revolutionary praxis also provided a superior model for others to
emulate. What carried over from Confucian to communist China was
the assumption that China was in an important sense an example
for other polities, and thus had a didactic leadership role to play. The
patronising superiority with which Chinese envoys lectured vassal
kings and their courts as to the proper behaviour expected of them,
found its parallel in the way senior communist officials lectured visit-
ing delegations from regional communist movements.^4
A third element of traditional belief that carried over into the
Chinese communist worldview was its moralism. The traditional
worldview that the Chinese sought to impose on surrounding king-
doms was a moral order, suffused by the virtue of the emperor. Chinese
moral superiority derived from acting in accordance with the will of
Heaven, and found expression in the universal beneficence and
concern of the emperor for the well-being of ‘all under Heaven’. Vassal
kingdoms failing to live up to Chinese expectations were rebuked in
moral terms. Similar convictions of moral superiority and tendencies
to make moral judgments were soon evident in the PRC’s approach to
international relations.^5 Chinese policies tended to be proclaimed as
moral principles, whether the Bandung policy of coexistence and non-
interference in the affairs of other countries, or the later policy of
anti-hegemonism (outlined below). In each case, China claimed its
view provided the sole moral basis for the fairer and more just inter-
national order that it sought to create. The tributary system and the
trade that accompanied it had rested on a strong sense of moral com-
mitment: tributary missions were generously recompensed and
measures were taken to ensure that trade was fair. Similarly the
concept of ‘equal benefit’ in PRC trade policy emphasised its moral
basis in a way that reflected Chinese values more than socialist
practice (at least if judged by Soviet example).
Other important elements of the Marxist–Leninist worldview
replaced traditional notions entirely, with significant implications for
foreign relations. One was the idea of history. The Confucian view of
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia