Does China give the rest of the world reasons for fear, in political, economic or social terms? Or is the ‘Terror from the East’ merely a myth?
China has always featured prominently in the Western imagination. In early history, the threat purportedly posed by China can be linked to two factors ; the huge size of the State both in land and population, and the fact that China did not engage in dynamic relations with other nations. In the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, China was characterised by increasing poverty and political instability. The Boxer Rebellion, the Opium Wars, and conflicts between regional warlords suggested that China suffered from internal disarray and any contact with foreign powers was predominantly hostile. However, the actual threat of China to the West stems largely from the 1949 Communist Revolution. The inhumanity of the regime of Mao Zedong, in particular the supposed ‘Cultural Revolution’ and the disastrous economic policy of the ‘Great Leap Forward’ brought Western opprobrium, indicated by their refusal to recognize China within the United Nations organization. The aggressive foreign policy of the Cold War years, apparent in intervention in Korea, and more significantly, in the provision of arms to various Communist nations, created an image of an Eastern warmonger and powerbroker. Recently, the admission of China into the World Trading Organization, the return of Hong Kong and Macao to mainland rule, and the efforts to made by Jiang Zemin, the Chinese premier, have done much to improve relations with the West. However, the fear of China continues to haunt the minds of the Western leaders. The decisive power of a regime prepared to send tanks against demonstrators in Tiannemen Square will not be easily forgotten. The ‘Cox Report’ revealed that China had acquired American nuclear weapon technology, and China remains the only known nation to target its missiles at the USA. It would seem no surprise that Bill Clinton should have announced, in the twilight of his presidency, policies of ‘nuclear missile defence’ and ‘theater missile defense.
China has always featured prominently in the Western imagination. In early history, the threat purportedly posed by China can be linked to two factors ; the huge size of the State both in land and population, and the fact that China did not engage in dynamic relations with other nations. In the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, China was characterised by increasing poverty and political instability. The Boxer Rebellion, the Opium Wars, and conflicts between regional warlords suggested that China suffered from internal disarray and any contact with foreign powers was predominantly hostile. However, the actual threat of China to the West stems largely from the 1949 Communist Revolution. The inhumanity of the regime of Mao Zedong, in particular the supposed ‘Cultural Revolution’ and the disastrous economic policy of the ‘Great Leap Forward’ brought Western opprobrium, indicated by their refusal to recognize China within the United Nations organization. The aggressive foreign policy of the Cold War years, apparent in intervention in Korea, and more significantly, in the provision of arms to various Communist nations, created an image of an Eastern warmonger and powerbroker. Recently, the admission of China into the World Trading Organization, the return of Hong Kong and Macao to mainland rule, and the efforts to made by Jiang Zemin, the Chinese premier, have done much to improve relations with the West. However, the fear of China continues to haunt the minds of the Western leaders. The decisive power of a regime prepared to send tanks against demonstrators in Tiannemen Square will not be easily forgotten. The ‘Cox Report’ revealed that China had acquired American nuclear weapon technology, and China remains the only known nation to target its missiles at the USA. It would seem no surprise that Bill Clinton should have announced, in the twilight of his presidency, policies of ‘nuclear missile defence’ and ‘theater missile defense.
