Change of Diplomacy with Economic growth: China

The inspiration and details regarding this article were gathered after reading the article from the Hindu written by Vijay Gokhale, former Foreign Secretary of India and a former Ambassador to China, titled “The changing Chinese diplomacy” and a subsequent lecture explanation done by Dr.Mahipal Singh Rathore in Studyiq, which highlighted into the key insights of Chinese diplomacy which transformed a starving nation into what is today known as “The World’s factory”.

The inception of the Dragon

China became a republic in 1912, with Sun Yat-sen the first president since the collapse of the Qing Empire in 1911. Sun forms the nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) and subsequently resigns for Yuan Shihkai. The nation persisted without a powerful central figure in 1916 after his assassination, and a time of influence of the warlord invaded the world. Shanghai becomes the base of the Chinese Communist Movement and Mao Zedong is heading the Long March and landing in Yenan at the radical centre. Chiang Kai-shek takes over the leadership of the KMT and initiates the North Expedition which brings China together under the nationalist government.

People’s Republic of China

Mao Zedong became the “international Face of China” after winning the Civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists which resulted in the Communists’ victory and the Nationalist government evacuating to the island of Taiwan. Behind Mao’s huge persona was the mastermind strategist and diplomatic giant Zhou Enlai, who regulated the general activities in the country. He was the first Premier of China (1949-76) and Foreign Minister (1949-58), originally from Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, he hailed from a family of generational government clerks (shiye). He made his legacy by following a form of diplomacy strategy which later was known as the “United Front” approach was very successful for the coming years.

Mao Zedong was the crude face of Chinese communism, and Zhou was the epitome of its refinement. Where Mao tended to wield his influence from "out of the barrel of a gun," Zhou tended to seduce his critics by word and action in search of national self-interest, with the grace of an opera star. The stick was rarely used, and only when all other means of persuasion failed.

The image of China in the international platform was very frowned upon and it was not a famous nation to ally with due to its radical leaders, during the 1950s the per capita GDP stood between $54-$90 compared to its modern-day rival USA’s per capita GDP of whopping $1974, Zhou knew the importance of having an image for a national be it in an international stage, though they achieved their rule through force he sought to rule over other nations through peace and friendly ties, this is eminent through the incident that took place during the Korean War (1953) when General Douglas MacArthur’s armies crossed into North Korea, Zhou summoned the Indian Ambassador in Beijing to deliver a message to the Americans to retreat instead to publishing it in media or bashing them Zhou give a chance to diplomacy.

Geneva Conference

The Chinese made an entry to Geneva in 1954, with the burden of many incidents which defamed its image, from occupying Tibet, Involvement in the Korean War and influential role in the Vietnam War. Even before the meet the nation was sidelined by other international giants who held China responsible for the turmoil, the situation became worse for China, as even U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated that he was confident enough that China will be heavily scrutinized in the meeting, Zhou instead found an opportunity for his nation to move from economic isolation and build solidarity with non-aligned nations, his idea of undermining the Western unity through persuasion and compromise using his “opera star" managing skills Zhou with his charm and vitality turned the table on the USA by avoiding the anticipated harsh and dominating tone and gaining an international status which the country needed. A year later, at the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Zhou used the same tactics to pursue another objective of building strong diplomatic ties with Afro-Asian nations. With a low profile as he stated to Mao, was “not to be involved in a provocative or disruptive debate” to keep a distance from major developments to hinder China in future.

Forming the Chinese Diplomat

The nation was growing in a steady pace with new reforms and changes in methods and techniques raised the per capita GDP to three decimals, as during the 1960s it lingered between $89-$113, but also saw the worst kind of famine which was known “The Great Famine”. The nation kept steady balance and avoid major ties or comments during the fight between other two giants USA and USSR known as Cold War, by opening border talks with the Soviets and channels to the U.S. Even many unpopular decisions that Chinese government took like “The Cultural Revolution” where the Anti-right sentiment was legalised and atrocities were done by local people in the name of reform and change, Zhou’s army of diplomats managed and held their ground maintaining their International image thus, expanding China’s global presence and gaining international acceptability which was seen in its $312 per capita GDP during the 1970s. Zhou major win was the success of back-channel diplomacy with the USA, which before that had not even a phone line connection with the President of China, this ended with Nixon’s visit and subsequent removal of Taiwan(Republic of China) from UN membership into observer status and China(People’s Republic of China) which was neglected earlier was given membership and seat in Security Council. 

Diplomacy of Deng

In the 1980s Deng Xiaoping, paramount leader, took charge of China’s diplomacy during its initial days of opening up to the outside world, adding to his former diplomat Deng added value to China’s diplomatic strategy. Zhou's legacy continued even after his death in 1976, with his army of well calibre diplomats guided by Deng, who was persuasive when needed, measured their words while speaking and kept their head held high while avoiding any tension or resistance, they were known to be master in negotiation with the idea of giving the bare minimum needed to the other side but extracting as much information to counter and take advantage of the situation and in times putting the responsibility of failure on the other party, all this while avoiding offending anyone, maintain a calm demeanour and a low profile. They established partnerships by making it a point for less polite interlocutors to be more courteous than mates. The years of patience diplomacy Chinese paved the way for a promising future with staggeringly high economic growth and being the favoured destination for international leaders from Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev to Rajiv Gandhi. By 1990s per capita GDP of China touched $1000, making the mark of emerging superpower and a nation to be taken seriously, the diplomacy was so strong that China managed to remove all its sanctions by the US for “Tian An Men Square” incident within few weeks.

End of an Era

Post-2000s the economy of China experienced a boom which was never seen before with per capita rate being as high as $5000 which can be credited its strong manufacturing sector, surpassing its neighbours and partners who initially started together with the relatively same condition of growth. But the sun was setting for Zheu ‘s and Deng’s form of diplomacy which made the image of China for many years started to fade off as the new breed of diplomats were more aggressive and intolerant. As Vijay Gokhale wrote, arrogance has replaced humility; persuasion is quickly abandoned in favour of the stick when countries take actions contrary to Chinese wishes. As the range of dominance has increased two-folds within few decades and emerging pressure to develop more ambitious projects, China has changed its outlook completely, be it the dispute of South China sea from which $3.4 trillion worth of trade passes annually, where China seeks to chaste its hegemony over other involved nations. Even defending the grand strategy of China to provide low-interest loans to war-torn economically weaker countries who have high chances to defaulter and in return use a certain portion of land to deploy its military, also known as “the Debt Trap” or “Cheque-book Diplomacy”, the seize lands which act as a threat to other nations, striking rifts with direct neighbours like India with Dokhlam standoff as well. All these activities show that China’s diplomacy has shifted its path to unilateralism and control, which came to public light after the outbreak of coronavirus and how China responded to other nations and its verbal dispute with the USA, diplomat openly highlighting the arrogance and trying to suppress the matter.

Factual or rational views are perceived to be threats or embarrassment. Foreign governments are educated about their responsibilities in media management and narrative, even as China manipulates the same media to serve its purposes. Waiting for appreciation for everything they are doing, like dealing with the COVID-19, as if just with the alien in mind. The humility veneer has diluted. The reserves of goodwill are fast depleting. China is losing its long term profits for winning short-lived elbowing and rifts, though the country has a plan and has always been, but history has shown nations with humility and might outlive the greatest once.

Footnotes

Economic Growth and FDI In China; Francis Cai, Huifang Cheng, LianZan Xu, C.K. Leung

China per capita GDP 1950-2019, World Bank

The changing Chinese diplomacy, Vijay Gokhale, the Hindu