428
16 }
Normalization with the Asian Powers
SOV IET UNION, INDIA, IR AN, AND JAPANConsolidation of a Favorable Macro-Climate for DevelopmentOne of the key foci of diplomatic business after the Mao era was reduction of
the high levels of tension that existed in China’s relations with nearly all the
Asian powers: the Soviet Union, India, Iran, and, to a lesser degree of ten-
sion, Japan. The calculus of Chinese interest with each of these powers varied,
but there were some common purposes underlying China’s diplomatic out-
reach to all of them. Reducing tension and eliminating conflicts if possible
would diminish chances of wars that might disrupt China’s new long march
toward wealth and power. Reduction of tension would also facilitate the de-
militarization of China’s economy, removing a heavy burden on China’s eco-
nomic development. This would facilitate the shift of resources to economic
modernization. Improved relations would also open the door to expanded
economic cooperation as part of China’s opening. In short, normalization of
relations and reduction of tension, where possible, were part of Deng’s effort
to create a favorable macro-climate for China’s modernization drive.
Many of the powerful domestic objectives that had driven China’s inter-
national militancy during the Mao era no longer existed. China’s paramount
leader no longer aspired to the status of leader of the world communist move-
ment. Claims to legitimacy as a center of world revolution no longer needed to
be validated. And confrontations with foreign powers were no longer useful
for intensifying internal class struggle and “continuing the revolution under
the dictatorship of the proletariat.” A strong sense of modesty and humility
inspired Deng’s diplomacy in the early post-Mao period. Under Mao, China
had attempted to seize the leadership of the world communist movement,
had given vast assistance to the world’s revolutionary forces, and had gone to
war or the brink of war several times as part of that effort. The result, Deng
concluded, was not a prosperous and strong China but a poor and weak one.