meansnothing without human rights and democratic politics. Human rights, democraticpolitics and the protection of Chinese national interests can and should run parallel.

It should be said that, with regard to human rights and democratic politics, theChinese, or the Chinese nationalists, are not that different from Westerners or

Americans. But together with the image of Western, and especially American,advocates of human rights and democratic politics, another image is in the heart ofChinese: they are the oppressors and exploiters of the poor, of the weakest groupsand of states, and they are unjust. From this perspective, Chinese non-governmental groups are not entirely defensive in the clash of ideologies withAmerica. This has been fully proved byChe Guevara, a play recently staged inBeijing. First, Che Guevara, the enemy of America, was killed by governmenttroops trained and directed by the CIA. He was chosen as the hero of the play toshow that America is the oppressor. Secondly, the script is full of derision of the

American capitalist values embraced by the upper class of China. The play, a big hitin Beijing, was produced 36 times in a row with full houses for every performance.By the way, although the upper class in China might be dissatisfied with talks

about human rights and democratic politics by Americans, they are quite pro-American. Those who revolt against America are usually the lower classes. Thereason might be that the Chinese upper class has accumulated a great amount ofwealth in economic dealings with America. Talks about human rights anddemocratic politics have no visible effect in threatening their interests and theircontrol over Chinese society. On the other hand, the lower and middle classes of

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21

4. Hawkes words that I accounted here are not exactly the same as that in Strategy and Administra-tion, 1996, VI. What I recorded is more accurate, for the equivocal words in Strategy and Administra-tionmight be due to political considerations.


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Firstly, the Chinese authorities encouragement of reverse racism was a peculiar

and unusual phenomenon, and well beyond the Westerners imagination.Secondly, to give publicity to reverse racism in China would mean glorifyingWesterners and it is hardly credible that the Chinese government, which hadantagonised the West for years, might encourage this. Thus, Westerners believereverse racism was a trend of the intelligentsia, especially of dissidents. In fact,the Chinese authorities greatly supported reverse racism publications, sponsoredand even organised seminars on the so-called cultural strategy, and broke therules to promote some intellectuals to important positions in control of publicopinion. The case ofHe Shang6 explains it all. Although in showing this TV film

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23

HEILONGJIANG

Harbin

JILIN

Hohhot

NEI MONGOLShenyang

LIAONING

Tianjin

BeijingBEIJING

Tianjin

JinanSHANDONGHEBEI

Shijiazhuang

SHANXITaiyuanNINGXIA

Yinchuan

Xian

SHAANXI

HENAN

Zhengzhou

Hefei

ANHUIShanghai

JIANGSU

Nanjing

SHANGHAIHangzhou

ZHEJIANGNanchang

JIANGXI FuzhouTaipei

TAIWAN

FUJIAN

Xiamen

Hong Kong

GUANGXI

Nanning

HUNAN

Changsha

GuiyangGUIZHOU

SICHUAN

Chengda

Kunming

YUNNAN

Lhasa

XIZANG

QINGHAI

Xining

XINJIANG

GANSU

rmqi

Lanzhou

Ulaanbaatar

KathmanduThimphu

Yangon

Vientiane

NewDelhi

Claimed by India

Under Chineseadministration

Changchun

GuangzhouGUANG

DONG

0 500 km

INDIA

MYANMAR

BHUTAN

NEPAL

R U S S I A N F E D E R A T I O N

M O N G O L I A

K A Z A K H S T A N

VIETN

AMTHAILAND

LAOS

PHILIPPINES

CHINA

NORTHKOREA

Pyongyang

Seoul

SOUTHKOREA

Hanoi

HUBEIWuhan

Dhaka

BANGLADESH

6. He Shang, the name of a TV series; He refers to the Yellow River, the symbol of Chinese civiliza-tion; shang, means death before growing up, so the literal meaning of the title is death of the Yel-low River (translators note).


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the producers ofHe Shang talked about a political risk, it really was a publicitystrategy (the Chinese knew that, at that time, there was no better advertisementthan claiming a political risk). Indeed, the film would not have been made

successfully without the authorities support; secondly, after it was shown, CCTVas well as other major official media headed by the Peoples Dailydedicatedattention and debates to it. The supporters ofHe Shangsaid: The press in Chinahas never paid so much attention to a television series like He Shang, publishingthe commentary, writing reports, comments and discussions. 7 Of course, giventhe anti-government position that some authors ofHe Shangheld, the Chinesegovernment accordingly changed its attitude. Even so, the reverse racismexpressed in He Shangstill found many supporters in the ideological officials incontrol of Chinas media.

