(East-West Question) Sun Xingjie: How do you understand that "advocating peace and opposing war" is a Chinese historical and cultural tradition?
China News Agency, Beijing, March 23rd: How to understand that "advocating peace and opposing war" is a Chinese historical and cultural tradition?
Author Sun Xingjie Deputy Director and Professor of the Institute of International Relations, Jilin University
On March 18, the heads of state of China and the United States held a video call and had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on issues of common concern such as China-US relations and the situation in Ukraine.
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, President Xi Jinping emphasized that "China has always advocated peace and opposed war, which is China's historical and cultural tradition", and comprehensively expounded China's basic position and principles on the Ukraine issue.
On March 19, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that President Xi Jinping clearly and comprehensively clarified China's position on the Ukraine issue, and the most important message sent is that China has always been a force for world peace.
Maintaining peace and opposing war is China's historical and cultural tradition, and it is also the principle of China's foreign policy. It is also China's principle and position in facing and dealing with various hot issues including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
On January 1, 2022, a flag-raising ceremony was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, with doves of peace flying over the square.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yi Haifei
Soldiers, the great event of the country.
War and peace are enduring choices and challenges in human society. Avoiding and eliminating war and building lasting peace are the common ideals of mankind.
The fire of war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, and it was the common people who suffered. The Ukrainian people were displaced and the city was turned into ruins, which is truly a human tragedy.
China calls for a ceasefire and an end to the war as soon as possible, which is against war. Only a ceasefire can reduce civilian casualties and avoid humanitarian disasters. China urges Russia and Ukraine to conduct dialogue and negotiation, and hopes that the United States, NATO and Russia will conduct dialogues to build a balanced, effective and sustainable way. global and regional security frameworks, laying a solid foundation for lasting peace in Europe.
"For peace, against war" is a clear and powerful voice and proposition conveyed by the Chinese side during the video call between the leaders of China and the United States, and it should be widely disseminated.
On March 7, 2022, the United Nations Security Council considered the humanitarian issue in Ukraine at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, introduced China's six-point proposal on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine at the meeting, and expounded China's position and proposition on resolving the Ukrainian crisis.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
Expressing the voice of "for peace, against war" in the name of Chinese historical and cultural traditions is enough to see China's strong desire for peace.
China is one of the few countries in the world with continuous civilization. The culture of peace and the will for peace have been deeply embedded in China's historical and cultural genes.
After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and below the Qin and Han Dynasties, China became the "China of East Asia", forming a complex community network.
In a generally fixed space, Chinese civilization has experienced the cycle of rise and fall of dynasties, and tolerated, accepted and absorbed diverse cultures, forming a pattern of unity of diversity.
Chinese history has also experienced various wars and turmoil, and the people of Li people have suffered. It is precisely because of this that the people yearn for peace and stability, and even sighed that "I would rather be a dog of peace than a chaotic person".
The signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is considered the beginning of modern international relations, but since then, the history of international relations in Europe seems to be more of a history of war, and peace is like a brief truce.
A slight comparison of the history of China and the West shows that China and East Asia, which are synchronized with modern international relations in Europe, are in a period of "long peace", and there is basically no large-scale war between East Asian countries.
In Europe, even the "Hundred Years of Peace in Vienna" that Western scholars talked about did not last long, especially the Crimean War between Britain, France and Russia, and then various wars continued until the First World War. break out.
It was not until the end of World War II that Europe entered a very unusual period of peace.
It can be seen that the history of European international relations does not provide much experience about peace, especially lasting peace.
Compared with Europe, the history and experience of the "Long Peace" in East Asia is more worthy of study and more convincing.
Kang Canxiong, a Korean-American scholar, pointed out, “China is undoubtedly a military, cultural and economic power that dominates the East Asian system, but it has never listed expansion to its periphery as its strategic goal. In the 14th century, these Chinese in East Asia were The cultural state has developed a whole set of international norms and international institutions, which is commonly known as the 'tributary system'." After the mid-19th century, the European international system expanded into East Asia and launched a series of colonial wars until the 1970s. In the 1990s, East Asia once again entered a period of "long peace".
As early as the 1980s, when the Cold War had not ended, China put forward the important thesis that "peace and development are the themes of the times". Maintaining world peace and development is not only China's foreign policy, but also China's historical tradition and East Asian "long-term development". The return of the historical inertia of "peace".
The renewed war between Russia and Ukraine broke the "Long Peace" in Europe since the end of World War II, causing a huge impact on Europe and even the whole world.
War has broken the pattern of peace, and it has also broken people's good wishes for peace.
How can peace be maintained?
