Today I went to a seminar given by Prof. Yan Xuetong of Tsinghua University (which, to a very rough approximation, is China’s equivalent of MIT). Prof. Yan is a foreign policy scholar who came to give a lecture on “Chinese Foreign Policy in Hu Jintao’s Second Term.” The lecture was hosted by Harvard’s Fairbank Center: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~fairbank/events/events.html. Although open to the public, generally only a handful of students and scholars show up to these talks -- which are scheduled regularly through Harvard's Asia Center. This in my view is a shame, because the knowledge that is shared is often breathtaking.
As to the talk, Prof. Yan outlined the four fundamental principles that will guide Chinese policy at a strategic level over the next five years:
1. Democracy is not the only path to prosperity. Apparently the Chinese government will become increasingly open in its position on this topic in the coming years. At the NPC this past March, it seems that the top leaders came to consensus that democracy is not requisite to the economic success of a society.
2. Increased openness is China’s way forward. This is essentially an economic statement – China has come to the conclusion that openness is essential for competition, and competition is essential for a sustainably healthy, prosperous economy.
3. Politics and economics can be managed separately. Logically, this derives from the same realization as #1. The Chinese leadership has found that socialism is the best form of political system for their country, and that capitalism is the best economic system. Unlike most Western observers, they don’t view these two systems as being in conflict. Instead, Prof. Yan said that in China the politics of socialism and the economics of capitalism “complement each other perfectly.” Going forward this will be China’s stated policy.
4. Multilateralism “with Chinese characteristics” will define China’s foreign policy. The final maxim asserts that China will take a fundamentally multilateral approach to its relations with other countries. However, Prof. Yan stressed that this will not be Western-style multilateralism such as is standard in the EU. He says that the European form seek to build consensus around shared interests. By contrast, the Chinese form of multilateralism does not seek to build consensus, but rather to negotiate with other parties so that each can achieve their own unique objectives. Thus, multilateral action is possible even if those countries have different incentives for participating.
After stating these fundamental precepts for the next 5 years of Chinese foreign policy, Prof. Yan went on to describe how they would manifest in terms of specific international issues. In the next few posts, I will regurgitate some of Prof. Yan’s thoughts on these topics.
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