How did this reverse racism, encouraged by the authorities and raved aboutby the intelligentsia (who called it cultural hit), come about? There are severalreasons. The nihilism of national culture denies that its tradition and culture is partof a tradition of the Chinese intelligentsia. The May 4 Movement sometimescontradicted the patriotic calling of the Chinese Communist Party, though on theother hand, from the perspective of historical philosophy, responded to the anti-feudal ideology of the Communist Party. It should not be forgotten that theCultural Revolution began by breaking the four olds, establishing the fournews, 8 and destroying the remains of Chinese traditional culture. After theRevolution, all the policies of that period were denounced, but the outlook of

historical philosophy was completely inherited. I have pointed out once and againthat the modes of thinking of many Chinese intellectuals who abhor theRevolution point to that as the main characteristic of the Revolution. As aconsequence, once the Revolution that aimed at the destruction of Chinesetraditional culture was over, all the blame, including that of the Revolution, wascast upon Chinese traditional culture, the wave of denouncing Chinese traditionalculture was surging again, and no one ever thought about its absurdity. Apparentlythis time they went much farther than May 4 and the Revolution. May 4 ideaswere tinted with a nihilism of national culture, but lacked such strong national

nihilism or reverse racism, and the mainstream was nationalism. Yet fromnihilism of national culture to national nihilism or reverse racism, thedevelopment was quite logical.

Reverse racism was also encouraged because China in the 1980s needed toopen its gates rapidly to the West for investments, technology, ideas or forms ofentertainment. Viewed as a whole, reverse racism met the general policyrequirements.


24

7. TIAN BENXIANG, On He Shang, Comments on He Shang, edited by Cui Wenhua, Culture and ArtPress, 1988, p. 218.

8. This slogan was quite popular during the Cultural Revolution. The four olds was used to refer toold ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits; the four news were new ideas, new culture,new customs and new habits (translators note).


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However, regardless of whether reverse racism was needed at the time orhow its historical effects can be evaluated, it could not remain in Chineseconsciousness. It would be very difficult for any nation to support ideas that

maintain its own inferiority, more so for China, a great nation with a quiteglorious and not so far away past, a population of 1.2 billion, and, thoughfrustrated, showing no trace of decline. This does not need to be provedtheoretically. Every life has a self-affirmative mechanism; otherwise its survivalwould be impossible. From the late 1980s onwards, the Chinese intelligentsiabegan revising reverse racism, which developed into a strong trend ofnationalism in the 1990s. Nonetheless, reverse racism is still dominant in theChinese intelligentsia, especially among those in control of the academic andeducational fields.

It must also be emphatically pointed out that the self-abusive reverse racismmania of the 1980s existed mainly among intellectuals and college students, whiletoday it has lost much of its market and is confined to the dignitaries and theliberal intellectuals. The average public is influenced by this trend, but generallywithout the self-abusive mania. In fact, the silent majority, i.e. the average public,have been rebelling against it, as the liberal intellectuals clearly see. For thisreason, they criticise nationalism and populism together. I have made similarpoints earlier in this article: in China, nationalism stems from the lower andmiddle classes, while reverse racism, pro-American and pro-Western attitudes

are common in the upper class of dignitaries, many of whom are corrupt officialshated by the people.Leaving aside theories and ideas and moving on to facts, these corrupt

officials often collude with foreign businessmen to sell off national interests andthe interests of the general public. One example is provided by the tragedies ofthose sweatshops created with foreign investment, in which many womenworkers (sometimes a dozen, and sometimes over a hundred) were burnt todeath. Women workers are locked in shops or dormitories like slaves with noescape in case of fire. In disagreements with foreign businessmen, or commercial

disputes between foreign and Chinese businessmen, Chinese corrupt officialsstand side by side with the foreigners for their own benefits. No wonder that thegeneral public often thinks that Westerners are on the side of the corrupt officials,that their talk of human rights and democratic politics is hypocritical, and that thesocial politics and economic theories that Westerners thrust upon China only servethe corrupt upstarts in China. In this context it is no wonder that nationalism findsloud echoes among the lower and middle classes.

From a certain point of view, nationalism in China is a response to thereverse racism embraced by those who believe in meritocracy and whoscorn, revile and discriminate ordinary Chinese. It also is a response to thecorruption of those who collude with foreigners and sell out the interests ofordinary Chinese.

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Freedom, Democracy and Hegemony9

How can freedom be guaranteed? In 1944, Friedrich August Hayek, a well-known liberal thinker, argued in The Road to Serfdomthat in a competitive society,the freedom we choose is based on such freedom: if one refuses to satisfy ourhopes, we may turn to another. But with a monopoly, we can do nothing but be atits beck and call. What Hayek referred to is an authority that monopolises theeconomic artery. Once such a monopoly arises, we have no freedom.Understandably, he could not discuss the super hegemony that came about 50years later in international relations. If Hayeks above judgement is a universalliberal principle (I think it is, and agree with it completely), obviously it will beapplicable to the present international order. Such a monopoly has appeared or atleast is appearing in the present international order with the hegemony of the

USA. For the moment, none of other forces in the world may challenge thishegemony; we can turn to no other force that can counteract the US. In front ofsuch hegemony, what freedom do you say we have?

