Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2019 | Page 29

A New World Order
Diocesan Boys' School, Yeung, Thaddeus - 15
Since the year 1978 when the Central Chinese Government introduced the Reform and Opening-up
Policy, China’s economy and domestic development have improved tenfold. As members of the Hong
Kong society, this is highly relevant to our lives as China’s growth will lead to direct consequence to Hong
Kong, which is a city of China under the doctrine of “one country, two systems”, and to the international
world order itself.
Historically, this is not the first time that China finds herself wielding great international influence as a
world power. In the Ming Dynasty, China was leading among the global powers in terms of living standards
and economic development, and her foreign political influence extended far into the west with the help of
the Seven Treasure Voyages, much alike China’s foreign policies today such as the Belt and Road Initiative.
By looking at Ming China and her international achievements and conduct, we can develop a good idea of
what modern day China might aspire to achieve, as philosopher and father of Communism Karl Marx once
observed in his study of class-based struggles, “history repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce”.
Through comparing the Treasure Voyages of Ming China and modern-day China’s foreign policies, we can
see that this is indeed the case.
Firstly, let us take a look at the Ming Dynasty and how, through Admiral Zheng He’s treasure fleet,
Chinese influence was spread vast and far, from neighboring Vietnam and India to Arabia of the Middle East
to the very continent of Africa.
The Ming Dynasty, under the rule of the ethnically Han royal house, is regarded as one of the most
powerful and influential dynasties of Imperial China, with its naval might surpassing even the European
powers of the time. While both the Europeans and the Chinese aimed at spreading their influence to other
regions of the globe, the methods with which they chose to do so were vastly different: while European
powers such as the Dutch, the French and the British chose to spread their influence through their gunboats
and through colonizing any helpless civilization it came across, Ming China, rather than exercise its military
might, tried to earn the loyalty of lesser civilizations through gifts.
As the 1st wave of European colonization took place in the 15th century, the Yongle Emperor took on an
opposite approach to that of the European powers. Admiral Zheng He was appointed by the Emperor to
commandeer a “Treasure Fleet”. Over the course of 7 voyages, the Ming Treasure Fleet distributed Chinese
wealth in the form of silk, spices and rare minerals to foreign countries, in return for their rulers and kings to
arrive at the Ming capital and declare themselves tributaries of Ming China. Over the 7 voyages, Ming
China successfully established absolute control over maritime trade in the South China Sea, reaching great
political and economic success for both Ming China and for countries that were reached by the Treasure
Fleet as all parties benefited from the improved maritime trade (Wang, 1998). These smaller and less
developed countries also benefited greatly from Ming China’s involvement with their local development,
such as Malacca, Cochin and Malindi which obtained more infrastructure in the form of ports with the help
of China (Sen, 2016).
However, the spread of Chinese influence was not entirely beneficial to smaller countries. While the
Treasure Fleet gave the countries it reached much incentive to follow Ming China’s international order,
China also used militaristic means to force smaller states into compliance. Through the heavily armed
Treasure Fleet, Ming China threatened hostile governments into submission, purged political rivals in the
region and intervened in local politics, undermining the sovereignty of many smaller countries. Mills (1970)
expressed the view that Ming China’s Treasure Fleet was “an instrument of aggression and political
dominance”, and he may not be so wrong.
Now, let us compare Ming China’s foreign policies with that of modern-day China.
The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 during his visits to Kazakhstan
and to Indonesia. Kuik (2016) summarizes the Belt and Road Initiative as aimed at “constructing a unified
large market”, “enhancing mutual understanding and trust between member nations” to reach an
“innovative pattern with capital inflows, talent pool and technology database”. We can see that this is highly
similar to Ming China’s Treasure Fleet, which was aimed at enhancing maritime trade and cultural &
technological exchange.