Opinion | What should we do, when the world is divided on China?

By Augustus Yeung

Introduction

As China is rising rapidly, the world wonders: Some people either wonder whether this is true, or they are unhappy--as all along they have been living in a US-led world, which shapes our physical environment and our political thinking. That is utterly understandable.

Some people responded with awe and admiration to China's meteoric rise from nowhere, full of praises for a nation which is built by the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the model of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics," a model which is different from and diametrically opposed to that of the United States, which has since World War II been the sole leader of the world, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

China's rise to world prominence and to economic power and prosperity is inevitably provoking or eliciting reflex-like soul-searching reactions/responses. This is complex. And some can be bizarre, as they lead to "hate crimes" against Chinese overseas students, and even Asians in America. How awful! How sad!

What should we do? World leaders and individuals like us are showing ingenious ways of coping with a now emerging new world in which smaller countries feel caught between two superpowers.

New Zealand and Others Opted to be Independent

New Zealand with Jacinta Ardern as Prime Minister is weathering well: She has first refused to be drawn into Aukus membership, citing its commitment to a non-nuclear political belief, which is a sensible and convincing way of warding off Washington, which is trying to court the country into the marriage of convenience.

Then came the parliamentary debate. When the MPs in her country accused China of committing the crime of "genocide" in Xinjian, the prime minister wisely answered back that the case has not been legally authenticated or proved and processed. Therefore, her government refused to make it a point and official in the nation's parliament; she used the word "grave concern" as a replacement. How intelligent!

And when the 4 world's major news outlets subtly confronted her over her loyalty to the Western world, she responded by telling them off that New Zealand has her "integrity" to live with and defend for in a world that is being polarized. How audacious!

And in the Apec meeting of which it was New Zealand's turn to chair, she openly announced that she found Sino-American rivalry as the greatest "threat" to the operation of Apec as an organization. How trueful!

Indonesia and Malaysia, too, are opting for a way out of irritating China and America: for example, they took their case to Australia, where they protested its decision to go nuclear by joining Aukus, avoiding accusation of America, which is the real culprit.

Egyptian Admirer of China Chose to Write

"Here's what an Egyptian admirer wrote in Malaysia's Daily Express. He writes: "It doesn't matter who we are…We can't do what they do…Next to China the entire Western world from Alaska to New Zealand has stagnated. Next to China the entire developing world from Brazil to Madagascar has progressed only at a crawl.

"China is the greatest country on the face of the Earth. It makes all other countries look insignificant and contemptible.

"It is the most brilliant, most industrious, most ambitious, most educated, meritocratic and technocratic, most modern, sophisticated, and civilized, and best-governed by far." ("Good or evil? World is divided on China." By Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Monday, October 18, 2021.)

Whose Side Are We On?

Prior to 1921, China was extremely poor, and the rate of illiteracy was extremely high. Two Peking University professors who had some knowledge of Marxism passed by a group of Chinese refugees, who they met in the suburb of Beijing. The professors learned of their plight, which harden their determination to organize the society in accordance with the principle of Marxism. This was the brief synopsis of the film, "The Age of Awakening", describing the rise of Chinese communism, out of humanitarian concerns. And these two professors were labelled as political deviants by the warlords, who were in control of Chinese societies.

One of these professors was hanged for his humanitarian concerns as he had tried to organize the oppressed factory workers in Shanghai, the other had his two young sons (who had studied in France) hanged in the prime of their life.

About half a century later, Howard S. Becker, an American professor in the University of Chicago conceptualized this phenomenon. He asked, "What is Deviance?" "Whose side are we on?" His answer to the first question was "deviance is nonconforming behavior", which is "the recognized violation of cultural norms".

What deviant actions or attitudes, whether negative or positive, have in common is some element of difference that causes us to think of another person as an "outsider" (H.S. Becker, 1966).

To the warlords in the old days, those two professors and the two young humanitarian university graduates were deviants who had practised their political beliefs to make their compatriots' life better.

To the Americans today, the Communist Party of China (CCP) is deviant as it is different from the American political system, which recognizes Republicanism or Democracy as a legitimate way of political life.

It is logical thinking to entertain the possibility that today's deviance might become the new normal in the future as this is how the cultural world progresses. Or the society would risk being stagnant.

Conclusion

Nominally, America celebrates cultural diversity. However, it has persecuted people and parties, just for being "different". The outrageous story of the Communist Party of China being ridiculed by the United States and its allies is a case in point.

However, after a century of upheaval in world politics, the American hegemonic power is on the decline: the wars they waged in Asia and Middle East, etc. in the name of introducing and imposing democratic values on nations that are "non-democratic" have sealed its fate. It was a hard sell.

Yes, America has lost its mandate of heaven; the case of Afghanistan is the most recent example.

What China wants is not the existing unilateral world led by the United States since World War II. But a multilateral world, let by the United Nations, where all the countries must be treated equally, and fairly and justly.

What do we as individuals want, and what should we do? We want what China wants: a brave new world order--based on the principle of multilateralism. Equality and fraternity.

We the Chinese as individuals should follow our national leader: continue to write and to communicate China's case/story to the world--till we feel that our motherland has been properly understood, and fairly treated and respected.

 

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

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