To a great extent, the fall of the Soviet Union foretold the coming of the day inwhich we would lose our freedom. Some say the Soviet Union was an evil empirethat also had the wild ambition to be the lord of the world. And some even saythat the threat from the Soviet Union to China was more hazardous than that fromthe USA. These ideas might be right, but unfortunately they miss the point. Thekey does not lie in whether the Soviet Union was better or worse than the USA,

but whether we have more or less freedom in a unipolar world, compared with abipolar or multipolar one. The liberal principle tells us that an authority thatmonopolises the artery of our subsistence entails our loss of freedom. Therefore,under the hegemony of the USA, the world has evidently lost its freedom: in theyears since the fall of Soviet Union, the USA has started roughing up the worldwithout scruple, promising a dark future.

Some might claim that the several rough-ups of the USA, such as Gulf War andKosovo, had been caused by brutal atrocities, which had to be stopped by themoney, the arms and the people of the USA a selfless act for the people in other

areas of the world. Had the USA not rushed there to stop the atrocities, those whosuffered would have been totally hopeless. The USA itself often puts on an air thatI dont want to be the world guard, but whom else can you turn to when theworld needs one? Here I do not want to plunge into the dispute such as whetherMilosevic carried out ethnic cleansing or not. In The Constitution of Liberty,Hayek says that coercion cannot be avoided completely, because the only way toprevent it is to threaten the use of coercion. A free society empowers the countryto enforce the monopoly of coercion in order to restrict the use of the power onpart of individuals.


9. In Liberalism and Hegemony, I discussed the relationships between freedom, democracy and he-gemony. See China Road Under the Shadow of Globalization, Chinese Social Sciences Press, Novem-ber 1999, pp. 58-72.26


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From the point of view of traditional international law, the USAs assault onYugoslavia was an outright invasion. Then, why do some liberals support it inthe name of justice? In my opinion, consciously or unconsciously, they are willing

to endure the USs monopoly of power. In international relationships, how can theactions of the USA, a peremptory monopoly, be delimited? It must be kept in mindthat democratic politics do not play any role here. We have no right to vote for thePresident of the USA or the members of Congress. If we cannot limit the actions ofthe USA instead of relying on its self-restriction the international order isexactly the same as a totalitarian system, not yet bad as that thanks to Russia,China and India.

The emergence of a unipolar international order will never increase thefreedom of the majority in the world except for the monopolising country. I haveno intention of debasing the American civilisation and ideal, but the liberalprinciple tells us that the guarantee of freedom cannot come from the noblemorality of the ruler, but from the restriction of the system. No matter how nobleand free the American nation-founding ideal is, it cannot create a unipolarhegemony in the world, which would bring a horrible totalitarianism in theinternational order (intensive bombing on Yugoslavia by US-led NATO clearlyshows how horrible such an international order is). It may even carry out, asHayek puts it, authoritative government acts according to liberal principles. 10

But a liberal knows that the ruler is not reliable. In this case we would have noone to turn to. Freedom cannot rely on the ruler, but on another one we can turn

to. Therefore, a liberal has to consider how to limit the hegemony of the USA inthe world, and support those countries that are counterbalancing the hegemony ofthe USA.

Liberalism does not only mean abstract principles. If these abstract principleswere not put into practice according to concrete conditions, liberalism and theliberals would be worthless. Unfortunately, few liberals stand up to oppose thehegemony of the USA. Have I misunderstood liberalism and the USA, or have theybetrayed the liberal principles and turned away from the decency that is essentialto a liberal? I think it is the latter case. Of course, there are some reasons for which

Western liberals do not protest (though some have done): they are in the club ofworld conquerors, or have no way to taste what it is like for those who are outsidethe club, or have selfish motives. But the attitudes of Chinese liberals are strange:when American hegemony is overshadowing the whole globe, they opposeChinese nationalism instead of standing up to the US. I wonder whether theyknow the meaning of liberalism. If they are true liberals, they should opposeAmerican nationalism instead of Chinese nationalism. But they dont, theyimpudently support American nationalism and oppose Chinese nationalism.

If an atrocity such as genocide really were to take place somewhere in theworld, all the people in the world should try to find ways to stop it instead of

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looking over with folded arms. The liberals, however, should not forget theirlectures to us in the past: under totalitarianism we might be less molested bycriminals. But wed rather discard such kind of safety, for the cost is too high.

The actual example is the bombing on Yugoslavia by the USA. Though Milosevicwas not totally clean-handed, I think American bombing did far more harm to Serband Albanian civilians. If the international relations of the future are dealt with inthis way, the cost that the world will have to pay will be far greater. If ethniccleansing really were to take place in the present world, do we have othersubstitutes? In dealing with this kind of issue, a few better ways than interventionin the internal affairs of a state can be found. It is also unacceptable for civilisedpeople to stand by and look onto genocide with folded arms. Human beings inthe future should have better solutions, something like a world with Great-Harmony or the like. Why not use the UN? The excuse of the USA is the non-cooperation of Russia and China, which would exercise their right to veto in theSecurity Council. But why wouldnt Russia and China cooperate? Does the USAhave adequate reasons to intervene in Yugoslavia by force? If it does, why not try itin the Security Council so that all people of the world, including Chinese, can seethe hideous acts of abusing power and how irresponsible Russia and Chinaare? In fact, China has been very responsible in voting at the UN, especially carefulwhen using its veto power and Russia did not intend to shield Yugoslaviacompletely (it lacks the capability as well). Obviously, the USAs purpose inputting aside the UN and invading Yugoslavia in the name of NATO was to

establish a new international order with US-led NATO to dominate the world byforce. For the rest of the world except the USA or NATO countries, this kind ofnew order is totally incongruous with freedom.

