and thus this hierarchical outlook is anathema. Many commentators are more comfortable imbuing China’s motives with our own conceptions of international relations: realpolitik, for example. In truth, the “rational actor” theory fails in application because rationality and the reckoning of cost and benefit is subject to the aforementioned anthropological dictum, and thus the math comes out differently when it is calculated on the abacus rather than the calculator. Not wrong, mind you, just differently, and the sooner policymakers understand this concept, the better informed and prepared they will be to deal with the changes that are shifting the face of Asia. The PRC’s handling of littoral disputes over the past three years has drifted toward the antagonistic end of the spectrum. Leaders in Beijing have shelved their previously prominent PR campaign of China’s “peaceful rise,” meant to placate nervous neigh-
photo: Jennifer A. Villalovos
bours as it gained in economic, diplomatic and military strength, to one of increasing hostility and intimidation. China’s actions are driven by one factor—the desire to minimize chaos—and two components: distrust and ambition. Chinese history demonstrates that chaos is a dangerous state of affairs, and thus the distrust of an inherently chaotic international system, promoted by Western conceptions of liberal democracy that are, by definition, antithetical to the continued leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Thus, this leads to fear; the fear that China, always endeavouring to create buffers between itself and outside powers, is being encircled by encroaching Western nations through the spider’s web of security alliances in the Asia-Pacific. Add to this the ambition to reclaim what many in China consider the nation’s natural right to leadership in the region. More than a geopolitical necessity, this takes on the dimensions of a divine right, with the Mandate of Heaven resting upon the shoulders of the leaders in Beijing, and conferring upon them the responsibility to lead the region into a new era of peace and prosperity. Despite their actions, and the way they are perceived by cultures that do not share their philosophy, the CCP do not see their rule as despotic, but rather fair and just, and this benign rule
Summer 2013 Special Issue 49