Does China's peaceful development mean more threats or opportunities to surrounding countries and international order? Will modernization of Chinese military affect the peace and stability in international milieu? Will modernization of Chinese military generate arms race in the region? My conclusion is quite different from that of the School of “offensive realism,” propagated by Mearsheimer and the others realists.
Chinese see their country as unlike any other, given their long history, pursuit of peace, and inherently defensive rather than offensive approach to international relations. China maintained its pursuit of peace, and the story of explorer Zheng He has come to symbolize this uniquely peaceful disposition to the Chinese. Western explorers conquered the land they discovered, but Zheng’s fleet did not subdue the newly discovered lands by force. Professor Qu Xing summarized China’s ‘no offensive’ posture in this way: “Traditional Chinese culture pays attention to ‘broad love’ and ‘nonattacking,’ advocates the ‘kingly way’ of convincing people by reasoning, despises the ‘domineering way’ of overwhelming others by force. The Chinese invented gunpowder, but they do not use it with guns to invade others, the Chinese invented the compass, but they do not use it to guide warships to prowl about the four seas.”
China is deeply influenced by Confucianism. Confucian principles of benevolence and righteousness maintained the concept of ‘no offense’, infused military strategy in the past and has the same reflection today. Military strategists influenced by Confucianism advocated cautious war and “opposed rashly beginning war”. Mao Zedong directed military intervention in Korean Peninsula at the last moment when China’s security was threatened. Chinese strategic culture places great emphasis on just cause: “When war cannot be avoided, the issues of right and wrong in the war are of primary importance.”
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