Kenneth C. Walker

THE BRITTLE STRENGTH OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

There have always been factions within the Chinese Communist Party. Four recent books on China show that the pragmatic basis for the Partys continuing rule is the success of its economic policies and the preservation of law and order. Economic progress has been remarkable, but the political system is not well suited to cope with popular resentment at corruption and the abuse of power by officials. Nor is the concept of. Human Rights well understood. But with more and more |Chinese students studying overseas and the influence of the internet, ideas and influences from abroad are bound to be reflected in the increasing debate about the future of the political system. The recent dismissal and disgrace of Bo Xilai lifts the curtain on the realities of the struggle for power at the top. But a far greater challenge would arise if there were to be any marked and prolonged slowing of economic growth.

Françoise Mengin. Fragments of an Unfinished War: Taiwanese Entrepreneurs and the Partition of China; Sara L. Friedman. Exceptional States: Chinese Immigrants and Taiwanese Sovereignty

nale. When the Chinese Soviet Republic was established in 1931 this became the National Anthem and as potent a weapon of revolution as swords and muskets. Dictators throughout history have recognised the power of music, like petrol flung on a bonfire, to fan the flames of revolution. To control a nation you must first control its music. Ask Stalin. Thien’s book tells the unforgettable story of those who choose to die rather than allow their passion for music to be quenched.

David Shambaugh. China’s Future

Analysts and policy planning officials in organisations such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or State Department, when asked by their political masters to predict the future of other nations, are likely to put forward a range of scenarios based on current trends and discernible problems that will confront those countries. Similarly, in this concise book, Professor Shambaugh suggests four possible “pathways” for China. He describes the present leadership’s approach as “hard authoritarianism” and sees possible future trends as ranging from a more rigid version of this (which he calls “neo-totalitarianism”) to “semi-democracy” at the liberal end of the spectrum.

Michael Dillon. Deng Xiaoping: The Man Who Made Modern China

This is an impressive biography as regards Deng’s role in the Chinese revolution, his career when Chairman Mao was in power, and his own leading role after Mao’s death in promoting the country’s spectacular economic reforms. Michael Dillon has had the advantage of seeing accounts of Deng’s life published recently in the People’s Republic of China and hence is able to give a more detailed and rounded account of Deng’s early years than was possible in earlier biographies such as those by Richard Evans and Ezra Vogel. Dillon emphasises that Deng’s particular strength was his skill as a practical politician and that he was not much interested in ideology. Dillon suggests that it was with reluctance that Deng was persuaded by his colleagues to order the use of the army to suppress the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

Kerry Brown. The New Emperors: Power and the Princelings in China

In narrow terms, this book presents some useful lists of different kinds of instructions, or ideological guidance mechanisms. The author is as fond of lists as Chinese officials are often accused of being, and that makes it more suitable as a reference tool. In a sense, the 136 pages of analytic text (with the various limitations referred to above) are only a prelude to the rich material in the appendixes, which are the strongest part of the book and have an exhaustive list of elite meetings and their themes in recent years and key terms. The other part of the book which is useful, after this, is the chapter on the People’s Liberation Army. It is clear that on this issue, the author has judged the nature, structure and function of his subject well. But the Party itself is a much more complex and much more passionate entity than he gives it credit for being. And on this issue, it is indeed true – almost nothing has been written.

Jiang Qing with Daniel A. Bell and Ruiping Fan (eds). A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China's Ancient Past Can Shape its Political Future

This is a significant book, but also a peculiar one. It is not, of course, a posthumously published work by Mao’s disgraced widow, Jiang Qing, , but a collection of essays by another Jiang Qing with a different name in Chinese, , although the romanised form is the same. The book also includes essays commenting on Mr Jiang’s ideas by academics from Shanghai’s Fudan University and Singapore’s Nanyang University together with two from universities in Hong Kong, all of whom discussed his ideas at a workshop in Hong Kong in May 2010 sponsored and funded by the City University of Hong Kong. The Confucius Family Net on the Chinese mainland also provided some funding.

Alexander C. Cook (ed). Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History

The question still arises of why educated young women with independent incomes should be so vulnerable. In the final chapter, “Fighting Back”, there is evidence that women, especially young urban women, are not simply accepting this prejudice and abuse. Since the authorities use police and even judicial means to suppress independent women’s rights actions, individual women or networks are using more subtle methods, such as online communication or protest on specific issues.

Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy

Dolin, who is not a China expert, tells the story with verve. The writing is somewhat florid; tempests are generally “mighty” and there is mention of the “mighty leviathan of the deep”. He is clearly fascinated by some aspects of China; there is a long diversion about foot binding for example, and another on how opium was consumed. But he does not always seem familiar with his subject. Robert Hart, who effectively created the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, was a bit more than just “a British customs official who worked in China from the late 1860s . . .”. The illustrations are well chosen, with a large section in colour on good-quality paper as well as black and white inserts into the text. The result is a readable book, but one that adds little to the existing literature and, while hinting that there are parallels between the present US difficulties with China and those of the past, fails to grapple with this issue.

From Mao to Market: China Reconfigured and Rural Transformations and Development – China in Context: The Everyday Lives of Policies and People

As Robin Porter observes, China’s transition under communist rule from a planned to a market economy is a process without precedent. The title of his latest book, From Mao to Market, is not original, having been used previously by John Gittings (in his The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market, published in 2006 and reviewed in Asian Affairs, November 2006), but it is one which neatly encapsulates the changes that have taken place with the reversal of many of Mao Zedong’s policies after his death in 1976. Porter provides a lucid explanation and assessment of this process of change, with useful references to the historical background. While he notes the remarkable success of the export-led growth strategy initiated by Deng Xiaoping and continued by his successors, Porter sees “uncharted waters” ahead in the longer term as other third-world countries develop and Chinese goods become less competitive. An additional problem, not mentioned, could be the effect on China’s economy of a reduction of purchasing power in the West.

TAIWAN AND HONG KONG: CHINA'S POLICIES AND PROSPECTS (Review Article)

For the Chinese Communist Party and the government which it controls it has long been a nationalist imperative to recover Taiwan. This has been an objective strongly and consistently emphasised by China’s leaders since the communist victory in 1949. The imperative to recover Taiwan is rooted in the history of China’s national awakening from the second half of the 19th century, during which Japan occupied Taiwan. It was reinforced by the wartime declaration of the Allied Powers that “all the territories that Japan had stolen from the Chinese”, including Formosa (i.e. Taiwan), should be returned to the Republic of China and, after the communist victory on the mainland in 1949, by the rule of Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek’s government which claimed to be the lawful government of all China and continued to use the name “Republic of China”. This name is still used today, even though the present government in Taipei holds that there are two Chinese states and no longer claims to be the sole lawful Chinese government. Taipei’s continued control of Jinmen (Quemoy) and other islands close to the mainland which have never been part of Taiwan province is an anomaly which accords with Beijing’s view that the authorities in Taipei are an opposing domestic faction rather than rulers of a separate entity. Richard Bush notes that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” proposal for reunification had its roots in ideas secretly conveyed to Taipei in the 1950s. They were revived and publicly put forward initially in a statement timed to coincide with the opening of diplomatic relations with the USA in 1979, then set out in more detail in 1981. While offering a high degree of autonomy to Taiwan, non-interference by Beijing in local affairs on the island and retention by Taiwan of its own government and armed forces, the proposals make no concessions on the principle of one China whose sole central government is to be that in Beijing.