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CULTURE|SCIENCE|POLITICS|HUMOR
W
hen relations between
China and the West
frayed in the wake of
the 1989 Tiananmen
Square massacre, Chi-
nese leader Deng Xiao-
ping gave guidance
that set Beijing’s
course for several de-
cades. “Hide our capacities and bide our time, be
good at maintaining a low profile and never
claim leadership,” he urged. As Deng and his suc-
cessors opened China up to the world and
avoided international conflicts, they sparked an
economic miracle that propelled hundreds of mil-
lions out of poverty.
A very different attitude increasingly pre-
vails in Beijing. With China’s economy al-
ready larger than America’s by some mea-
sures, President Xi Jinping has moved
away from his predecessors’ caution.
While stifling dissent at home, he has
harnessed China’s new might to pose
challenges to the Western-led inter-
national order—an effort that is
generating both a global pushback
against Chinese influence and a
policy debate inside China and
abroad. The protests in Hong
Kong that shut down its airport
this week—spurred, in part, by
local frustration over Beijing’s
eroding of the “one country, two
systems” pledge made by Deng in
the 1980s—add a fresh threat to
China’s economy and prestige.
Has Mr. Xi made a mistake in as-
serting greater world-power status
for China to match its economic
might? Should the country have waited
another decade or two, biding its time
until China’s leading edge in technology
and global trade became unassailable?
China’s assertiveness predates Mr. Xi’s as-
cent to power in 2012. But the 66-year-old
leader has turned this new nationalism into the
hallmark of his presidency. As far back as his2013 summit meeting with President Barack
Obama in California, U.S. officials were surprised
by what they understood as Mr. Xi’s vision to es-
sentially divide the world into two spheres of in-
fluence, with China overseeing Asia in exchange
for not challenging U.S. dominance elsewhere.
In a 2017 speech to the Communist Party
Congress, Mr. Xi celebrated the fact that China
“has stood up, grown rich and is becoming
strong.” Beijing’s ultimate goal, he added, was to
become a “global leader in terms of composite
national strength and international influence.”
Such a move away from
China’s previous restraint
was inevitable, argues
Wang Huiyao, a counselor
to China’s State Council,
the body that unites China’s
government ministers. The
world has changed so much
since Deng’s times, when
China’s economy wasn’t
even among the world’s top
10, that the “low profile”
advice no longer makes
sense, he said. “China is al-
ready big in size,” he
added. “China’s influence
and China’s economic
power is there. You cannot
hide that.”
Still, the ferocity of the
global reaction to China’s
new swagger has taken
many Chinese officials by
surprise. “It’s now politically correct to bash
China,” added Mr. Wang, who also serves as
president of the Center for China and Globaliza-
tion in Beijing. “China didn’t say it will conquer
the world. It said it is building a community of
shared future for mankind. But somehow, the
message didn’t get across, and there is
quite a big backlash.”
In the U.S., resistance to China’s inter-
national expansion, trade practices and
military moves—highlighted by Donald
Trump in his 2016 campaign—has now
solidified into a bipartisan consensus.
Even as the two countries meet to dis-
cuss trade issues, the trade war has es-
calated in recent weeks as Beijing re-
sponded to new U.S. tariffs by banning
the import of American agricultural
products and Washington, angered by the
devaluation of the yuan, labeled China a
currency manipulator. Democratic and Re-
publican congressional leaders have also
expressed support for the pro-democracy
protesters in Hong Kong, warning Beijing
against a violent crackdown.
In Europe, China is now seen less as a benign
power pursuing stability and prosperity than as
“a systemic rival promoting alternative models
of governance,” as the European Union declared
in March.
Pleaseturntothenextpage“Hide our
capacities
and bide
our time,
be good at
maintaining
a low profile,
and never
claim
leadership.”
DENG XIAOPINGChina’s leader is using
his country’s new
might to challenge the
Western-led global
order—spurring an
argument at home
and risking pushback
around the world.
By Yaroslav TrofimovREVIEW
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disciples invented modern
anthropology Books C7ILLUSTRATION BY EDEL RODRIGUEZ; BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES (BOOKS)Has Xi
Stirred a
Backlash?