{"id":191277,"date":"2018-06-13T04:34:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=191277"},"modified":"2018-06-18T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T06:20:11","slug":"is-the-colombo-lotus-tower-a-trojan-horse-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/is-the-colombo-lotus-tower-a-trojan-horse-from-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Is The Colombo Lotus Tower A Trojan Horse From China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Mendis<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof. Patrick Mendis<\/p><\/div>\n

China will soon inaugurate the 350-metre-high Lotus Tower<\/a> in Sri Lanka, the tallest and most sophisticated telecommunication-skyscraper in South Asia. The tower, emanating from the Lotus Sutra<\/a> in Buddhism, is a narrative for Beijing to formulate a sustainable and peaceful \u201csoft power<\/a>\u201d strategy that would appeal globally. Because religion has a mutually beneficial \u201ccausal impact<\/a>\u201d on the lives of people and state, especially in civilizational polities like China and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

For China, will the emerging culture of religiosity be then more successful in governance and diplomacy?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting his \u201cNew Era<\/a>,\u201d the perennial<\/a> President Xi Jinping has embraced religious faith as part of his \u201cChina Dream<\/a>\u201d and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The nominally atheist Communist Party of China (CPC) has now recognized that religion in Chinese history had served as a powerful tool in domestic governance and international diplomacy. For President Xi\u2019s \u201crejuvenation\u201d of Chinese nation and national culture after the Century of Humiliation, the New York Times<\/i> documents<\/a> that this mix of faith and politics constitutes a \u201creimagining of the political-religious state that once ruled China.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Freedom of Religious Pursuits<\/b><\/p>\n

When the president\u2019s father Xi Zhongxun was the head of the CPC\u2019s religious work in 1980, the famous Document 19 warned<\/a> the party members from banning religious pursuits because it would isolate the Chinese people. Ever since, China has been restoring the places of religious worship\u2014temples, mosques, and churches\u2014once destroyed by Chairman Mao Zedong\u2019s Cultural Revolution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After years of material development through the liberalized trade policies and the opening-up policies of Deng Xiaoping, President Xi said<\/a>, \u201cif the people have faith, the nation has hope, and the country has strength\u201d to realize a \u201cvirtuous and harmonious society\u201d at home and to create a global \u201ccommunity of shared destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Chinese strategists are convinced<\/a> that the ancient Chinese philosophy rooted in the belief of tianxia (\u201call under Heaven\u201d as brothers and sisters) had been long-lasting in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC). Therefore, it could still be instrumental in governance and diplomacy, where China is the \u201cnew\u201d Middle Kingdom with a Mandate of Heaven bestowed upon the emperor, the Son of Heaven.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Referring to the Chinese rejuvenation by highlighting their teachings on obedience and order, President Xi often quotes Confucius, Mencius, and other ancient sages and promotes<\/a> \u201cthe idea that the party is the custodian of a 5,000-year-old civilization.\u201d For others, China envisions<\/a> a more harmonious world with Beijing\u2019s definition of a \u201ccommunity of common destiny\u201d through Confucianism.<\/p>\n

The Hole in the China Model<\/b><\/p>\n

In all this, China has been trying to project its \u201csoft power<\/a>\u201d through the promotion of Confucius Institutes as a cultural \u201cexport.\u201d Beijing has, for example, set up over 500 institutes in more than 140 countries while almost half-million students from over 200 countries are studying in Chinese universities. Although the study of Chinese culture and language has become more popular for financial reasons, the China model is weak. It lacks a universally accepted value system compared to the ideology of freedom and democracy in the West that is widely shared by the world\u2014and even the Chinese people, particularly the 60-million strong Chinese diaspora.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pervasive efforts to popularize the China model has recently been criticized<\/a> in the United States. Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, accuses<\/a> Beijing for \u201cexporting authoritarianism with Chinese characteristics.\u201d The Canadian Security Intelligence Service expressed concerns that \u201csome politicians<\/a>\u201d are under the influence of China, especially concerning the Canadian policies toward Beijing. The Chinese-Canadians also feel the fear of China\u2019s rising power<\/a> as they exercise their \u201cCanadian values\u201d of freedom, democracy, and human rights.<\/p>\n

