China's past maritime glory<\/p>\n
It is good to know that Mr. Santo does not believe the Chinese
\nare evil, but he believes that China is seeing increased
\nopportunities to reclaim its past maritime glory and, like any
\nother nation, China strives for power.<\/p>\n
As one in three pirate attacks last year took place in and
\naround Indonesian seas, could we conclude that China and
\nIndonesia have ganged up together to extend Chinese and Indonesia
\nmaritime jurisdiction through establishment of a reign of terror
\nby pirate attacks?<\/p>\n
China's past maritime glory was a peaceful one. At the acme of
\nits maritime glory, emperor Yong Le of the Ming dynasty (1368
\nA.D. to 1644 A.D.) sent the Muslim-Confucian scholar Zheng-He as
\nthe admiral to lead the seven epic voyages, with 62 vessels
\ncarrying 28,000 men, from 1405 to 1433, to Indonesia, India,
\nArabia and Africa, including a side trip to Mecca. China could
\nhave easily seized not only the South China Sea but the whole of
\nthe Philippines and Southeast Asia but it did not, nor was it
\ninvolved in any pirate attacks.<\/p>\n
The appointment of a Muslim as admiral was also significant
\nbecause it was meant not to be an offensive but a trip to
\nbefriend many Muslim states along the way. A century later,
\nSoutheast Asia was divided among Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal
\nand Britain, later to include France but not China. It is
\napparent that even when China was strong and had military power
\nand resources, it did not seize territory for colonization. Boats
\nwith rudders dating back to the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to 220
\nA.D.) have been excavated and the compass was also a Chinese
\ninvention, but all these did not lead China or the Chinese to be
\nseafaring pirates and a colonizing maritime power in history.<\/p>\n
There was no war between the two world's great civilizations,
\nIndia and China, as neighbors for more than four millenniums, but
\nthe war since 1962 over what is known as the McMahon Line is a
\nlegacy of colonialism. For more than 350 years during the South-
\nNorth disunion period (220 A.D. to 589 AD), Tibetans and other
\nmajor nomadic people were on the rampage and looting in Western
\nand Northern China. Tibet was brought under Chinese sovereignty
\nduring the Tang dynasty (618 A.D. to 907 A.D.).<\/p>\n
In his last book China, a new history, which he submitted to
\nhis publisher on Sept. 12, 1991, before suffering a heart attack
\nin the afternoon and dying two days later, J. King Fairbank
\nwrote: "In size and military resources the Song more than equaled
\nthe Jin (and later the Mongols) but the Song civilian officialdom
\nhad little taste for violence ... They could foresee that
\nresorting to violence would breed more violence ... Behind this
\nlay the Confucian disdain for the military ... regarded the
\npractitioners of wu (violence) as their mortal enemies ...<\/p>\n
"Why have Chinese scholars for 2000 years gone along with this
\nConfucian refusal to accept the military establishment as an
\noccupational class ... our refusal to look at them as a military
\nclass suggests that Chinese scholars are still under the sway of
\nthe great Confucian myth of the state, government by virtue.
\nLooked at from another angle, we see here one of the glories of
\nold China, a reasoned pacifism."<\/p>\n
But I would say it is cultural pacifism.<\/p>\n
But, Mr. Santo, I cannot change your beliefs, if you believe
\notherwise.<\/p>\n
SIA KA MOU<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chinas-past-maritime-glory-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }