It seems strange to think that there was a time when China, the largest country in the world in terms of population and third in terms of size, was weak and completely at the mercy of what were then far more powerful nations. It seethed at it's enemies at the time, but westerners did not act overly concerned, and continued their abuses This, despite warnings of what might happen. Napoleon famously warned about what will happen when China would finally awaken from it's slumber:
Ici repose un géant endormi, laissez le dormir, car quand il s'éveillera, il étonnera le monde.” (literally translates to “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.”
Indeed, there was a time when China was under the thumb of de facto Western colonizers, when it was humiliated time and time again by colonizers. They were forced to sign treaties favorable to the foreigners. When an anti-western rebellion rose, and there was a false belief that by focusing energies in their bodies, Chinese people could repel western bullets, they were mercilessly massacred.
Little by little, however, China rose. There was a civil war between nationalist forces, led by Chiang Kai-shek, and Communist forces, led by Mao Zedong (he was known as Tse-Tung not long ago). They put their differences aside during the Second World War to fight the Japanese invaders, but once that ended, the civil war continued. Of course, eventually, the Communists won.
Since then, China has been on the rise. It felt emboldened, clearly feeling it's size and strength. It played it's hand aggressively, helping North Korea during the Korean War, and taking over Tibet by force, and the world, still weary of war, just stood by an let it happen. China continued to grow, in size and in strength.
Eventually, it grew powerful enough that it could not be ignored, and it made no compromises on it's demands. Nixon came to China, and officially recognized it, and not Taiwan, as the one and only legitimate China, which has been American policy ever since. Trump claimed that he would force China to make better deals favorable to the United States, and to that end, he has initiated a trade war against China, although the results of this are still not yet determined. Also, Trump seems to be undermining his own chances of success by antagonizing allies by imposing tariffs on those nations that otherwise might also have helped the United States in trying to force more equitable trading terms by China.
Indeed, many are now complaining that China is imposing harsh terms on other nations when trading with them, as well as a host of other issues. Much of this is a sort of hypocrisy by former colonizing powers who also still often bully smaller, weaker nations. Like Trump himself, as well as the nation that he represents, many very wealthy nations are now complaining about difficulties in retaining their traditionally privileged states.
However, there are exceptions. Nations in Africa, for example, have been complaining that China is not treating them as an equal partner, but rather, almost as if they themselves are the colonizers. The irony is that many now view Africa as Napoleon once viewed China, as the sleeping giant that will shake the world once she wakes. If memory serves correctly, Africa, after all, is growing at a faster rate than any other part of the world, and has been growing in terms of population at a rate that is impossible to ignore. They still have not managed to grow overly powerful, but that may change.
China might want to think about that, and keep their own experiences in mind. Things can change. They sure have for China, as it rose from a weak and subjected, compromised nation, to one of the superpowers in the world today, and it is still growing. However, now that it is on top, it should keep in mind how fragile that privileged status can be. After all, China likely became the second leading national superpower when another superpower, the Soviet Union, dissolved. And it can see the United States, for now still clinging to it's status as the world's leading superpower, clearly on the decline, and dividing within itself.
Things change, and China might really want to tread carefully in the way that they deal with other nations and regions, lest they find themselves compromised at some as yet undetermined point in the future.
Here are the articles that I used in writing this particular blog entry. The first is the story about how some Africans are viewing the way China deals with them with growing skepticism, and the second one is where I got the Napoleon quote from:
Is China Treating Africa The Same Way European Colonists Did? By Panos Mourdoukoutas, Contributor, Aug 4, 2018:
Is it true that Napoleon once said “When China sneezes the world will shake”? published by Grant Leed (updated March 6th, but no year given):
No comments:
Post a Comment