China 's Struggle For Status

China remains a current world super power that has been around for thousands of years. It was one of the first civilizations ever created and it has evolved into an enormous country. China is a large territory, but only 10% of the land can be farmed on. This continues to be a tremendous problem, especially with the large population that mostly lives in rural areas. In the past China was seen as a fragile nation that was still stuck in the past, although after the Four Humiliations this began to change. The Four Humiliations were a group of events that forced China to modernize due to the losses it faced. After the last of the four humiliations and the fall of the dynasty era during 1911, China began to catch up to the westernized world by modernizing their government, military, and education. The Chinese

In time, China was hoped to find that social and political freedom is the only basis of that greatness. The United States has helped nurture this change by cooperating with China where possible, without allowing the differences that do exist, such as human rights, and nonproliferation commitments to interfere.

One of the most significant changes in the Communist Party has been the distribution of power. In the days of Deng and Mao, for instance, the leader held the majority of power in the Chinese political system. In more recent years, however, the Communist Party has dictated more of the government's actions while the leader, Hu, has relinquished a fair amount of power and authority. This shift is exemplified by the author's idea, “In Mao’s and Deng’s days, the leaders towered

On the international level, China had unfortunately found itself relatively isolated. The United States considered the Maoist government a threat to stability in the Far East, and conflicts in aims had marred the country’s relations with the Soviet Union. So, rather than

It is no longer appropriate to say, “China is quickly emerging as a global superpower.” The fact is China is just that. Realizing this the United States of America has attempted to once again turn its focus eastward. Continuing problems at home and in the Middle East however have made doing so difficult. Additionally more and more frequently attempts at influencing the ongoing narrative in the Asia- Pacific region have been rebuffed. Even allies have found strength in the emergence of a system that fails to conform to previously prescribed methods and ideals. This leads to a fundamental question America must answer quickly. Has the growing hypocrisy of idealistic political rhetoric versus actual foreign policy finally undermined American credibility with developing nations, or for the purposes of this paper more specifically China? The answer is yes.

“The Party: The Secret World Of China’s Communist Rulers,” by Richard McGregor is a book which provides detailed insight into the Communist Party of China, revealing many of the secret underpinnings of how the party is run, and explores the question of how they have continued to stay in power for so long. While other strong socialist powers, such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany, fell at the end of the 20th century, the CPC was able to stay in control and ultimately come out of that period even stronger. In McGregor’s own words “the party picked itself up off the ground, reconstituted its armor and reinforced its flank. Somehow, it has outlasted, outsmarted, outperformed, or simply outlawed its critics, flummoxing the pundits who have predicted its demise at numerous junctures.” Instead of letting its own ideologies weaken its power, the CPC has continually adapted and transformed its policies and goals in order to maintain their stronghold over the nation. Through his impressive list of Chinese scholars and political contacts, McGregor is able to lay out the fundamental workings inside the Chinese government and the impressive actions they’ve taken to remain such a powerful organization.

​According to Lawrence (1998), the future of China will largely depend on its top leaders. Their priorities, reputations, and ability to get local officials and society at large to support their policies will shape the course of future events. At the vanguard of the group of up-and coming leaders is Hu Jintao, who joined the Communist Party’s most senior body, the seven-man politburo Standing Committee, at the age of 49 in 1992.

China is in a state of foreign dominance. Europeans and Japanese are taking over its territory. The people have lost faith in their government and they want to start a new one. Revolutionary parties begin to rise and expand. They want their government to get rid of the Europeans and Japanese but they aren’t able to. They have to take matters into their own hands. The people are started to learn from the westerners and they want to modernize. They want the power to defend themselves. They want the power to be able to control their own people and reinforce their own laws. They don’t want Europeans or Japanese to think that China is a part of their own country. Peasants

Hong Kong and Taiwan have claimed independence from mainland China, but political concerns are arising. Since the ruling class controls the state power, China sought its own interest and define its interest as the interest of the nation-state. Liberals would argue that Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan should be respected and allow them to self-govern. Even though, China wants to gain all forms of power with trying to get ahold of these countries, it will be more of a benefit to let them self-govern and try to work together. Chinese scholars began to engage the more orthodox intellectuals in the debate over china’s interest in the 1990s. Yet, according to Qin, he would argue that China was trying to establish somewhat of a liberalism concept. Qin could have this approach since China’s most important national interest was economic development and the most cost efficient way to realize that was from China to take under their power Tibet, Hong Kong, and

Ho-fung Hung’s work attempts to reconcile the widespread expectation that China’s rise would lead to a fundamental change in the global status quo with the observed fact that China has become increasingly connected to and one with the global status quo. To do this, he must first examine China’s rise and prove that it upholds the global status quo, and further must look into the origins of China’s rise, going back to the 13th century, to understand why this rise seemingly changed so little about the global world order.

Chinese philosophy places great emphasis on gradual change in order to maintain stability. Many Chinese elite, scholars and technocrats, who are affiliated with the CCP, are the ones who shape the debate and are able to change norms and policies. Whereas Americans, regardless of social standing and political patronage, have been known to challenge social, economic and political norms, resulting in constant innovation. In China, pulling the lever is reserved to a minority elite with limited room to address issues beyond business, finance and economics. The Chinese government is already grappling with the consequences of market reforms which has given Chinese citizen the ability to voice their opinions through their economic rights. Unfortunately, challenging orthodoxy does not go hand in hand with Chinese

The article “China’s Challenge to US Hegemony,” by Christopher Layne was a wonderful article talking about the China challenges the U.S hegemony. In the beginning Layne said that against popular belief the period of American hegemony is drawing to an end and the rise of China is the biggest reason for this. Layne describes how throughout history the emergence of new power in the international system have been “geopolitically destabilizing” and China is no different therefore they are major doubts that they will rise peacefully. To illustrate this Layne used the example of the rise of Japan, United States, and Germany all contributed to the “international political frictions that culminated in two world wars.” Layne address the ideas of engagement

Deng Xiaoping has been the individual with the most impact on China since the 1970’s. Along with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he is looked at as one of the key figures in evolution of communism in China . Deng Xiaoping will be remembered as a national hero, but this was not always the case. The real story of Deng includes the fact that, on more than one occasion, his peers ostracized him. During his lifetime he has been a part of the many changes in China throughout the twentieth century. He was by Mao Zedong’s side through all of the struggles of the Chinese Communist Party; battling with Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang over

China came to realise that it was no longer at the centre of the world after being invaded multiple times by ‘barbarians’ from the outside who were stronger and possessed an intimidatingly sturdy culture and religion which threatened the Chinese culture and world order (Zhimin, 2005:38). China felt threatened and took to nationalism as a non-Chinese solution to the survival of China (Zhimin, 2005:38). However, “Chinese nationalism was a modern idea, seeping in from Europe. It was bolstered by the resentment of European imperialists, with their own ignorant and ruthless

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended