Chou En-Lai and the Opening to the West
Abstract
The People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1970 was a nation nearly alone in the world. After its ideological break with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, the PRC developed its own foreign policies along radical lines, verbally attacking the Soviet Union and supporting revolution in the Third World using its own military experience as a model. Though the PRC's influence initially increased, it then decreased as the revolutionary movements it fostered failed. The Great Cultural Revolution from 1966 through 1968 directed the PRC's energies and attention inward -- domestic turmoil reigned. More foreign governments and revolutionary movements that the PRC had supported were estranged. In the end, the voices of moderation began to be heard, and the reformation of the basic party and state structures began. Disagreements developed among PRC leaders as to which of the pre-Cultural Revolution policies, including foreign policy, ought to be resurrected. This was the canvas upon which Cho En-Lai undertook to create his grand strategy. How did Chou see the world in his "mind's eye?" First, his eye was that of a geopolitical realist. He saw nation-states as actors. He saw a multipolar, not a bipolar world. He concurred with the Nixon view that in the early 1970s a new world order was emerging consisting of five centers of power: the United States, the USSR, Western Europe, Japan, and the PRC. Chou's actions were masterful -- the result of his recognition of an extraordinary opportunity on the one hand and his ability to work within severe constraints on the other by balancing the contradictory requirements of reality and ideology in the unstable international and domestic arenas. The high risk-high reward strategy of rapprochement with the West was a well-conceived plan by a remarkable man and has paid handsome dividends for the People's Republic of China.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 08, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA436946
Entities
People
- Maurice A. Deaver Jr
Organizations
- National War College