‘Pacifism’, and China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’ and ‘Peaceful Development’

Abstract

China’s ‘reform and opening-up’ policies that have started in the late 1970s have increasingly reshaped global economy and politics. In addressing ‘China’s rise’ on the world scene, Chinese academic studies and political statements unvaryingly refer to China’s Confucian past. Confucianism is herein characterized as a philosophy of ‘harmony’. This contribution assesses ‘China’s rise’ from an analysis of the country’s Confucian past. It is outlined how ‘harmony’ is a different concept than what is in the Western world usually understood as ‘peace’. Developing from this analysis, the ramifications a global implementation of ‘universal harmony’ may have for ‘universal peace’ are discussed.