The New Chinese Empire
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
The new Chinese Empire became a reality in the last 30 years with the death of Mao in 1976 and the assumption of supreme power by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. The Empire is fortified by the application of a hybrid political model that enables its constant growth based on an authoritarian regime, while preserving and reinforcing nationalism. In addition, the current state of affairs is being altered as China tries to gain a dominant position at the diplomatic, financial and military levels in order to impose its global power on the rest of the world.
Over the past several weeks, different media have been pointing to the possibility that Petro China and Sinopec, which are part of a state-run Chinese consortium, will buy 5 to 10% of the Saudi state oil company Aramco. This purchase would mean a new step by the Chinese government to solve its big energy supply problem that affects its economy to a significant degree. Later during this quarter the purchase of 15% of the Russian oil company Rosneft will be confirmed by CEFC China Energy.
This would also represent a consolidation of Beijing’s position in the Middle East at a time when Washington is moving away from that region and trying to move towards the Asian Continent. All that’s left to know is if the operation will be carried out in New York, Frankfurt or in a London city that wants to show strength in the middle of the renegotiation of Brexit. But it is important to understand the long process that China is pursuing to become a superpower in the complex unipolar system that exists in the world today.
Up to this point, China’s foreign policy has been peaceful, not only out of prudence, but also based on the scrupulous observance of a policy of non-interference that characterizes its political model. According to its official representatives, China should distance itself from any behavior similar to that of the European colonial empires and that of the United States, given that it considers itself another victim of such behavior.
Any other behavior would be paradoxical, since China has maintained its leadership of the Third World and its defense of the principles of peaceful coexistence on the premise of a history in which China has also suffered colonial oppression.
Although the Chinese form of the colonial phenomenon does not take its origin into account, the fact is that its people in times past were also bound to notions of racial hierarchy, religious proselytism and radical cultures that can only be explained as the original will of these states to protect commercial interests and privileges obtained prior to the unloading of the first weapons in the colonial invasions.
There were other similar cases, such as Holland’s colonial invasion of Indonesia in the sixteenth century, which was a response to the petitions of the Dutch East India Company, or the Indian Rebellion in 1857 against the British East India Company, the British Invasion of Egypt in 1882 or the two Opium Wars between the British and Chinese, events that are partially hidden in the Chinese narrative. More contemporary examples are also part of this erroneous Chinese narrative of colonization, such as the intervention of the Americans in Iran in 1953 after Mossadegh renationalized oil.
But the great enigma of the present is whether China can stay away from the Persian Gulf from now on, or whether it can sit idly by while possible regimes changes or nationalizations are at stake. Those who study the reasons why China seems to have decided to change its passive course of action and intervene more forcefully in foreign policy matters think that they are possibly doing so to defend their material interests in the face of the threat of major changes in today’s world or because of the uncertainty. So it is believed that these actions will mark China’s attainment of the level of a global superpower.
Addendum: Right now is the moment when the current Chinese government believes that it is capable of competing with the United States using the same tricks and feigned alliances with other countries in the West and even along the South Pacific, African and Latin America routes.