Over half a century ago, Hayek wrote his famous book, The Road to Serfdom.Now the kind of country he referred to no longer exists, and the kind of thoughthe referred to is in low tide. Since his time, this world has been through greatchanges. Have the liberals today noticed the changes, the threats from newfreedoms, and the different sources of threats to freedom in international relationsand internal politics? If the answer is no, the liberals today are unworthy of the

glorious word liberty. If none of us can realise this, then, a new totalitarianinternational order will descend on this planet, which is a sure new road toserfdom.

Conclusion: The Prospect of a New International Order

An essential world problem is the distribution of natural resources. In order toscramble for natural resources and living spaces, many bloody wars have brokenout in history: World War II, for example, which is still fresh in our memory. Afterthe War, the new argument was that in the postwar free trade system, naturalresources and living spaces are not so important: anyone who wins thecommercial competition may have a happy life. Those who have discarded


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hypocrisy and are thinking seriously about the problems on this planet will neveragree with such a fallacy.

If one goes to and has a look at the Chinese inland where natural conditions

are extremely inclement but the population extremely dense, he will see thatpeople in those areas are virtually living in despair: the extremely inadequatenatural resources doom them to failure in any commercial competition. Theinclement living conditions also deteriorate their social relations: when everyone isscrambling for natural resources, tolerance, freedom and democracy find nofoothold, and environmental protection is out of the question. Their only hope isto escape to a place where natural resources are plentiful.

Recently in Britain a human smuggling incident scored the highest death tollof stowaways. On the early morning of June 19, when British landing waiters werechecking a Dutch-registered lorry at the port of Dover in the South of Britain, 58(54 male, 4 female) corpses of illegal immigrants from East Asia were found in acontainer, and two survivors were rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.They probably were from China.11 I have read too much news of this kind, andevery time I feel a gnawing in my heart. Some Westerners as well as some Chinesewho are used to derogating China to fawn Westerners might say that thesestowaways were fleeing a dictatorial regime. However, every objective and fair-minded person knows they were fleeing insufficient natural resources andcongested living spaces. Others might say that these stowaways were not verypoor, otherwise they couldnt have afforded the expenses. It has become part of

Chinese group subconscious to flee from deficient natural resources and congestedspaces. Every year countless Chinese go through innumerable trials and hardshipsto try to enter areas where natural resources are not so limited and space is not socrowded, and the best places are North America, Europe, and Australia. If not,Russia, Eastern Europe, Latin America will also do, and even some parts of Africa.

The examples of the argument that natural resources and living spaces are notimportant and any winner in a commercial competition may enjoy a good life canonly be applied to a few small and very special countries and regions, such asSouth Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Japan seems to be one of the

examples, but Japan gained its original capital by defeating China in wars andplundering its natural resources.Natural resources and living spaces are never unimportant. But how are the

distribution of natural resources and living spaces determined? No doubt, theyhave been distributed by wars. The rich nations today, mainly the white andJapan, have lived happily by defeating or even exterminating other races (such asin South and North America) and robbing abundant natural resources and livingspaces. This issue can never be evaded. Without mentioning this, it is hypocriticalto talk about human rights, freedom, environmental protection andpeace. while those sanctimonious intellectuals and politicians avoid this issue.

11. Telecommunication from Reuterson June 19, 2000.

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Even if the issue is evaded, it still lingers in peoples heart, especially of theChinese, Indians, and peoples of other races in the world.

Another essential problem is that the fate of such a large a population is held

in the hands of a few who do not know or care about them. From the perspectiveof internal politics, this is an issue of despotism; from the perspective ofinternational order, it is an issue of hegemony of the club of the USA and otherWestern powers. I appreciate the democratic system of the USA and other Westerncountries to the utmost. However, from the perspective of internationalrelationships, it is quite similar to that of ancient Rome. In my view, another groupcannot control the destiny of the Chinese, even if the people in that group madethe decision through a democratic procedure, for in this procedure, the Chinesewere not involved. This is where the difference lies between those pro-WesternChinese intellectuals and myself.

Without solving these problems, it would be very difficult for human rights,freedom, environmental protection and peace to exist. What really exists iswhat human beings have done in the long river of history: a group of people withstrong fists wipes out another group with weak fists to seek their own benefits. Inthis case, what is the use of those fair-sounding words?

If Westerners really care about these things such as human rights, freedom,environmental protection and peace, why not think more about how todistribute the natural resources and living spaces fairly and how to establish ademocratic system with all human beings involved notwithstanding race,

countries, religious beliefs and sexes.

