My Take | Why Russia chooses war and China prefers peace
- The concept of Tianxia is overtly anti-militaristic, and also pluralistic – but not liberal-democratic – by accepting or advocating a world of different states and systems, beyond Western domination
This is the last of a two-part series.
Foreigners who are unfamiliar with the Chinese intellectual scene and can’t read the language tend to think all Chinese think alike as dictated by doctrinaires and ideologists appointed by the communist state.
This cannot be further from reality. The debates between different schools of thought and among proponents of a particular school in the social sciences and humanities are as vibrant, public and often heated as any in the West.
Consider just two fashionable intellectual movements in recent years. One is inspired by Carl Schmitt, the influential German political theorist with a Nazi past; the other draws inspiration from the ancient Chinese concept of Tianxia.
For example, the title of his speech before the United Nations in Geneva on January 18, 2017, was “Work Together to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind”. In a People’s Daily editorial on December 29, 2017, he called on diplomats to “cherish the motherland as well as Tianxia”.