M******8
发帖数: 10589 | 1 http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2122745/xi-jinping-not-making-history-history-making-him
PUBLISHED : Monday, 04 December, 2017, 5:36pm
UPDATED : Monday, 04 December, 2017, 7:18pm
Tom Plate says China’s current leader, whom many believe is at least as
great as Mao and Deng were, must never forget that while his country’s
significance will last, his may not
To what does Xi Jinping [1] truly aspire? Who does China’s “paramount
leader” think he is? Xi doesn’t need fawning media coverage to mislead him
into believing something he may or may not be. Whether China’s president
is crowned person of the year by a self-important US magazine (such as Time)
is of no importance. Xi himself must understand that he is arguably
unimportant. He should not require cover stories to bolster his self-image.
Xi is not making history; history is making him. There was no way China was
going to remain down and out forever. It has always been a potential force
majeure – stormy when stormy; calm, but usually superficially, with
undercurrents below spiralling to emerge as history’s next great wave.
For decades, perhaps our most astute geopolitical weather forecaster has
been Kishore Mahbubani, who is stepping down this month as the founding dean
of the highly regarded Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National
University of Singapore. His first book (essays and speeches) hit the
United States [2] in the 1990s and was titled (ironically enough), Can
Asians Think? Its theme was that, with Asia coming into its own, if
Westerners think the 21st century will prove a repeat of the American
century, they had better think again.
Westerners extolling all-powerful Xi Jinping are missing three important
points [3]
Mahbubani sincerely doubts the US is psychologically prepared for that, but
like it or not, China is back and we had better figure out how to deal with
it or face hitting the great Chinese brick wall of history. Large as well as
small nation states need to do that big rethink now. It may prove painful.
Brainy Singapore [4], ever thinking forward, is not alone in its anguish
over how to proceed. (By the way, Singapore friends: be not cranky. Heated
public debate on vital issues is a sign of cultural strength, not weakness.)
Other governments are into the deep think: Australia [5] (with its panoply
of think tanks and universities); Japan [6] (missiles suddenly overhead);
South Korea [7], sometimes so small-town, suddenly on big-time red alert.
[Singapore is not alone in its anguish over how to deal with a China on the
rise. Large and small nation states needs to rethink their relations with
the Asian giant, now back on the global stage. Photo: Reuters]
Xi has been pushing modern China outwards, perhaps in the hope of kingdoms
to come. But he undoubtedly knows that his most serious worries nest at home.
The rich-poor gap is huge and growing (including in Hong Kong, of which Xi
is now the ultimate landlord). This is an explosion waiting to happen. And
the government’s evident ideological clampdown on universities seems
inimical to the need for innovation and further globalisation.
Note that China rarely misses the chance to blame foreigners and their
interventions for past troubles, and with stubbornness avoids looking deeply
inward for fear of understanding itself better. This is not healthy. As the
late historian and critic Simon Leys (aka Pierre Ryckmans) suggested, the
embrace of ideology blinds one to reality.
[Women take selfies in front of a portrait of Mao Zedong at the Tiananmen
gate in Beijing, on November 8. The late historian Pierre Ryckmans reminded
us that China had done more harm to itself in the 25 years prior to 1984 “
than had the combined forces of all foreign imperialists in one hundred
years of endemic aggression”. Photo: Reuters]
Cultural Revolution, 50 years on [8]
It was back in 1984 that he first reminded us that China had done more harm
to itself over the prior 25 years “than had the combined forces of all
foreign imperialists in one hundred years of endemic aggression”. (In all
fairness, America was also similarly guilty of amazing memory lapses, such
as the ethnic cleansing of Indian natives; but, then again, we have Indian
casinos to remind us that something must have happened.)
Confucius is denoted as a key thread in China’s DNA tapestry. Yet, one of
civilisation’s greatest philosophers was wont to worry about the dangers of
leaders who talk too much and take themselves too seriously. Alas, at the
19th Communist Party congress in October, Xi did not mention this particular
Confucian insight in a speech that required more than three hours to hear
in full [9]. On ideology, Xi is hard to figure, but as the proclaimed third
man in the “triology” alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, it is
everyone’s hope that his nature proves more Deng-ish than Mao-ish.