(translated by Yao Ximing)


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GEOPOLITICAL CHANGES

IN THE WESTERN REGIONS byZHANGXIAODONG

THE FIRST TIME I GOT TO KNOW THEWestern Regions* was at the end of the 1970s, when I took the first CollegeEntrance Examinations after the Cultural Revolution and had to stuff my headwith a jumble of things I had never heard of. At that time, the Western Regionswas a geographical name in history that I had to remember. Later, when I studiedin the History Department of a university, more and more information about theWestern Regions began to accumulate in my mind: Qins Moon and Hans Pass,the exotic pipe and flute, the shining spears and armoured horses, the singlecolumn of smoke and the setting sun1 and also messengers in Han and monksof the Tang Dynasty who were trekking in the flying sand as well as the

indefatigable camel train and trade caravan. Although the Western Regions werestill remote and obscure, the great spatio-temporal vicissitude had sealed it insidethe vast accumulation of historical data.

However, since the 1990s the image of the Western Regions gradually beganto become clearer and more concrete in the depth of my mind. First, since thedisintegration of the Soviet Union, a large number of ethnic nations havemushroomed in the Asian hinterland, a place that is customarily called Central Asiaor Transcaucasia. Soon a region that is closely related in geopolitics, security,religion, ethnicity, culture and economy looms into our view. For such a large area

that includes Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of South Asia, onlythe name Western Regions can embrace it all. Second, bordering ChineseXingjiang and Tibet, this region not only affects our national security and stabilityof the Great Northwest, but also relates to the development of the West of China,

* According to Word Ocean(1979, condensed version, Shanghai Lexicographical Press), after the HanDynasty, the region west of Yumen Pass (Northwest of Dunhuang, Gansu Province now) was gene-rally called the Western Regions. The word has two meanings: in a narrow sense, it refers to the areaEast of Congling; in a broad sense, it refers to the regions that can be reached through the area East ofCongling, and includes the Middle and West of Asia, the Indian Peninsula, the East of Europe and theNorthern parts of Africa. In this article, the Western Regions refer to the Middle East, Central Asia, the

Indian Subcontinent and the Caucasian region, which is a little different from the broad meaning. Butwhile a better word is yet to be found to include the above four regions, the Western Regions is nota bad choice (authors note).1. These are the widely known descriptions of the Western Regions by ancient poets (translators note).


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as well as the economic development of China as a whole in the 21st century. Hereonly the word Western Regions can evoke our grand sense of honour and oursense of crisis.

The region must be recognised de novoand the influences of the changes inthis region on our country must be understood. All of these constitute the mainmotives of my retrospection on the Western Regions (please forgive my using aword that had been forgotten for over 100 years) at the turn of the millennium.

The Changes in Geopolitics of the Western Regions sincethe End of the Cold War

In the vast expanse of the Western Regions, the end of the Cold War was

mainly symbolised by a series of great historical events, such as the Soviet troopswithdrawal from Afghanistan, the Gulf War, progress in the peace talks in theMiddle East and the successive independence of the countries in Central Asia andTranscaucasia, which have not only changed the balance of power and broken theCold War set-up formed since the World War II, but also ignited momentousrearrangements in geopolitics in this region in over 100 years.

First, due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russian influence inCentral and Western Asia has shrunk on all fronts. From the planned large-scaleexpansion (1700) of Peter the Great to the annexation of Crimea, Caucasus,Central Asia and so on into the domain of Tsarist Russia (Russians entered Pamir in1891),2 it took the Russians about 190 years. After the October Revolution, theSoviet Union not only inherited the territory of the Tsarist Russia but also graduallypicked up its external policy in Asia. In order to compete for supremacy with theUSA, as well as break the encompassing of the USA in the South wing, the SovietUnion took as its main objective the access to the Indian Ocean, snatchingstrategic points and achieving an advantage in geopolitical competition. In itsheyday, the Soviet Union set up military bases in the African Horn and SouthYemen, and maintained close ties with some radical Arab countries such as Syriaand Libya. From the mid 1980s, under the leadership of Gorbachev, the country

undertook a general political and economic reform, which, more like a disasterthan a reform to the whole nation and the people, solved none of the substantialproblems that the country faced at home and abroad, and instead caused the worstchaos in economic order and the ultimate disintegration of the Union. However,this was good news for the USA, the Western camp and those countries that hadbeen under the Russian threat over the past 100-odd years. Through the Gulf Warin 1990-1991, the USA established its dominance in the whole Middle East. In otherwords, it became impossible to solve any problems in Middle East without theactive involvement of the USA, while the Soviet Union (and its heir Russia) turned

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322. ZHAO CHANGQING, A Survey of Five Central Asian Countries, Economic Daily Press, Beijing, April1999, p. 30.


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into an on-looker of Middle Eastern affairs and an endorser of the Americanscheme. In the North of the Middle East, countries such as Turkey, Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan, which had been under tight Russian pressure, may

slightly relieve the taut nerve at last. The Soviet troops withdrawal fromAfghanistan and the successive independence of three nations in Transcaucasiaand five nations in Central Asia not only drove the threat further North for severalhundred and even over one thousand kilometres, but also provided thesecountries with more space to exert greater influence in regional politics.