Peace is like air. It is so precious and important when it is lost. Therefore, it must be pursued and defended.
"Peace Is Blessing".
Photo by Zhou Dongchao issued by China News Agency
The pursuit of peace requires the study of war.
The Russian-Ukrainian War was fundamentally a cycle of European international relations, and the "Long Peace" after World War II was an "exception" in European history.
Regardless of the causes, patterns, processes and possible outcomes of wars, they can generally be explained within the framework of European war history.
If Clausewitz is reborn, he will not be surprised by the Russian-Ukrainian war. People can spy on the Russian-Ukrainian war from his "Theory of War". Except for weapons and equipment that are more lethal than the 19th century, other wars The factors are not fundamentally different.
Can alliances, diplomacy, deterrence, arms races, etc., these elements of order under the logic of Europe's "balance of power" sustain lasting peace?
When war rages, war escalates and spirals along what Clausewitz calls violence.
The Russian-Ukrainian war has turned into a war between two governments, two nations, two countries, and even two groups.
European-style war is back, and this is a major threat that requires the attention and vigilance of the West and the world, a threat to global peace.
How would a European-style war end?
For example, the Crimean War in the 19th century, a war considered by Western scholars to be "neither necessary nor useful" lasted for three years, and as a result Russia lost its division and lost territory.
World War I was a "sleepwalking" war by European powers. It was thought to be a small war, but it lasted for four and a half years, with tens of millions of casualties.
World War II ended with the unconditional surrender of the fascist states, but Europe was in ruins, falling from the throne of world hegemony.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is still a "European Civil War" or "Western Civil War". The war will eventually end, but the price will be heavy, especially in the age of nuclear weapons, such a high-intensity war will inevitably impact the whole world.
The Chinese side has always emphasized that it is necessary to see the "historical latitude and longitude" of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Only by grasping the focal points can we prescribe the right medicine, so that Ukraine and Eastern Europe can get rid of the war and usher in peace.
From a long-term perspective, Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, has long been in the "marginal zone" of imperial competition. Until the end of World War I, Eastern Europe began to build modern countries, but "making" countries in the broken geopolitical zone is quite difficult. Not easy.
Later, World War II broke out first in Eastern Europe, and the entire Europe and even the world were involved in the war.
After World War II, the Iron Curtain came down in Europe, and the two military groups faced off against each other under the cloud of nuclear war. What the two sides planned or prevented was the outbreak of a large-scale conventional war in Eastern Europe.
The Cold War ended in the form of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The strange thing is that after this large-scale "cold" war, the two sides did not sign a post-war peace agreement. NATO and the European Union continued to expand eastward. As the two sides of the "cold" war - Russia The conflict with NATO is becoming more and more intensified.
Judging from the long-term evolution of this European history of international relations, it seems that this Russia-Ukraine conflict should not surprise the West, especially Europe.
During the Cold War, the war that Western strategists feared was the Soviet conventional military raid on Central Europe, and the current Russian attack on Ukraine is to some extent a legacy of the Cold War.
To break through the "war trap" of European history, we must first clarify the context and logic of history.
China pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, which is not only deeply rooted in Chinese historical and cultural traditions, but also stems from a consistent foreign policy since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
On July 7, 1954, when Mao Zedong heard Zhou Enlai's report at the Geneva Conference at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he said, "In Geneva, we grasped the slogan of peace, that is, we want peace. The Americans do not grasp this. Things, it just wants to fight, so it doesn't make sense." Historically, when China was a major power in East Asia, it was also an important guarantee for "long peace" in East Asia.
China's reform and opening up has integrated and maintained the trend of peace and development in East Asia. A developing China is the pillar of peace in East Asia and the world.
The historical experience of "long peace" in East Asia can help resolve the war crisis in Europe, which not only needs to break through the intellectual stereotype of "Eurocentrism", but also needs to face and accept the peace of other countries including China with an open and equal mind claim.
In the era of globalization, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had a huge impact on global peace and development. "Advocating peace and opposing war" is not only China's diplomatic statement, but also related to China's security interests and national image.
As a country with a long tradition of peace and a major economic power in the world, China "makes independent judgments based on the right and wrong of the matter itself", and the core goal is ultimately to "advocate peace and oppose war."
As Mr. Xu Zhuoyun said, "When globalization is unavoidable, the world may be reorganized and become a huge and complex system of common belonging of human beings. Perhaps it lies in the integration of Chinese and Western historical experiences to form a new civilization system and lay the foundation for "global human sharing and cooperation".
(over)
About the Author:
Sun Xingjie, deputy director, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of International Relations of Jilin University.