China suffers from a superiority complex. This is not new. Genetically, it must have been there for ages, but in recent years due to the rapid economic development, the tremendous advances in the defense field (including asymmetric warfare), the awe with which Western nations look at China1 and events like the Olympic Games in Beijing, this complex has been greatly exacerbated.

The last bashing bout against India is a demonstration of the complex from which the Middle Kingdom suffers. Today, in the 21st century, Zhongnanhai’s residents2 still believe that they are the Sons of Heaven.

...an online poll7 conducted by huanqiu.com had ’shown’ that 90 percent of the participants believe India poses a big threat to China.

The People’s Daily and the Global Times, both working under the close watch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), have recently made derogatory comments on a purely internal Indian affair, the restructuring of its defense forces in Arunachal Pradesh.

On June 11, the Global Times3 wrote: “But India can’t actually compete with China in a number of areas, like international influence, overall national power and economic scale. India apparently has not yet realized this.” The writer unabashedly continues: “India is frustrated that China’s rise has captured much of the world’s attention.”

A week later, in an editorial the Peoples’ Daily4, Li Hongmei stated: “Many Indians actually have very subtle impressions (sic) upon China, which has been translated into a very complicated mindset – awe, vexation, envy and jealousy – in the face of its giant neighbor.”

The editorialist goes onto expound his theory: “The reason for this mentality is multi-faceted, and brought about by both historical factors and reality. In 1947, when India freed itself from the British colonization and won independence, it was one of the global industrial powers, ranking Top 10 in the world and far ahead of the then backward China. But today, China’s GDP has tripled that of India and per capita income doubled, which turns out to be a totally unacceptable fact to many Indians. And with China’s galloping economic growth since its adoption of the reform and opening up policy in the late 1970s, the wealth gap between China and India has increasingly widened.”

Also read: Role of China as Pakistan's nuclear and missile patron

While some figures might be true, one may ask, at what cost? Rampant corruption, destruction of environment, an increasingly totalitarian regime; one could also argue that in India the trains arrived on time during the Emergency and the pavements were clean, but who wants a new Emergency?

In another speech, the same General affirmed: “Marxism pointed out that violence is the midwife for the birth of the new society. Therefore war is the midwife for the birth of China’s century.”

As often, Beijing blames the West for spoiling the Indi-Chini friendship: “Some Western powers have been inciting India to challenge China, and even insidiously convince India that China would be the ‘greatest obstacle’ threatening India’s rise. India, on the other hand, draws the Western hint trying for dear life to surpass China.”

The Pakistan angle is never omitted: “Obsessed with the crazy idea of ‘enemy’s friend being the enemy,’ India has gone out of its way to blemish the brotherly ties between China and Pakistan5, which India regards as its arch-foe, even staking out a position that Pakistan would have no courage to challenge it without the back-up of China.”6

The Global Times in the same vein wrote: “India thinks that fear and gratitude for its restraint will cause China to defer to it on territorial disputes. But this is wishful thinking, as China won’t make any compromises in its border disputes with India. And while China wishes to coexist peacefully with India, this desire isn’t born out of fear.”

A few days earlier, an online poll7 conducted by huanqiu.com8 had ’shown’ that 90 percent of the participants believe India poses a big threat to China9.

The Global Times commented: “The tension along the disputed border between the two countries has escalated in the last few days after India’s latest military move. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed, despite cooperative India-China relations, his government would make no concessions to China on territorial disputes.”

The pollsters added: “About 74 percent people in the poll by huanqiu.com believed China should not maintain the friendly relations with India anymore after its military provocation. And more than 65 percent of people taking part in the poll believed India’s actions were harmful to bilateral ties and it is more harmful to India.”

Click to buy: Threat from China

This comes soon after the circulation on the Internet of a speech purportedly given by General Chi Haotian, former Minister of Defense and Vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission [see full text on IRD website]10. He would have said in 2005: “Hitler’s Germany had once bragged that the German race was the most superior race on earth, but the fact is, our nation is far superior to the Germans.”

A great nervousness, coupled with this age-old complex of superiority renders the situation in China extremely unstable, not to say explosive. This explains President Hu Jintao’s obsession with ’stability’.

That is not all: “We all know that on account of our national superiority, during the thriving and prosperous Tang Dynasty, our civilization was at the peak of the world. We were the center of the world civilization, and no other civilization in the world was comparable to ours. Later on, because of our complacency, narrow-mindedness, and the self-enclosure of our own country, we were surpassed by Western civilization, and the center of the world shifted to the West.”

He asked the audience of Chinese Generals: “Will the center of the world civilization shift back to China?”