Second, an immense political vacuum appeared in the hinterland of Asia. Nomatter how the conquest of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union in Central Asia andTranscaucasia is evaluated, a fundamental fact is that the successive independenceof the three nations in Transcaucasia and the five nations in Central Asia essentially

presupposes a total renunciation of the Soviet politics, economics, social system,culture and ideology. In view of this, the so-called political vacuum is representedin the thorough non-Sovietisation and non-Russianisation in the nations ofCentral Asia and Transcaucasia. In the next place, due to the disintegration of theSoviet Union, in an instant, Central Asia and Transcaucasia turned from being aRussian exclusive domain into a derelict enclave in international politics. Noeffective influence from any international and regional political power fell uponthis region, and these nations themselves are standing in bewilderment, unable toascertain their identity and future. Just like those nations that have experiencedethnic migration or suffered foreign invasion, the ethnic nations have to make asettlement about the past and a choice about the future. Put another way, thefuture politics, economy and society of these countries are characterised by greatuncertainty and plasticity. Whatever choices are ultimately made, theconsequential influence (upon the peripheral countries in particular) will beimmense.

As a result, nearly at the same time of these countries independence, ageopolitical competition with the aim to affect the orientation of the countries inCentral Asia and Transcaucasia began to unfold. Turkey, which is close to CentralAsia and Transcaucasia in language as well in ethnicity, aspires to establish a

Turkish community stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Great Wall of China.3The interests that Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others are pursuing contradicteach other to a great extent, but all of them aspire to restore Islamic features in thisregion. While the USA and other Western countries take it as a matter of coursethat after casting off the shackles of the Russians who had tied them for over 100years, the countries in Central Asia will throw themselves into the arms of theWestern-coloured freedom and democracy without hesitation,4 and thereforetheir main goals are to promote democracy, establish a liberal economy and

3. WU CHUANGUN, On the Developmental Prospect of Pan-Turkism, Russia Studies, IV, 1993.4. DONG FANGXIAO, Islam and Post-Cold War World, Social Scientific Literature Press, Beijing, June1999, p. 190.

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help this region merge with international society 5 and so on. To a great extent,the important strategic position of this region, the abundant petroleum and gasresources in the Caspian Sea area further stimulate the desire and enthusiasm of all

kinds of powers to fill up the political vacuum. To achieve its strategic aim, theUSA not only is planning to compromise with Iran, but also does not havereservations in making use of the Taliban, an Islamic extremist organisation, toopen up the passage to Central Asia through Afghanistan.6 The Japanese layspecial emphasis on seizing the opportunity to peek the Chinese and Russiansfrom their back and attempt to avoid a gap in politics and economy in CentralAsia.7

Third, power integration that crosses regional boundaries. In the 2000 yearsprior to the mid 18th century, the political, economic and cultural communicationamong the people in the expansive region that we call Central Asia, Western Asiaand South Asia was probably far more complex and frequent than we know.Comparatively the artificial obstruction of the Russian conquest on the regions ofCentral Asia and Transcaucasia lasted for only 100 years, which might not causemuch damage on the longstanding historical connections. However, the past 100years is a period that characterised not only the rapid growth in economy andtechnologies in human history, but also extreme clashes in ideologies and nationalinterests. These, on one hand, have made an immense difference in material wellbeing, but on the other have widened the gap in spiritual and political life. Itshould be specially noted that, as a result of the formation of the two great camps

(East and West) and the breakout of the Cold War after World War II, all thedifferences and gaps widened.

The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union removedthe artificial communication barrier between the various regions, and provided thepossibility for other international and regional powers to exercise their influence.At the same time, the general emphasis of every country on accelerating economicdevelopment and improving peoples living standards has produced sustainedstimulation for the integration of cross-regional powers.

The first kind of power integration in the Western Regions is the whole-scale

expansion of Islamic influence. As part of the traditional Islamic world, the regionof Central Asia is covered with fertile soil for an Islamic revival. Furthermore, alarge number of Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and others) addfuel to the fire for the revival of Islam in Central Asia through investments,religious donations, sponsorships for pilgrimages and cultural exchanges. Withthe very help from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries, Central Asiancountries successively joined in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference


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5. GU GUANFU, The US Intervention in Central Asia and the Security of China, Institute of China Stra-tegy and Administration, Analytic Report of International Affairs, 1997-1989, p. 52.6. As above, p. 54.7. DAIKAKU NAOYA, Diplomacy along the Silk Road A Back View of the Strategies of China and Rus-sia, Japan: Yomiuri Shimbun, February 5, 2000. Quote from: Xinhua Agency, Tokyo, February 5,2000, Japanese telecommunication.


