Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
majority of bright young Chinese students also now believe that
parliamentary democracy is the world's best form of government,
and they quietly and privately tell North American students and pro-
fessors that they too will someday have an open democratic political
system, but that they are concerned about the possible disruptiveness
that a rush into democratization might cause in China. Therefore they
are content with a slow and incremental progression toward authentic
democratization.
China may well be a democratic country one day. It is perhaps
something of a na¨ve American article of faith that democratic coun-
tries are necessarily friendly, peace-loving countries. But a fully
democratic China could turn out to be even more restively anti-
American (and anti-Japanese) than it is right now. The Chinese Com-
munists are acutely aware that any mass passions, be they political,
nationalistic, or religious, are potentially destabilizing politically and
socially. That is why the Chinese government manages periodic out-
bursts of nationalistic fervor quite adroitly, as during the Sino-
American spy plane collision incident off the coast of Hainan Island
in the spring of 2001 or the vandalous anti-Japanese protest marches
in Shanghai over the content of newly revised Japanese history text-
books in the spring of 2005. The Chinese government's formula for
managing such periodic outbursts of public nationalistic fervor seems
to be “validate, facilitate, deescalate.” In other words, the state first
acknowledges the legitimate public outrage at whatever indignity, real
or imagined, China has suffered. Then the state may facilitate protests,
for example by busing angry students to protest sites or allowing
incendiary comments on Internet sites to remain a few hours (or even
days) longer than normal. Finally the state deescalates the matter by
encouraging the public and the students to return to their jobs and
classes and work hard to make China strong and great again.
Will democratization be the nostrum for all, or even most, of China's
ills? Will democratization really transform the Chinese dragon into a
fuzzy and loveable panda doll? Is China indeed ready for democracy?
What would China be like without the restraining hand of the Com-
munist Party on Chinese nationalism, which sometimes borders on
irrational xenophobia? Zealous Chinese and Western ideologues who
hope and agitate for the quick democratization of China might do well
to contemplate such questions carefully and soberly. An even more
urgent question than whether the Chinese people will eventually tire
of the Chinese Communist Party and cast it aside, whether peacefully
or violently, is this: Who and what will replace the Party if and when
