Magazine / Current / China / Interview | 13/08/2008

"China is a minefield"

An interview with French philosopher and Sinologue François Jullien on China's traumas and dramatic rise, the difference between Go and chess, European human rights and Chinese harmony.

euro|topics: Professor Jullien, what ought we to know about the Chinese to understand China's economic and political rise in recent years?

Today people tend to forget that China was already very powerful in the past. So first of all they need to know more about the country's history. Until the 15th century China was technically just as developed as the European world, with junks, gunpowder, the compass, hydraulics and magnetism.

Photo: goldkatze

After Europe left China behind – through the exemplary thinking of Galileo, Descartes and Newton – it was Europeans who travelled to China and not vice versa. At first as missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries, and then during the wars in the 19th century when they forced the Chinese ports to open to trade.

euro|topics: When did China catch up?

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the worst phase of its history, China was culturally dominated by Europe's superior technology and progressive thinking – unlike the earlier conquests by the Mongols or the Manchus. This European conquest was a traumatic experience, and since then China's prime goal has been to catch up with Europe. Today it has caught up – and is in the process of overtaking everyone.

euro|topics: How has China done this?

By imitating us. It has acquired science, technology and political models [from us] – for example the very Western concept of revolution. At the same time it has maintained its own traditions according to Mao's slogan "walking on two legs", with the Western leg ahead and the Chinese leg bringing up the rear. China has so to speak double resources.

euro|topics: Nevertheless it still seems very far removed from Western values like freedom of the press or human rights. During the Olympic Games the Western press will be guaranteed the "greatest possible" Internet access. That doesn't amount to a ban, it's more like prevention, regulation.

The Chinese government avoids any confrontation on these questions. Things could explode very easily in China, because of the disequilibrium, social coercion and ideological transformation. China is a minefield. We saw that last week with the attack in Beijing. By contrast, the Chinese leadership reacts [by imposing] regulations. This Chinese strategy is called "breathing hot and cold", opening and closing: on the one hand demonstrating China's strength and making it clear that China does not accept foreign interference, on the other hand remaining open to compromise in the interests of economic progress and international relations.

euro|topics: Has China's rise strengthened mutual understanding?

The understanding is asymmetrical. Ten years ago hardly anyone was interested in China at international meetings. Today there's hardly an international summit where people are not asking what's happening in China and what it thinks. China thinks in two categories: the Chinese "interior" and the foreign "exterior". Nowadays the US is China's most important partner, China doesn't expect much from Europe. It knows very well that it is today's up-and-coming world power, and that its influence in international relations will continue to grow.

euro|topics: Its influence is already considerable.

Yes. Not only within, but also outside its borders. This influence is spreading through "silent transformation", "silent change". In Paris, for example, the Chinese presence is growing enormously, not just in one neighbourhood, but in daily life. People know the Chinese holidays, especially the spring festival, and Chinese students enrol at our elite universities. This is all very unobtrusive, and the same is happening in the US and Canada.

euro|topics: How does the concept of silent change fit in with the media coverage China is getting with the Olympic Games?

China is proud to see the eyes of the world fixed on it, for nationalistic reasons among others. When they said goodbye to the political ideal of socialism it was replaced by nationalism. But what in fact do people see when they look at China? If you compare the Chinese game of Go with chess, you'll see the latter functions through confrontation. In Go the idea is to extend your influence through the gradual acquisition of territory. The Olympic Games show both sides: unobtrusive advancement and China's ultimate objective, spectacular success.

euro|topics: Should Europe change its strategy over Tibet or other burning issues in order to negotiate with China?

China highlights it own values, for example the significance of harmony, to defend its position in the very pressing discussion on human rights. The Chinese discourse today is cleverly ambiguous. Yes, human rights are important, but so is harmony.

euro|topics: Can Europeans and Chinese understand each other at all?

Of course they can. In my view all humanity has something in common, something intelligible to everyone. I reject the idea that cultures remain closed and only refer to themselves. But dialogue is only possible when you work at it. At the moment it does not exist. In China "Asian values" are sometimes represented as being unintelligible to the West. That is very dangerous. And in the West there is the age-old China cult which oscillates between fear and fascination. We'd do better to work at fostering mutual understanding.

Interview: Nikola Richter.

François Jullien

François Jullien was born in Embrun in 1951. A philosopher and Sinologue, he is director of the Institut de la pensée contemporaine at the University ...
» to author index

Further articles on the subject » International Relations, » Europe, » China
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Europe, » China