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(OIC), 8 thus accomplishing the return to Islam on the official level. Meanwhile,under all kinds of influences from within and without, the religious enthusiasm ofthe general public in this region is continuously surging, and also Islam is

gradually becoming an effective weapon of quite a few political oppositiongroups.9 The second kind of power integration in the Western Regions is the Pan-Turkism mainly promoted by Turkey, which actively pushes ahead the relationswith Central Asian countries in all fields, and established and held a TurkishSummit Conference. Turkey can make use of ethnic and language relations aswell as the eagerness of the Central Asian countries, in search for a new course ofdevelopment and to accomplish a non-Russianisation at the beginning of theirindependence. It is not easy to establish a Turkish Community, GreatTurkestan or any other Pan-Turkish entity, but the geopolitical shift engenderedin the whole Western Regions by such activities and its influence upon Xinjiang inChine can never be neglected.

The third kind of power integration is probably the most significant andproblematic: the economic cooperation of the whole region. In 1992, theEconomic Cooperation Organisation (ECO, formed in 1985) founded by Turkey,Iran and Pakistan was expanded to include the five Central Asian countries,Azerbaijan and Afghanistan, formally starting the regional economic operationstretching over Central Asia, Transcaucasia and the Northern part of the MiddleEast. In spite of the summit conferences held in the few ensuing years and quite anumber of agreements reached in the fields of banking and infrastructure

improvement, few of them have been put into practice. The activities of ECO havevirtually stopped, especially when Turkey and Iran placed more attentionrespectively on the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Association (BSEC) andCaspian Sea Users, two organisations focused respectively on each of thecountries.

Fourth, the Eurasian continent crossroads. Prior to Russias complete controlover Central Asia and the Caucasus, this region, the core of the Eurasian continent,had played a unique role in the whole ancient world. For one thing, the SilkRoad leading to the West from China went through this region, the cities on the

way were not only the distributing centres of all kinds of goods, but also posts thatmaintained the security and smoothness of transportation; secondly, this regionwas also the only passage for the nomadic ethnic nations in the North of Asia to godown to Mesopotamia, Iran and India. Of course, not all of those who weretrudging along the Silk Road were travelling merchants, not all of those whowere galloping on the Central Asian prairie and in the harsh desert were thecavalry of the barbarian ethnic groups. The region of Central Asia and theCaucasus had in fact grown into a crossroads where the politics, economics andcultures of a few cultural areas on the ancient Eurasian continent converged and

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8. DONG FANGXIAO, Islam and Post-Cold War World, Social Scientific Literature Press, Beijing, June1999, p. 177.9. MIRZOHAIRHUSAIN, Global Islamic Politics, Harper Collins Publishers, 1995, pp. 255-256.


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interacted. As Ren Grousset, a French scholar, described in his monumental workThe Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, along this road, trade wasgoing on and religions were spreading; along this road, came the Greek arts of the

Alexandrine successors and the people who preached Buddhism fromAfghanistan. From this road, Greek-Roman merchants went to and tried to takecontrol of Saraga (a name used by Ptolemaeus to refer to Luoyang, which he alsocalled Thinae, authors note), a place Ptolemaeus had mentioned to be plentifulwith silk, and the generals in Eastern Han Dynasty of China had ventured toestablish communications with Iranian world and the Eastern part of the RomanEmpire. 10

In the 1990s, having been out of view of the world politics and internationalcommunications for over one hundred years, the region of Central Asia and theCaucasus once again resumed its geographic advantage of linking the continentsof Europe and Asia. If increasing globalisation were taken into consideration, itsgeopolitical advantage would probably be far more prominent than in the past.Obviously the leaders of the Central Asian countries have realised the close tiebetween the geopolitical advantage and the future development of their countries.As a result, all countries have eagerly declared their desires one after another tobecome the new tie and bridge. 11 Of course their performing capability hasbeen seriously hindered by underdeveloped economies, fragile infrastructures,complicated religious and ethnic conflicts, but their potential advantages ingeography, strategy and even economics cannot be indiscreetly brushed aside.

This might be the important reason for which Russia is re-establishing its presencein the region and for which the USA, European Union and NATO are gettinginvolved.

The Western Regions and the National Security of China

On the Eurasian hinterland and bordering the Pacific Ocean in the East, Chinawas troubled by the invasion of the nomadic ethnic nations in the North andNorthwest in the past feudal dynasties. Hun during the Qin Dynasty, Turk during

the period of Sui-Tang, the Northern chaos caused by war during the FiveDynasties, the confrontation between Northern Song and Nuzhen, and later, thesuccessive entrance in the Central Plains of Mongolians and Manchurians, allaccounted for a simple fact: the invasions of the nomadic ethnic nations were themajor threat to the external security of past dynasties. The rock-firm Great Wallthat has been standing for hundreds and thousands of years vividly interpretsChinas focus and main orientation in security. With the establishment of theWestern maritime hegemony and the rise of capitalism, the main threat against the


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10. R. GROUSSET, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, translated by LAN QI, Commer-

cial Press, Beijing 1999, pp. 10-11.11. SUN ZHUANGZHI, Foreign Relations of Five Central Asian Countries, Contemporary World Press,Beijing, April 1999, p. 35.


