The Persistence of Tradition in Chinese Foreign Policy

Communications are poor between Communist China and both the Soviet Union and the United States. Ac cording to the traditional Chinese world view, the world order was hierarchical, not egalitarian, with the central authority being China; Chinese centrality was a function of civilization and virtue; the world hierarchy was universal; national power was the reflection of national virtue; external society was the extension of internal society. The tribute system and the use of physical and economic power in times of strength and the technique of "divide and rule" in periods of weakness were tactics which enabled China to maintain pre-eminence. China and Russia evaded clash for purposes of commerce. The great and unresolved challenge to the Chinese system came from the Western maritime powers. European imperialism forced China to recognize the existence of an alternative international power materially more powerful than China and broke down the au tonomous Sinitic world order. The breakdown of the institu tions of the traditional world system after 1842 took place faster than the erosion of the assumptions on which the order was based. Survivals of the tradition in Communist China grow into and reinforce modern nationalism and provide China with a distinct sense of superiority over all foreigners, includ ing Russians. Accommodation between Peking and Moscow, if it comes, will, of necessity, be conscious and contrived.—Ed.