In another speech, the same General affirmed: “Marxism pointed out that violence is the midwife for the birth of the new society. Therefore war is the midwife for the birth of China’s century.”11

This attitude is not new in China, as pointed out by General Chi himself: “According to the research conducted by most Chinese scholars, the Chinese are different from other races on earth. We did not originate in Africa. Instead, we originated independently in the land of China. Therefore, we can rightfully assert that we are the product of cultural roots of more than a million years, civilization and progress of more than ten thousand years, an ancient nation of five thousand years, and a single Chinese entity of two thousand years.”

Historically it is debatable if Tibet, Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia were parts of the Chinese ‘entity’ before the middle of the 20th century.

Condescending attitude: The Great Han Chauvinism

This condescending attitude is not reserved for Western nations or India, but is also prevalent in Beijing’s rapport with China’s ‘nationalities’12. Since the time of the Nationalist Revolution, it has been known by non-Hans in China, as the Great Han Chauvinism.

The Chinese media may poke fun of India: “Proud of its ‘advanced political system’, India feels superior to China. However, it faces a disappointing domestic situation which is unstable compared with China’s”, but the Indian democratic process is a security valve16 which does not exist in the Middle Kingdom.

Bapa Phuntsok Wangyal, the first Tibetan Communist who was instrumental in bringing the PLA into Tibet in 1950 and who, during his long years in solitary confinement studied the intricacies of Marxist theory, realized that Han Chauvinism “is one of the most serious hindrances to our nation’s current work on nationality relations.”13

He explained to several generations of Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Zyiang and Hu Jintao that: “In socialist states, the majority nationality does not (or should not) oppress the minority nationalities. All should be equal, and there should be complete unity and cooperation among nationalities.”

His conclusion is that most of the problems faced by China today are due to the Great Han Chauvinism. According to the Chinese Constitution, the Central Government in Beijing should guarantee equality amongst nationalities14. The tension and instability in ‘ethnic’ areas is created by the fact that the reality is different.

The superior attitude of the Han leadership, whether it is towards their own ‘nationalities’ or vis-à-vis their neighbors (like India) has the same patterns: intolerance, condescension and the need to dominate others.

In a different context, Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan Prime Minister, recently told us15: “The [Chinese] leadership has become very arrogant, very proud. If you compare with Mao Zedong’s or Deng Xiaoping’s period, there was then some kind of human behavior. … Today, they are proud, arrogant and they have cut themselves from the reality, from the people. It is a sign of the forthcoming fall. Look at the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, before falling down, Ravana becomes so arrogant and self-confident, it is the sign that he is soon going to fall.”

The arrogance seems to have proportionately increased with the impotence of major players in Beijing to impose their own personal views like Mao or Deng did.

The Leadership’s Nervousness

A great nervousness, coupled with this age-old complex of superiority renders the situation in China extremely unstable, not to say explosive. This explains President Hu Jintao’s obsession with ’stability’. China is fast changing, becoming more complex and ultimately an unmanageable entity. The leadership, particularly President Jintao often speaks of a ‘harmonious’ society, probably in contrast with the ‘chaos’ so much feared by the ancient Emperors. The Chinese word for ‘chaos’, ‘luan’ means the condition of a society falling into a disordered situation or an uncontrolled state. The Emperors used to lose Heaven’s Mandate to rule when ‘chaos’ prevailed.

Also read: Security threats facing India

The Chinese media may poke fun of India: “Proud of its ‘advanced political system’, India feels superior to China. However, it faces a disappointing domestic situation which is unstable compared with China’s”, but the Indian democratic process is a security valve16 which does not exist in the Middle Kingdom.

When Chi Haotian received his education, he was probably taught to listen to the leaderships in the Party and keep quiet, but it is no more the case in China.

The China Brief of the Jamestown Foundation reported in its June issue: “Widespread anger at the callousness, corruption and other misdemeanors of cadres, particularly those at the level of counties and below, is deemed a main factor behind the tens of thousands of riots and protests that occur every year. The latest such disaster, where some 10,000 peasants from Shishou town, Hubei Province clashed last week with police due to the latter’s alleged cover-up of the suspicious death of a local resident, has followed upon the heels of similar incidents in Hainan, Guizhou and Yunnan in the past year. In all these cases, law officers and other grassroots personnel offered protection to the rich and powerful instead of helping citizens who were victimized by corrupt cadres or triad elements.17″ Countless cases like the above are reported by the local media every year.

However, while an authoritarian regime facilitates faster building of roads, airports or new cities, a one-Party system undermines the State in many other fields. One of these is long-term stability, which has serious military and strategic implications.

The Importance of Democracy for a Stable State

It is ironic that the secret journal of the former Premier, Zhao Ziyang who was demoted after the 1989 democracy protests on Tiananmen Square is titled ‘Prisoner of the State‘. A Premier, prisoner of his own State18!