Hu’s “harmonious world”

Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin had promoted the theory of “Three Represents”, which called on the Chinese Communist Party to go beyond its commitment to the working class and represent the advanced forces of production, advanced political culture and the interests of the majority of Chinese people. If Jiang’s “Three Represents” emphasised economic modernisation and ideological accommodation, Hu’s “harmonious society” focuses on coping with the social and political consequences of rapid change and addressing the needs of those left behind by reforms.

Although much international analysis has been devoted to Hu’s thesis on a “harmonious society” which seeks to deal with the many political tensions China faces from uneven economic growth and growing social inequality, there has been less interest in Hu’s idea of a “harmonious world”.

In his only public speech in New Delhi, Hu is expected to give a definitive articulation of his quest for a “harmonious world”. With the address to the joint session of the Parliament not materialising, Wednesday’s speech will be at the Vigyan Bhawan in the capital.

Indian response

Since the dominant tradition of Indian foreign policy loved debating how the world “ought” to be governed rather than how it actually “is”, New Delhi will have little to quibble with Hu’s “harmonious world”. The ideas that permeate Hu’s world view -democratisation of international relations and non-intervention in the internal affairs of nations - have also been part of Indian foreign policy articulation.

There is a big difference though. For Indians, principles are an end in themselves. For the Chinese, theories are meant to achieve practical outcomes. Hu’s political purpose in coining the slogan of a “harmonious world” is to counter the perception that a rising China is a threat to the world. In that sense the theory on building a “harmonious world” is an adjunct to Beijing’s proposition that China’s rise, in contrast to the emergence of new great powers in the past, will not be destabilsing but peaceful. China today is conscious of its power potential and its emerging capabilities to alter the regional and international system. It is responding to the incipient resistance to its rise and finding ways to pre-empt it. India is a long way from strategising about its own future in the global order and finding an ideological wrapper for it.

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