CHINA-US: LEADING CHINESE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SCHOLAR ADVISES CHINA NOT TO FIGHT IDEOLOGICAL BATTLES WITH U.S.
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The South China Morning Post on October 7 reported that Yan Xuetong, Dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Modern International Relations in Beijing, published an article in the latest issue of its Quarterly Journal of International Politics which said China should stop fighting ideological battles with the United States and trying to prove the superiority of its political system. He said “There are more than 200 political entities in the world and only an extremely small number have the same ideology and political system as China. Thus, avoiding ideological fights with any country will bring more benefits than costs.” Recalling that in the past China had benefited from playing down the ideology debate with Russia as it reduced obstacles to international cooperation and helped to maintain stable relations with countries that had undergone regime changes, he said if Beijing continued to pick ideological fights with the US, it might find itself locked in proxy wars with nations backed by Washington. He cautioned “The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union heavily involved supporting similar-minded governments in third-party countries and engaging in proxy wars. Keeping the Sino-US rivalry out of the ideological field can help to avoid proxy wars based on ideological differences.” Yan Xuetong said, “The relevant departments should have the awareness to respect other people’s political systems and suppress their arrogance of demeaning their political systems.”
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