China's rise is low-key and cautious due to geopolitical difficulties
On April 9, 1974, at the Sixth Extraordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly, it was clearly stated: "China is not and will not be a superpower. Five years later, he reiterated at home that China, as a socialist country, will always belong to the third world and will never engage in expansion and hegemony.
He stressed that no matter how far China develops, it will uphold a low-key, cautious, and forbearant attitude, and will never seek hegemony. This position has remained unchanged over the past few decades.
How does a country rise from a complex international situation? Our country, which has thousands of years of history, has a wealth of experience. Whether from the perspective of history or reality, the rise of the state is the result of a combination of factors.
The most important factor among them is undoubtedly geopolitical conditions. In the early stage of development, if any country is too high-profile, aggressive, tough, and aggressive in political, military, economic, and diplomatic aspects, it may fall into a crisis and lead to the premature death of its rise.
This kind of experience is not uncommon in history, such as Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, etc. On the road to rise, China's attitude has always been like walking on thin ice, trembling, as if facing the abyss, self-reliance and self-respect.
This attitude is not because of military and foreign policy failures, but because governing a big country is like cooking a small thing, and any small negligence may make the country's efforts go to waste. This attitude is also the embodiment of China's ancient historical experience, and it has been influencing China today and even in the future.
History tells us that the political and military forces that have successfully risen will generally occupy a dominant geographical location, so as to gain an absolute strength advantage in the geopolitical situation.
Taking China's Warring States Period as an example, the Qin State in the west took the opportunity of the "Shang Dynasty Reform Law" to gather talents from all over the world, and at the same time actively improved the country's internal system to promote the goal of prosperity and strength.
As far as the external situation of the Warring States is concerned, the Qin State occupies the extremely favorable geographical location of "Guanzhong", and has almost no worries, forming a situation in which the six eastern countries can fight each other.
Therefore, on the road to its rise, China will continue to adhere to the geopolitical foundation, constantly improve the internal system, and actively recruit talents to achieve the prosperity of the country.
The powerful ** dynasties, such as the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, first occupied the western "Guanzhong" in the east, pacified the disputes between the Central Plains and the south, and then destroyed the Turks, pacified Goguryeo, and then dominated the East.
Due to the cyclical law of dynasties in the history of our country, the collapse of each dynasty will lead to a change in the political pattern of our country and the formation of a new "international community". Our people, with their vast diplomatic experience and unification experience, have been able to conquer, integrate and unify regional civilizations, which is unique in the world.
After the Qin Dynasty, China has been politically and psychologically integrated into a large country with a vast area and a large population. For more than 2,000 years, China's Central Plains Dynasty was mainly threatened by the northern steppe nomads, except for being conquered by the Mongols and the Manchus, most of the time in East Asia was in a relatively safe state.
In the Han, Tang and early Ming dynasties, China once dominated Asia with a strong posture, and even influenced the world. This is mainly due to the fact that our country is in an ideal geographical position after reunification, and there are no strong opponents in the east, west, and south, and it only needs to focus on the threat in the direction of the northern steppe, and has sufficient strategic depth in the south.
In addition, the natural topographic maps of China are very similar to those of the Qing Dynasty in its heyday.
In ancient times, the main threat to our country came from the north. However, since the Opium War in modern times, the direction of China's security threats has undergone a fundamental shift. Since the beginning of the Age of Discovery, the rise of modern Europe and its gradual expansion around the world have made China's most threatening threat begin to arise from the east and south, that is, from European countries and the rising Japanese power, and this change has continued until now.
At the same time, the threat from the north remained, and the Russian Empire, replacing the traditional steppe tribes, quickly rose from Europe and occupied a significant part of the territory of the north of our country.
Since 1840, China has been in a period of low ebb of national development, and after more than 100 years of decline in the period of civilization renewal, the state of the country is worrying.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have gained political independence and have grown in military strength, especially after possessing nuclear weapons, our military status has been recognized.
In the 80s of the last century, we seized the opportunity to actively promote reform and opening up, and now our country has initially entered a state of rise recognized by the whole world, and the ancient country is showing signs of rejuvenation, and the momentum is unstoppable.
However, unlike in ancient times, our rise is faced with more severe geographical constraints, that is, geopolitical dilemmas. Recall the rise of the United States, whose geopolitical advantage lies in its solitary existence in the Americas, with no surrounding countries that threaten it, Canada with few people, and Mexico as a chaotic country.
At the same time, the United States also has two natural barriers, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, far away.
Ten. 9. Europe was the center of the world in the twentieth century, so even if it immersed itself in developing its national strength, no matter how big the movement was, it would not alarm the European powers and be deliberately suppressed.
Of course, even if the Europeans deliberately intervene, it will be difficult, after all, it is not easy to fight across the sea and ocean. Moreover, the United States has sufficient strategic depth, and the British captured Washington and quickly retreated after burning the White House.
In the past years, the United States rose to prominence on the periphery of the world, and its geographical location gave it a unique advantage. If necessary, the United States can challenge world hegemony; The United States also has enough capabilities to protect itself if it is not needed.
Even in the seventies, when the United States was at a disadvantage in the struggle against the USSR and even suffered setbacks in the Vietnam War, it was still able to join forces with the Western European allies and China in Asia against the USSR and prevent the conflict from further expanding.
All this is thanks to the geographical advantages of the United States. However, China now finds itself in a different environment than the United States. China's geographical location puts it in the midst of four wars, and the constant conflicts in neighboring countries pose a threat to China's security.
In the history of Europe, the Prussian state is a good example. During the turbulent period after the French Revolution, Prussia, as a medium-sized country, carefully maneuvered between the three major powers of Britain, France, and Russia.
When France was weakened, Prussia took advantage of the global hegemony between Britain and Russia and launched the Franco-Prussian War, which eventually unified Germany and became one of the world's great powers.
This is called "Prussia has hatched out of the shells".
Thanks to Bismarck, a cunning and sophisticated politician, the rise of Germany under his rule made the most of the time, but still could not escape the natural challenges of geopolitics.
Germany is facing a two-sided attack from France and **, while Britain plays the role of the "offshore balancer" of the European continent, ready to unite the second-rate powers of the European continent to suppress those countries that try to dominate the continent.
Bismarck's wisdom: to keep a low profile, to avoid provoking Britain, succeeded in preventing the Franco-Russian alliance. When Europe carved up the world, Germany did not develop its navy or pursue overseas colonies, but wisely chose self-restraint and was finally able to preserve its interests in the territorial changes after World War II.
During the reign of Wilhelm II, he dismissed Bismarck and adopted a strategy of global expansion, which intensified the contradictions between Germany and Britain, France, and Russia, causing Germany to be defeated in two world wars and planting the seeds of Hitler's German downfall.
The scene after the defeat of Germany was shocking.
Although we have been facing the attack of the two major powers for a long time, we have overcome all kinds of difficulties by virtue of our wisdom and tenacity, and after decades of reform and opening up, our country has shown a strong trend of rejuvenation and rise.
However, like the rise of Germany in the 19th century, China's rise also faced geopolitical constraints, and the threat of strong neighbors put China in a potential situation.
Modern technology has shortened geographical distances, allowing the United States to threaten China with the help of naval and air bases, and the U.S. strategy in the Indian and Pacific Ocean may also unite with other countries to pose a threat to our maritime military alliance.
Despite this, China has not given up because of this, but continues to work hard to strive for a broader space for development.
When promoting Taiwan's reunification or strengthening the control of the traditional territorial waters of the East China Sea and the South China Sea, any action by China will trigger vigilance and pressure from its neighbors and the United States. Considering the external geopolitical situation, the road to the rise of our country is destined to be long and challenging.
When controlling strategic points such as Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the Indo-Pacific maritime lifeline, we should keep a low profile and be steady, and not be too aggressive, even if we carry out reasonable recovery and control expansion.
Although China is facing lessons learned from the past and challenges from its neighbors on the road to its rise, we must still maintain a low-key, cautious and forbearant attitude to avoid the influence of those restraining factors.
In addition, the pursuit and display of overseas naval and air military bases"The most important weapon of the country"Behavior, as well as "Awesome My Country"-style boasting and ostentation, can have a harmful and unfavorable effect on our nation's revival, and we should avoid it.