Watch Xi Jinping’s marathon speech in 3 minutes
For China, a fine line between ‘great leader Xi’ and ‘Xi, the great
leader’ [10]
What must be kept in mind is that China today stands on the cusp of
universal relevance not only economically – but environmentally and
geopolitically as well. In fact, placed side by side against our US
president, this man of many titles (general secretary of the Chinese
Communist Party [11], president of the People’s Republic of China, chairman
of the Central Military Commission, and so on) presents a political profile
far more global than yokel. (One could further say that Xi is actually less
nationalistic than Donald Trump [12].)
[US President Donald Trump on the south lawn of the White House on December
2. America has survived mediocre presidents more than once. Photo: Bloomberg]
Is the US definitively washed up as a great nation simply because its
current leader is obviously not a great one? If in fact we are in decline,
surely this is a complex phenomenon and is not due to only one factor or
actor. America has survived mediocre presidents more than once. And so with
China: the fiercest US anti-Communist will admit that China is special no
matter what.
Must it require a “Deng-plus” to remain on course? If China is ruled by
the Communist Party because it is axiomatically the people’s authentic
voice, heart and soul, then why is one man (note the paucity of top women
leaders in China) so utterly essential? Is another “Great Helmsman” so
necessary if the Chinese people are not to sink anew?
The Tang poet Li He wrote: “The poet’s brush completes the universal
creation: it is not Heaven’s achievement.” Before Xi’s next five years
are complete, let us hope that he can find a secure and respected place
under China’s heaven for all its poets and painters. They are the ones that
are truly eternal, as is China. As for its current president, he is only of
this moment, just like the rest of us. Keeping that in mind can keep us
humble.
Columnist Tom Plate, author of Yo-Yo Diplomacy and In the Middle of China’s
Future, is Loyola Marymount University’s Distinguished Scholar of Asian
and Pacific Affairs and vice-president of the Pacific Century Institute
Topics:
Xi Jinping
More on this:
The ‘one simple message’ in Xi Jinping’s five years of epic speeches [13]
Under Xi, a Chinese renaissance is assured, contrary to what the West
believes [14]
Opinion: Forget Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping is more Charles de Gaulle [15]
Links
[1] http://www.scmp.com/topics/xi-jinping
[2] http://www.scmp.com/topics/united-states
[3] http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117570/westerners-extolling-all-powerful-xi-jinping-are-missing
[4] http://www.scmp.com/topics/singapore
[5] http://www.scmp.com/topics/australia
[6] http://www.scmp.com/topics/japan
[7] http://www.scmp.com/topics/south-korea
[8] https://multimedia.scmp.com/cultural-revolution/
[9] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2115970/xi-lays-out-path-confident-new-era-china
[10] http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121473/china-fine-line-between-great-leader-xi-and-xi-great-leader
[11] http://www.scmp.com/topics/chinas-communist-party
[12] http://www.scmp.com/topics/donald-trump
[13] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118170/xis-epic-speeches-can-be-summed-one-simple-message-says
[14] http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117730/under-xi-chinese-renaissance-assured-contrary-what-west
[15] http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117364/opinion-forget-mao-xi-jinping-more-charles-de-gaulle | S*****n
发帖数: 4185 | 2 马云这是作死的节奏。
丫攻守道结尾也极力讽刺警察城管。 | h*******i
发帖数: 4386 | 3 胖子摔了三个茶杯，杀杀杀
him
【在 M******8 的大作中提到】
: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2122745/xi-jinping-not-making-history-history-making-him
: PUBLISHED : Monday, 04 December, 2017, 5:36pm
: UPDATED : Monday, 04 December, 2017, 7:18pm
: Tom Plate says China’s current leader, whom many believe is at least as
: great as Mao and Deng were, must never forget that while his country’s
: significance will last, his may not
: To what does Xi Jinping [1] truly aspire? Who does China’s “paramount
: leader” think he is? Xi doesn’t need fawning media coverage to mislead him
: into believing something he may or may not be. Whether China’s president
: is crowned person of the year by a self-important US magazine (such as Time)
| m*****n
发帖数: 3575 | 4 谁说小黄人没卵子来着？
【在 S*****n 的大作中提到】
: 马云这是作死的节奏。
: 丫攻守道结尾也极力讽刺警察城管。
|
|
