Chinese Expansionism and Aggressions

The State of China

China has a long history of being a feudal state with rivalries among various factions and groups. Although there are many differing accounts of the ancient history of China with differing periods, most of the timelines are approximate at best. In Chinavarious dynasties prevailed from nearly 1700 BC under Shang dynasty. The Zhao dynastyin various forms continued from 1022 BC to 221 BC. The Qin dynastycame the next that was known to be cruel. They burned lot of olden literature, buried numerous scholars of previous dynasty and tried to unite China. Then came the Han dynastysomewhere around 160 BC that continued till year 220 AD when it split again inWei, Shu & Wu kingdoms that fought among each other. Xiongnu raided china in 304 AD. In 386, Torba, a Turkic communitycaptured the entire China. In the year 589 a Sui dynastycame for a brief period before the Chinese society again became feudal. Buddhism & Taoism coexisted in Tang dynastyfrom 618 AD to 907. In 751 AD, Chinese were defeated by the Arabs. The new emperor Wuzong damaged many Buddhist temples and forced the monks of <40 yrs age out of the temples. This phase was followed by Song dynastywhen China was initially fragmented but united again by the tenth century. In this period Confucianism gained popularity. Emperor Jurchen rendered prominence to the Chinese language and social customs and got fully assimilated in the Chinese society and reunited China till 1213 when the Mongols attacked. In 1215 they burnt Beijing and by 1234 they captured entire China. Kublai Khan the grandson of Mongol emperor Chenghez Khan downed the Yuan dynasty. They were brutal to the native Chinese. They could not assimilate themselves and rebellion started. The last Yuan emperor fled to Mongolia in 1368 after which the Ming dynastycame to power. Under this rule, China gained some prosperity. Ming dynasty started disintegrating in 1630s. Next came the Manchurians who ruled the Chinese under Qing dynastyfrom 1636 to 1911. They captured Taiwan in 1683 from the Dutch and made Tibet ‘protectorate’ in 1720. East Turkestan too was annexed by the Qing in 1884. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in China, Tibet expelled allChinese officials and troops, and declared itself independent during 1911-13. The opium war in the 19thcentury when the British waged waron the Chinese ports and occupied Hongkong. British however, did not rule them in exchange for heavy taxes. Several rebellions broke out during this period. Japan too attacked and defeated China in 1894. Taiwan was ceded to Japan. China too came under Japanese rule, paid huge taxes through different provincial rulers. Unrest under the repressive Japanese regime was growing.One such group of the repressed people was formed in 1921 as the Chinese Communist Party which started mobilising more people and training them in guerrilla warfare. In 1931, Japanese conquered Manchurian too. However, the Japanese power and influencestarted declining after their defeat by USA in the 2ndworld war. There was a long internal civil war in China between the Communists under Mao Tse Tung and the Kuomintang. Taiwan was handed over to China in 1945. In 1949 Communist finally gained control of whole of China after a protracted war. In October 1949, Mao Tse Tung declared the Peoples Republic of Chinain Beijing as an independent country. Kuomintang army were driven to Taiwan who decided to secede Taiwan from China.

The Expansionism of the Communist China

After Qing dynasty collapsed in 1011, East Turkestan tried to free itself from the Chinese. Struggle started in Ghulija and Kashgar to create an independent Muslim state. However, the Communist Army first captured ‘Ghulija’ followed by Kashgarparts of East Turkestan from the Muslim rulers in 1949 and then consolidated their gains to annex the entire province to rename it as “Xinjiang” (meaning New Province) and imposed the rule of the Han minority backed by the Communist Army. Local Muslim rebellion (also known Uighurs) against the Chinese continued which made the Communist to crush through putting them in jails termed by the Chinese as “re-education centres” to shun radical Islamic thoughts and to make them accept the communist rule.

After the Chinese got their independence from Japan, they have largely been hostile to its neighbours. Their expansionist behaviour has made them fight many wars with neighbours as shown in table opposite, occupying East Turkestan, Tibet, Manchuria, Yunnan, Macau and part of Mongolia.

Right from the timeCommunist party of China came to the power, it remains a seclusive state, with very little known to the others. Chinese as neighbour, have repeatedly shown their untrustworthiness, time and again. It has graduallygrabbed the territories of almost all neighbouring countries. Having annexed East Turkestan, they next occupied by Tibet. In a brazen attack by the Chinese on 07 Oct 1950, the PLA invaded Tibet. All warnings of UN and other international agencies were disregarded by China. Tibetans were forced to sign a 17-point accord of accession on 23 May 1951 that permitted internal rules of Dalai Lama. However, soon Dalai Lama was cornered, his powers curtailed and repressive measures continued against the Tibetans. Rebellion started against the Chinese atrocities in the Sichuan province of Tibet which was crushed by the Chinese. This finally made Dalai Lama to flee to India with about 1 lakh followers in 1959. Thereafter, Chinese administration raised another Lama andradically tried to curb the traditional Buddhist practices. There is a massive Human Rights abuse going on in the occupied Xinjiang as well as Tibet, of which the entire world is concerned of. It can be imagined that radical Islamic Uprising in Xinjiang has separatism against the Chinese State and violence & Bigotry against non-Muslims as their cadres have links with Al-Qaida, ISIS and all other major radical & terrorist organisations. Uighurs were known to have been with Osama Bin Laden. They are also with some of the Afghanistan & Pakistan based terrorist organisations. However, why is Communist China so intolerant to the peace-loving Buddhism? Why are they suppressing them?

The Communist China has also annexed a sizable portion of the ‘Inner Mongolia’. About2700 sq km of inner Mongolia had been under the Communist China. In 1969 they cut down the area of the autonomous region, transferring territory to the surrounding Chinese provinces and regions in all directions. Just like Xinjiang, Han community havebeen sent to regulate the administration in these areas. This is an unauthorised occupation by the Chinese.

Overall, nearly 50% territories of the present-day China are the forcefully occupied lands of Tibet, East Turkestan and Mongolia. It will not be surprising if there is a mass uprising to free their land of the Chinese, their size will be cut to less than half. It is for this reason that the Chinese are exercising highly repressive measures against them. There are immense Human Rights violations going on. Their religious freedom is at high stake.

China, once the most populous but poor state in the world still remains the most populous but has shun-away its poverty tag to become a nation of second largest GDP in the world.