After Tiananmen : Rise of China by Vijay Gokhale - A Book Review

What's common between Qing Emperor Yongzheng (1722-35) and President Jiang-Hu (1990-2010)? Their reigns were bookended by two great emperors & Chinese Communist Party giants. Yet, their accomplishments faded into oblivion, took Imperial China to its zenith and propelled Communist China to its eventual rise as a global power.

Illustration by The Geostrata

AND HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

With a comprehensive focus on Chinese policies, stratagems and developments in two decades between Presidents Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping, Amb Gokhale's book is premised on the fact that China's strategic vision of these preceding years laid the foundations for Xi's subsequent ambitious plans for China.

The result was a successful post-Cold War policy, where China was able to maintain a facade of its acceptance of a subordinate position in the US-led liberal international order to secure huge foreign capital transfers and advanced technology from the West.

HOW MASTERFULLY IT 'PLAYED THE WEST'?

Bringing more than a decade of experience in dealing with China, Amb Gokhale offers rich insights into the deftness with which the CCP leadership was able to secure not only the larger Chinese goals and interests but also maintain its control over political power in the then-most populous country of the world, thereby injecting a vigorous impetus into eventually seeking Chinese hegemony.

Weaving an engaging narrative starting with the ‘Survival’ story of Deng’s handling of the political challenge of factional rivalry through wisdom and effective deeds, After Tiananmen: The Rise of China provides valuable lessons and diplomatic tactics for China observers and strategists alike.

It also explores Deng's ‘Quest for Prosperity’ thereafter, with rapid economic reforms and transformation, while maintaining the social cohesiveness of Chinese society.

The dismantling of the welfare economy, reforms in the State enterprises and land monetization to finance infrastructure deficits - arguably unprecedented moves in a Communist country, through which the said Presidents sailed, guided by Deng's thoughts and spirit, offers an illuminating account.

With internal and domestic issues dealt with, it was time to now handle the international environment: ‘Playing the West’ and ‘Wooing the Rest’ show the remarkable foreign policy of the Communist Party.

While the accommodation of European concerns on human rights issues (to expand trade opportunities) was eventually turned into ‘inconclusive talking shops’, the use of nationalism as a diplomatic pressure tool served the Party's strategic interests (in this context, the instances of wolf warrior diplomacy can hence be understood better ).

Developing Chinese diplomatic influence and political heft around the world while deceiving the West, its footprint by the year 2010, was to be found in almost every continent.

While, with a strong economy and strategic interests around the globe, the question of securing critical sea lanes of communication occupied Hu Jintao’s full attention, the more hidden aspects of phenomenal economic growth - corruption and nexus created problems for the Communist Party, eventually turning it into a backer of State capitalism from being the torchbearer and representative of the working classes. One can understand the latest corruption-related punitive actions in China from a careful reading of the aforementioned chapter.

A crucial chapter towards the end of the book provides a brief outline of the India-China relationship and their predicament: summarising the political relationship after the 1950s, the author narrates the ups and downs, the perceived inequalities in the exchanges, the public opinion, how despite many overtures both sides failed to establish mutual trust, how suspicions have marred the progression of ties and importantly, the boundary solution continues to evade the two Asian giants even today.

With the curious case of LAC - being a Chinese creation - dealt with in detail, a better picture of the current border situation emerges.

Furthermore, Sino policies towards Pakistan and mutual distrust only add to the quagmire that is the Indo-China relationship. According to Amb Gokhale, the aforementioned Jiang-Hu period was the first time that New Delhi had engaged with China in a meaningful way, with successive Indian governments making genuine efforts to stabilise and expand ties to multiple spheres.

In the penultimate chapter, the author explains the premise and rationale of this book, addressing the question asked at the beginning of the article and presenting quick remarks and a summary of all the themes for the benefit of the readers.

Now, returning to our old question, what exactly were the commonalities between the aforementioned Emperor and the Presidents of modern China, centuries later? How did they make China great?

Well, Yongzheng's laudable achievements across administrative and financial domains enabled his son, Emperor Qianlong to concomitantly extend the borders of the empire, taking China to great heights.

Likewise, President Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao served very productive terms, with deft political handling of domestic challenges, effective foreign policy, the Chinese economy burgeoning to great heights owing to the reforms and most significantly, putting weight behind the collective leadership doctrine espoused by Deng Xiaoping, which offers a reasonable context to Xi Jinping’s strategic vision for China for claiming the global hegemon status.

These 20 long years offer not only lessons for practitioners of geopolitics and diplomacy but also provide rich insights into analysing and understanding China's rise in the global arena, altering the world order.

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BY ADITI CHOUDHARY

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