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| Deng's Wisdom Still Pragmatic and Timely |
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By Yu Sui, researcher with the Research Center of Contemporary World February 19 is the 10th anniversary of the death of Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening-up. His incisive analysis of the world situation has been borne out by developments over the last decade. As early as the 1980s, Deng emphasized time and again that there were two questions of global strategic importance. One was the issue of peace and the other economics, or development. In 1992, he pointed out: "Neither of the two major issues of world peace and development has so far been resolved." Looking back, we find that the issues of peace and development have remained at the center of the agenda for our times in spite of interfering factors cropping up from time to time. Over the last decade, the tragedy of a world war has not been reproduced on the global stage although regional wars and local strife keep haunting the world. On the other hand, the Cold War mentality died hard. This vindicates Deng's forecast. He observed in October 1984: "We sense that the risk of war is still there and we need to heighten our alert. However, the factors that serve to stop the outbreak of a new world war are on the rise." In June 1985, Deng said: "It is possible that no full-scale world war will break out for a fairly long time to come. There is hope for world peace." Deng, however, never overlooked the treacherous nature of the international situation or its gravity. For instance, he said in November 1989: "I hoped that the Cold War would come to an end. But I'm disappointed now. It looks possible that one Cold War has ended and two more have begun, with one directed against the South, or the Third World, and the other against socialism." His words fit perfectly into the world situation in the wake of the end of the Cold War. Over the last decade, the multi-polarization of the world has made significant headway and has been developing in depth, though traveling through twists and turns. Deng's ideas about multi-polarization were conceived and ripened in the 1980s. Time and again he observed that the situation should be put to an end in which what the two superpowers said counted in world affairs. He observed in March 1990: "The monopoly of the United States and the Soviet Union on world affairs is being weakened. The Soviet Union will remain one of the poles no matter how many poles the world political framework has in the future three poles, four poles or five poles and no matter how much it is weakened, with a number of its republics seceding from the Union. China is one of the poles. We should not belittle ourselves. China is one of the poles in any circumstance." The world political structure later did turn out to be multi-polar, though the United States remains the sole superpower. This does not, however, mean the world is unipolar. Over the last decade, the efforts to advance democracy in international relations through a new international political order has won increasingly wide support, though the efforts face Herculean difficulties. On the eve of the end of the Cold War, Deng repeatedly expounded on the necessity of establishing a new international order on the basis of five principles of peaceful coexistence. He believed that the five principles should be applied as the principles guiding international relations. His suggestions largely promoted the spread of the ideas of democracy in international relations. Now the Chinese leadership has put forward the ideas of building a harmonious society in China and bringing about a world in harmony. They are the embodiment of Deng's thoughts on democracy in international relations. Over the last decade, pluralism in terms of development models has become an irresistible trend across the world. This has happened despite people with a hegemony mentality pushing their values of "democracy" across the world by any means, including use of force. Deng believed: "The questions of the world are not expected to be resolved by one model." He continued that China should not copy the approaches of the Western capitalist countries or those of other socialist nations. He drew lessons from the failure of the Soviet model and charted China's unique path of development, which finds expression in reform and opening-up. Over the last decade, the idea that individual countries should develop their bilateral relations by transcending their different ideologies has been gaining wider acceptance, though human rights are often used as an excuse by some countries to interfere with other countries' internal affairs. Based on his experience as a statesman active in the world political arena for decades, Deng advanced the idea that relations between different countries should not be determined by ideologies. He said that feuds and disputes in the past, different social systems and varying ideologies should not be allowed to get in the way of handling relations between different countries. He went on to say that all countries, no matter how powerful or weak, how big or small, should treat one another equally. Over the last decade, the basic principle that one country safeguards its own interests and also respects others' interests has set in motion a tolerant cycle of interaction between countries, despite the sharp fluctuations punctuating relations between the big powers. In October 1989, Deng said: "In handling relations with other countries, one should proceed from one's own national strategic interests. While taking care of one's own long-term strategic interests, one should respect others' interests." When he met a group of Indian visitors, Deng said: "Since the border issue is hard to resolve at present, it can wait. We have many things to do in the fields of trade, economy and culture." Over the last decade, the principle that shelving disputes and engaging in joint development in handling territorial feuds in particular disputes involving maritime resources has been increasingly embraced by farsighted people in many countries. (China Daily February 15, 2007) |
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