TAZ: Mr. Zhang, how does China analyze the current world order and what he is striving for?
Junhua Zhang: The state and party leader Xi Jinping sees the East and descends. Western hegemony breaks up. Beijing talks with the multipolar world and now feels confirmed by Donald Trump’s policy that he seems to recognize the descent to the West. From the point of view of Pekings, Joe Biden, he still acted as if managing the United States continued to work almost without restrictions. But Trump actually wants to give authoritarian states the status of “proper”.
TAZ: Where does the world of Chinese leadership coincide with the world of Russia Vladimir Putin?
Zhang: China and Russia really approached Xi Jinping. Si and Putin unites his authoritarianism and rejection of Western hegemony. Putin first of all takes care of his own maintenance, for which he also uses military means outside his country, for example, in Africa and in the Middle East. Until now, Si does this, as Putin and primarily relies on trade, and only then on the update. However, in the “Russian world” Putin Si sees the revival of the Soviet Union. For XI, this is a good model of socialism. In addition, there was a change in power in bilateral relations from the war of Russia in Ukraine: Russia has significantly lost influence, for example, in Central Asia, its former backyard, while China was able to expand its power there.
In an interview: Junhua Zhang
Born in Shanghai in 1958, senior assistant to the European Institute of Asian research in Brussels and an expert in geopolitical intelligence services. He studied and received a doctoral degree in Frankfurt Am Main and was a professor of political science in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
TAZ: With what strategy is the People’s Republic in accordance with the desired world order?
Zhang: China is primarily based on economic force through trade and uses the “New Silk Road” project. This has turned into a foreign policy strategy in the framework of the XI JINPING, which has been holding a position since 2013. At the same time, China for many years modernized the naval fleet, especially the Navy. He developed skills in order to be able to provide his interests militaryly. However, this has not yet been used, unlike Russia.
TAZ: From the point of view of China, from the Customs and Trade Policy of Donald Trump, does it threaten the decay of the world with trade blocks?
Zhang: China won the globalization and admission to the World Trade Organization in 2021. He is currently considering himself as industrial world power and is interested in the fact that this system remains largely. At the same time, China is now in a stronger position than for Trump for the first term. Currently, it clearly prevails in the processing technology of rare -earth elements. At the same time, the XI should take less attention to the population, that is, about the impending mass unemployment than the US president, in which SI can also blame. China today is very important for many countries, often even the most important trading partners. Western countries had this role. Beijing should no longer give up in a trade conflict with the United States, which he does not, but is in a good starting position.
Taz: Historically, China defined itself as a “rich in the middle”, almost as the center of the world. Does this continue to play a role in the policy of China, is a multipolar world order for Beijing only the transition to the future hegemony of the People’s Republic?
Zhang: The expression “rich in the middle”, first of all, is a cultural concept. In minimally, China has never dominated the world. This will happen only when China initially acquired a good economy everywhere. But China is already regional power of hegemones. Its mainly the modernization of the sea over the past decades and its penetration into the South China Sea and Taiwan-Straly changed the situation. For example, the People’s Republic can now work outside Taiwan-Straly and largely controls the so-called first island chain limited by Taiwan-Straly. China also benefits from the fact that economically weak vest is no longer dominant and attractive, while the People’s Republic has become a very attractive trading partner, despite authoritarian systems. China’s leadership does not make its own population too rich and allows them to work hard to produce products, so that other countries use cheap, but also high -quality products. This is what the West cannot do.
TAZ: China’s leadership is closed, but what competing worldviews inside, at least in the nuances?
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Zhang: The troubled policy of China even complicates the best connoisseurs of China in order to correctly assess the situation. But one thing can be said for sure: the worse the economy, the more unstable XIS is the position of power. Because in the end, economic indicators are the legitimacy of her power. Inside the party, his opponents hide that he makes mistakes in the economy. Of course, Chinese officials can deceive people for some time by censorship of the media and taking demonstrators in custody. But inside the party and especially with such groups of interested groups, deterioration in general economic development is also worsening. This is the danger that China threatens from the point of view of domestic policy: the economic situation worsens, it becomes very difficult for SI to maintain its positions with “normal” means. This can lead to distraction from attack on Taiwan.
TAZ: China collided with two great Asian authorities. Japan is economically complicated in the leading role of Beijing. India, now the most densely populated country on Earth, is a strategic competitor. How does China see them?
Zhang: In this regard, the bide government forced China to experience a large headache, ensuring reconciliation between Japan and South Korea. Trump, it seems, again wants to weaken this alliance. The political future of South Korea is also not very clear from its internal political turbulence. This contributes to China to expand its influence. Japan and South Korea depend on the Chinese market. Relations with India are ambiguous. China wants to use India as a large market, but India resists. In some products, both are also competitors. In admiration for the economic development of China and Beijing, it is assumed that India is never an EXCHOOL CASTENT economically. There is a great tension between China and India, for example, in Sri Lalanca, Nepal and Pakistan.
TAZ: What role does Europe play for Beijing?
Zhang: China is very owed to Europe. European technologies and the policy of “changes through trade” made a great contribution to the development of China and its economy. But from the point of view of China, Europe is “consumed”, while Chinese technologies and products are now not only cheaper, but also often competitive, and sometimes even much better. For Beijing, Europe is just a secondary government, perhaps even the third government: it is unlikely that it can act in the Ukrainian secretary and, most likely, will remain in the war with Taiwan, only from the geographical removal.
TAZ: The Russian War of the attack in Ukraine is updated that China has been doing for a long time. How does China see Europe update?
Zhang: So far, only Europe is updated only, that is, there is not a militarily present in Asia, this is little important for China. But Xi does not like to see that Europe weakens Russia.
Taz: We are currently experiencing a cultural struggle between autocratic and democratic systems, that is, simplified by China and Russia against North America and Europe?
Zhang: There have always been cultural battles regardless of political tension. Each culture and civilization have their own strength and weakness. Of course, it is difficult to divide the culture as such and politically formed culture. Sooner or later you will learn the values that are inherent in all people. But this is possible only if there is freedom of press and expression.
TAZ: How successful is the soft power of the whale, cultural influence?
Zhang: Soft power of the Chinese is growing,, Moreover, the United States actually come out of the world from many areas. Chinese soap operas, its various consumer goods or a very impressive modern infrastructure plus the innovative spirit of the young Chinese convey partially encouraging, sometimes a deceptive picture. Until China went bankrupt, it is still attractive. In addition, a decrease in the influence of the West always means an increase in the soft power of China, in other words: the soft power of the rank often grows only from the inactive West. China has now found a niche on social networks. Tiktok and a new platform of Xiaokhonsha, which means the Little Red Book, are completely new phenomena in the fight against soft force.