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security of China shifted from land to sea. During the 110 years from the OpiumWar in 1840 to the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China, there werenumerous invasive wars against China launched from the sea, and Chinas capital

was captured and ransacked three times: in 1860, the Allied Armies of Britain andFrance burnt Yuanming Garden; in 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces occupiedBeijing; and in 1938, Japanese Devils caused a blood bath in Nanjing. It should benoted that even in this period, threats from the North and Northwest had by nomeans subsided. The territory and borders in the depth of the continent hadundergone tremendous changes, from which the threat had not been felt until the1960s-1970s: from the utmost Eastern part of the Wusuli River to the Pamirs in theFar West, China was half enveloped by the Soviet Union from North to West; thethree provinces in the Northeast, the base of Chinas heavy industry, werebetween the hammer and the anvil, and even Beijing, the capital, was within therange of a lightning war.

By 1991 the threats from the West and the North had generally undergone twostages. The first stage started around 221 BC and ended in mid 19th century, whenthe main threat against China came from regular invasions of the Northernnomadic ethnic nations. When the central dynasties were comparatively strong,the invasion caused no more than wars on the Northwestern frontiers; when thecentral dynasties were vulnerable, the whole Northern regions would fall in thechaos of war including the Central Plains under foreign occupation. Fortunately,although the well-developed civilisation in the Central Plains had been

conquered, yet in the end, it conquered the barbaric and uncivilised victors byinebriating and doping them, and ultimately wiped them out. 12 From the mid 19th

century, the threat from the Northwest underwent substantial changes. First, Russiareplaced the nomadic nations and became the main invader from the North, forthe expansion of territory cast a spell over Tsarist Russia; second, both the Tsaristand Communist reigning groups were frequently under strong fanatical impulsesto launch large-scale invasions and military strikes against China; and third, unlikethe regular invasions of the nomadic nations, Russian pressure on the security ofChina was overwhelming and longlasting.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in December of 1991 and the followingindependence of the Central Asian countries marked the dawn of a new era inwhich the security environment in the West and North of China would undergogreat changes. Optimistically, the disintegration of the Soviet Union relieved Chinaof the most intense military pressure along the continental border, and in theforeseeable future, there will be no threat of large-scale military invasion in theNorth and West of China. Even the possibility of border clashes also dropped tothe lowest point in history, for China has not only solved the majority of borderissues with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries, but also achieveda common view through dialogue and negotiation au pairon border disarmament

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3712. R. GROUSSET, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, translated by LAN QI, Commer-cial Press, Beijing 1999, p. 18.


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and reliance establishment. The Shanghai Five in particular, has become acooperative paradigm in the security field of international society.

Nevertheless, it should not be neglected that security in the West and North of

China still faces serious uncertainties. The first is related to Islamic extremism andethnic separatism. Viewed from the whole, the international and regionalenvironments since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 are propitious tothe promulgation of Islamic extremist and ethnic separatist thoughts. From theinternational perspective, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the frustrationsuffered under Socialism have not only provided space for the overflowing of allkinds of political and religious trends, but also helped their natural justification: aslong as they are trying to shake off Russian control and influence and oppose theSoviet political and economic pattern, they will earn wide support andacclamation in international society. What is more, with the Kosovo war as theturning point, the new interventionism of the USA and NATO has come intoshape, represented especially in their support to the Kosovo Liberation Army, anextremist faction, and their position on the later Chechen issue. This will stimulateall kinds of separatism. From the regional perspective, both Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism have a ready market in Central Asian regions. One reason for this is thatsome countries studiously preach and hawk these thoughts in pursuit of their owninterests; the other reason is that, to a great extent, these thoughts filled theideological vacuum during the post Soviet era, and provided a certain ethnic andcultural identity and authenticity. In such great a setting, all kinds of religious

extremisms with an Islamic colour and ethnic separatism became active as neverbefore, from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from Central Asia to Afghanistan andKashmir, that is, along the boundary between the Islamic world and the Easterncamp.

To sum up, the Islamic extremism and ethnic separatism active in this regionhave some common characteristics. First, without exception they lump religious,ethnic and political issues together to evoke widest international sympathy andsupport; second, while constantly advocating noble religious and political goals,they take up kidnapping, assassination, explosion and other terrorist practices

without hesitation as means to achieve their goals; third, in order to acquirereliable resources, the area they control has become a workshop of drugs. It isreported that opium produced in Afghanistan is three times the total amountproduced in other areas in the world. In 1999 only, the opium produced inAfghanistan was 4600 metric tons, double the 1998 output. 13

In China there are 10 ethnic groups that believe in Islam, with a population ofabout 18-20 million, who mostly live in the Northwestern regions. If it was truethat during the Cold War, China could cut off the tie between Xinjiang and CentralAsia through tight border controls and other security measures, at present it isimpossible: in ethnicity, language and religion Xinjiang has a far-reaching

13. AHMED RASHID, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November/December 1999,p. 33.


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connection with the Western Regions. The bi-directional flow of people,information and materials into and out of the Western Regions is not only theoutcome of Xinjiangs opening to the outside world, it is also the prerequisite of

further development

Heartland 1/2000 A New Silk Road?

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