Why do some countries see China’s rise as a threat?

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Editor’s note:

China has developed rapidly over the past four decades, emerging as the world’s second largest economy and a global leader in areas including technology, innovation and climate change. At the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, long-term goals were set to solidify and advance the country’s development this century.

"Martin Jacques on China" examines why some countries feel threatened by China’s rise. Is it because of China’s sheer size, a result of prejudices, or simple ignorance?

I think that the two objectives adopted at the 19th CPC National Congress that by 2035 basically the process of modernization will be completed and by 2049 China will be an advanced socialist economy with all round power and so on. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think in these terms. I think it’s perfectly plausible.

I think it’s good idea actually.

It gives China, let’s face it, it’s been part of the Chinese history anyway, a long-term sense of future, a strategic conception of its own future.

Photo taken on Aug. 24, 2017 shows the scenery of Xiamen, a scenic city in southeast China's Fujian Province. /Xinhua Photo‍

In some degree, many countries feel threatened by the rise of China. I think there are three main reasons for this.

First of all, something that China could obviously do nothing about, but the first is size. China’s so disproportionate in size, demographically, to all the other countries in the world actually, except India, that smaller countries, say most European countries are tiny compared with China. Then inevitably, they feel a sense of weakness and a sense of fear.

Secondly, I’m afraid, that the prejudices of the Cold War still live on, certainly in the West. Those attitudes have not died. They declined somewhat, but they could be revived.

And the third reason that people feel threatened by China is because actually they are very ignorant about China. They don’t know really anything about China.

I mean they know a lot about America because America has been sort of a big player for the last two hundred years. They know a lot about Europe because Europe has been a big player for two hundred and more years.

But China? China was hidden from the global gaze until 1949 at the earliest, 1978 possibly, but for most people, I think, extremely recent. So the problem China faces with its rise is a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of ignorance.

China has, I think, by and large, been extremely patient, in trying to explain what it is, what its aspirations are, what it comes from, the nature of Chinese culture, the differences between China and, for example, the Soviet Union is always implicit in the way China explains itself. I think this is a non-stop process.

I don’t think if China gets stronger, the problem will go away. Maybe the equations will change somewhat, but I don’t think the problem is going to go away.

(British journalist and academic Martin Jacques, the author of global bestseller When China Rules The World, is one of the leading Western commentators on Chinese affairs. He is a senior fellow at Cambridge University and an invited senior fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. "Martin Jacques on China" is an eight-part video series discussing issues affecting China’s future.)