CHAPTER 7: WHOSE IDENTITY, WHOSE CONSTRUCTS AND WHOSE INTEREST? THE SYNTHESIS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA IN
4.12 China After Deng: The Legacy of Reform and “Opening up” (1997-2017)
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with the way it dealt with the Tiananmen protests and also with China’s growth which demands energy resources that Africa is abundantly endowed with and with China’s exports that find markets in Africa. The next section of this chapter deals with China’s political identity and interests after Deng Xiaoping. The following pages show how China has used its theory of
“socialism with Chinese characteristics”, which was influenced by Deng’s pragmatism (Solé- Farràs 2008), as a clever formula of presenting China as an acceptable member of the current international system rather than a relic or anachronism of communist economics.
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indicative of the continued policy of reform and opening up to the world to end its isolation. Wen Jiabao (2011), the former Premier of the PRC, described WTO membership as a “full embrace”
of the current international system. Another victory for China in the international system was its successful bid to host the 2008 Olympic games. These developments indicate the acceptance which China has gained from other players in the world. This will be the enduring legacy of Deng Xiaoping’s socialism with Chinese characteristics which David Harvey (2008) has branded as “neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics.” The success of Deng’s reforms and opening up policy is so much that even in 2012 at the 18th National Congress of the CCP the then President of China, Hu Jintao vowed to continue with Deng’s theory.
From the foregoing, it can be inferred that China seeks to continue the identity with which it has largely been associated, that is, one of an economically modernizing country seeking deeper incorporation in the global economy. This incorporation brings with it certain expectations on China’s behaviour. Opening up means conceding a certain measure of censure and scrutiny from international organisations and other influential powers. Ideologically, though, China still claims to be a socialist state. Its economy, though largely engaging a neoliberal bent, is still monitored closely by the government. China has also appreciated the value of cordial international relations and that revolutionary fervour could be abandoned if it is counterproductive. For this reason, China has been very successful in courting the friendship of valuable members of the international system. In its foreign policy, the only impediment that China faces in establishing diplomatic relations with some countries is that those countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, it should be noted that even on these grounds China has been pragmatic with certain countries. A clear example is the “two Chinas dilemma” (Naidu 2008) that faced post- apartheid South Africa, when only Taiwan had formal relations with South Africa. The PRC was open to having relations of the highest level – short of formal relations - with South Africa for long as the latter retained its relations with Taiwan. Eventually, South Africa severed relations with Taiwan in favour of the PRC and this has been the case in many other African countries as well (Taylor 2006).
China’s interests in keeping cordial relations, even with countries that recognize Taiwan, is prompted by the demand for energy resources that “it needs to maintain its domestic development” (Buhi 2014:241; see also Anderson and Chao 1998). This is a pressing demand as
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China’s rate of consumption is likely to outstrip its industry. The growth that China has enjoyed and the magnanimous manner with which some players have accepted it, makes it unnecessary for China to take up a confrontational foreign policy.51 The best option is to cooperate with strategic countries. The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative is “an ambitious foreign- investment project designed to boost China’s trade and diplomatic ties with more than 60 countries in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa” (Cendrowski 2016). Through this project China has sponsored energy generating initiatives in countries like Dubai for example and several infrastructure projects in Africa. The desire to cultivate a beneficial relationship with the United Arab Emirates and a steady import of energy is also apparent.52
Apart from energy resources, China is also in need of political support in its relations with Taiwan, its outlook on human rights and the continued hold of power by the CCP in the absence of any other political contender. Africa has been particularly important in helping China on this score. Furthermore, to African states and Zambia in particular, China’s economic growth provides more or less an alternative development model from that of the West (Kragelund 2014:145) which many African states have deemed ineffective when applied to the African situation. China continues to evoke its history of foreign domination (Hunter and Sexton 1999) and its emphasis on national sovereignty as a way of relating to Africa’s own colonial past and the continued interference of Western powers in some of Africa’s internal affairs. These historical intersections have bearing on the type of relations that China has with some African countries and have helped in reinforcing Sino-African ties and ties among countries of the global South in general.
Despite the optimism that has been the attendant consequence of economic growth, China is confronted with myriad challenges, ranging from environmental factors to Taiwan and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. The country will have to play a leading role on the international scene in arresting high levels of environmental pollution which, though having been provoked long before, have been exacerbated by the augmentation of industrialization. As a country of consequence with an unrivalled population, China would be remiss to shirk this global
51 This view is not necessarily shared by certain sectors of the West who see an inevitable confrontation between China and the United States especially. Some would argue that by being a communist country, China excites memories of the Soviet Union’s role against the United States during the Cold War (Rosen 2016).
52 China is planning to commit $3 trillion in the long run to promote much needed infrastructure in developing markets through OBOR. This project is aimed at winning prospective alliances and allies for China.
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responsibility. The Taiwan question has been stated earlier. Pro-democracy protests are likely to increase despite the CCP having consolidated its power after the Tiananmen Square protests and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After embarking on the reform and opening up trajectory, Deng Xiaoping was slow to make such sweeping changes on China’s political landscape. He still believed in tightening the CCP’s hold on power for the Party not to be challenged in its bid to reform its economy and the method and pace of doing this. Thus, economic reform did not lead to political change at a national level. The ruling party retains the communist name and still promotes socialism with Chinese characteristics. These two allusions could be judged as anathema in twenty-first century, a century in which many would want to align with liberal democracy.