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David Cowhig   高大偉's avatar

Thank you for this fine article. It is probably significant that the book was published in 1999, long before Xi Jinping became Party Secretary, during the last few years of General Secretary Jiang Zemin which seem to have been the most recent peak of Party openness.

I like to think of General Secretary Xi's view as Make China Great Again, the later MAGA -- Make America Great Again of President Trump sounds similar.

There were various empires that called themselves say Qing or Ming or Song or Tang that had core areas within the Chinese cultural region and then expanded to other territories, sometimes incorporating and assimilating them totally, others areas assimilating to a much lesser degree such as the Tibetan, Xinjiang and Mongolian areas. 

There have been many states of Chinese culture existing in the region of what is China today. Some were founded by invaders such as the Yuan and the Qing but Chinese today are proud of them.   I sometimes wonder if Japan had won World War II would the Chinese, two or three hundred years from now, be boasting about the glories of the Nippon Dynasty (although maybe it would have a different name)?

Some Tibetans and Uyghurs would like to see Tibet and Xinjiang as independent countries. These feelings seem to have been intensified by the way they have been treated by the Chinese central government.  Even though Beijing has been spending vast amounts of money improving the infrastructure and living conditions of the people in Tibet and Xinjiang. 

Like someone once said, you can do all kinds of things, but I will never forget the way you made me feel. Economically it would be better for Xinjiang and Tibet to be part of China.  Why do many of the local inhabitants disagree?  There are religious and cultural differences and more recent histories of repression.  

The Dalai Lama has said that Tibet could be part of China if the Tibetans had true autonomy that would enable them to protect their culture, language and religion. Autonomy, despite the number of autonomous regions and districts China has, is something that Xi Jinping seems to be retreating from.  That autonomous areas might have people thinking thoughts and even organizing themselves in ways the Party disagrees with is alarming to the Party which as one might say in dated American slang is a 'control freak'. 

Many people in those areas have a desire for autonomy and religious freedom which the Communist Party, which has its own quasi-religious political philosophy and its own intense faith that only it can lead China to its great historical destiny, cannot accept.   Article One of the PRC Constitution demands that the Party be in control and no criticism of China's system be permitted. Of course if Chinese people had genuine freedom of speech and of media, then there would be much more and stronger criticism of the Communist Party. That Party isn't wrong about that.

To make the division at 1840 is understandable from the specifically Chinese point of view, but it does seem to be a case that imperialism is OK when it is Han Chinese but not OK when it is western imperialism.  

Then there is the argument that Chinese imperialism was benign while western imperialism was nasty.  Both were true for both at various times, however there is the natural human tendency which at its extreme leads to racist thinking.  That is while I make excuses for people on my own side  and minimize their bad behavior, while for people on the other side I give everything the worst interpretation and make no allowances for them at all. 

Of course the South China Sea has other names -- in the Republic of the Philippines it is the West Philippine Sea and in Vietnam it is the East Vietnam Sea!

As for the since ancient times argument, the famous nine-dotted line in the South China Sea dates back to 1947 from the last few years of the Republic of China.

History is complicated and where we stand is where we sit. It is difficult to escape even partially from the seas of assumptions and perspectives in which we are all immersed.

David Cowhig

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Jeff Boyd's avatar

Forgive me for degrading the quality of this excellent article and comments by posting. I have to say how wonderful they are. I suppose I feel that way because they conform to my beliefs, but seeing others express them so incredibly is inspirational. Those of us at the lower tiers of intellect have to count on those above us, and it gives me hope that my optimism about the future isn't misplaced.

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