Sean Taylor
Modern Chinese Politics
At the turn of the 20th Century, China was a strong force that while politically unified it was still mainly tied to its customs of the past. There was no trace yet of industrialization taking place. At the beginning of the century, China was still under the imperial system. It wasn’t until 1911 Revolution, which brought about the end of their old traditional government. The 2000 year old imperial system was replaced with the Republic of China headed by Sun Yat-sen. This new system didn’t last that long and China went into a period of warlordism after the death of Yuan Shikai.
After World War I, upset with the Treaty of Versailles, students broke out in protest. The May Fourth Movement essentially formed the Communist Party of China (CCP). During the 1920’s there was a power struggle between the CCP and Sun Yat-sen’s Kuomintang Nationalist party (KMT). KMT was strong in China’s urban areas while the CCP was influential in its rural areas. However, by 1927, the CCP was expelled from China and it became a Nationalist country under the KMT. By 1931, the CCP had reemerged but could not be defeated by Chiang Kai-shek. Instead they retreated to the north in the Long March. Also in 1931, Japan began to occupy Manchuria and established a puppet government called Manchukuo. The Japanese aggression in China became full blown on July 7, 1937, the beginning World War II. By 1939, Japan controlled most of the east coast of China, while Chiang blockaded the Communists in the northwest region.
By 1944, the United States began to help nationalist China, but the nationalist remained weak due to high inflation and economic strife. Fighting between the two groups increased in 1946. With the CCP ultimately pushing the KMT back into Taiwan. This opened the door for Mao Zedong to establish the People’s Republic of China. The PRC set up five-year plans that included land reform, social reform, cultural reform, and economic planning. Eventually Mao called for the Great Leap Forward, which was Mao's grand design to mobilize the whole population with hopes of industrializing China quickly. China and Japan had a strained relationship at this time. In 1949, China and Russia reached a 30-year alliance agreement against Japan and its allies.
In the 1970s, China started forming ties with Western nations. Under Nixon’s policy of Détente, China was accepted into the world community. In 1971, the PRC took Taiwan’s spot on the United Nation’s Security Council. The founders of the PRC were slowly dying and the lack of Zhou Enlai and Mao in leadership roles in 1976 caused a power struggle developed between Deng Ziaoping and Mao’s supporters, headed by Jiang Qing. In the same year, students demonstrated in Tiananmen Square in honor of Zhou, causing a flaw in Jiang’s power. Seeing his opportunity, Deng seized power and brought younger men with his views to power. He developed state constitutions and brought new policies to the party in 1982. Deng’s plan was based on the four modernizations of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science/technology. In 1987, Deng retired and Zhao Ziyang became general secretary, and Li Peng became premier.
Today China is one of the fastest growing countries, but it still has its issues in politics. China is still struggling at getting its economy up to par. China needs to shift away from an export-driven economy to more of a consumption model. It needs to be mindful about funding its state-owned enterprises, about subsidizing state-owned companies. It needs to lessen its reliance on low-end manufacturing and move up the value chain.
China also could improve its foreign policy. The good news is that China is largely a status quo power, meaning it is not a revolutionary power. It doesn’t view itself as being hostile to the United States. The challenge is that China is an ascendant power with limitations on decision-making. It has an unclear ability to undertake a cost-benefit analysis. China has very limited information flow and it has very contrasting decision strategies, so you don’t always end up with good decisions.
China also has seen no improvement in environmental protection. Harsh economic development is often marked by the high environmental cost that one pays for economic growth. Over the past decade, large numbers of energy-intensive, highly polluting projects have been launched. This has led to further damage of the overall country and further diminished the quality of life. Welfare and life itself is threatened by pollution. In addition, conflicts and confrontations are becoming more frequent and more intense, putting the concept of creating an ecological civilization sorely to the test.
Overall China has come a long way from its past traditions and customs but it still has more growing to do.