In a multi-country report<\/a> of the US National Endowment for Democracy, the authors contrasted the soft power of China\u2019s charm offensive of \u201cinformation warfare\u201d with that of \u201csharp power<\/a>,\u201d which \u201cpierces, penetrates, or perforates the political and information environments in the targeted countries.\u201d Speaking before the US Senate Intelligence Committee alongside with the chiefs of other American intelligence agencies, FBI Director Christopher Wray said<\/a> that \u201cthe whole of Chinese society is a threat to the US\u201d and China undermines America\u2019s \u201cmilitary, economic, cultural, and informational power across the globe.\u201d Other democratic countries like Australia and New Zealand have also documented<\/a> the infiltration of China\u2019s authoritarian influence on their political, economic, and educational systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The negative global public opinion has increased as Confucianism and authoritarian governance have reinforced each other beyond the Chinese borders. Beijing needs an alternative soft power of attraction for China\u2019s history and culture. Buddhism would most likely serve as a \u201csoul power\u201d of China as Beijing has tried to expand it through China\u2019s BRI and its new globalized Buddhist network<\/a>. This is because that Buddhism has had a historical appeal as a spiritual \u201cimport\u201d to China and then successfully \u201cexport\u201d to East Asia and the world. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spiritual Footprints of Soul Power<\/b><\/p>\n

As a re-emerging global power after the Century of Humiliation, China has indeed recognized that the civilizational-state evolved with the influence of Confucian ethics and its hierarchical philosophy\u2014and the integrated Marxist ideas\u2014needs to be recalibrated. Essentially, China needs a new brand of universal appeal to win over the hearts and minds of global citizenry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the inauguration of the Colombo Lotus Tower, which reflects the over two-millennia-old Buddhist intercourse<\/a> between Sri Lanka and China, Beijing could launch the concept of \u201csoul power\u201d embedded in Buddhism as a philosophy of equality and universality. Encapsulated in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhist doctrine is a spiritual commodity that China could easily export overseas while promoting spiritual development locally to enrich the lives of its own people of faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, Buddhism had always been an invisible attraction as Imperial China effectively integrated the Buddha\u2019s Dharmic teachings as its own with those of indigenous Daoist traditions and Confucian ethics. The universal teachings and ideas of equality (especially among men and women) rooted in the Lotus Sutra must continue to serve as the forerunner of China\u2019s peaceful identity and national unity that exemplifies a better world order.<\/p>\n

Harvard Sinologist John Fairbank writes<\/a> that \u201cConfucianism was largely left in eclipse and the Buddhist teachings as well as Buddhist art had a profound effect upon Chinese culture, both north and south,\u201d despite the dominant societal values of Confucian hierarchy of Imperial China. Professor Fairbank further states<\/a> <\/b>that the teachings <\/b>of Buddhist Dharma \u201coffered an explanation and solace, intellectually sophisticated and aesthetically satisfying, for the collapse of their old society. Emperors and commoners alike sought religious salvation in an age of social disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Sui (581\u2013618) and Tang (618\u2013907) Dynasties, for example, Buddhism served as a potent force for unifying the Middle Kingdom and expanded diplomatic and trade relations with foreign nations on the ancient Silk Road networks. Even foreign invaders\u2014like the Mongol and the Manchu\u2014used Buddhism to earn respect from the Chinese people as well as to solidify their state-power during the Yuan (1279-1368) and Qing (1644-1912) Dynasties.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Under President Xi, China has once again returned to a somewhat familiar pattern of social and political upheaval. The president, who replaced Deng Xiaoping\u2019s earlier motto of China\u2019s \u201cPeaceful Rise,\u201d must resort to China\u2019s invocation of its \u201cpeaceful identity<\/a>\u201d in the midst of intensified regional tensions in the South and East China Seas, the Korean peninsula\u2019s denuclearization efforts, the controversial opening of China\u2019s first military base in Djibouti in Africa, the boiling Indian-China border issue with Bhutan<\/a>, and elsewhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Answer from the Lotus Sutra?<\/b><\/p>\n

The forces of opposition are also appearing from every other corner of the world. The foremost is the new National Security Strategy<\/a>, in which the Trump White House identified China as a \u201crevisionist\u201d power and a \u201cstrategic competitor.\u201d Furthermore, Washington has now taken the lead in the new \u201cQuad\u201d coalition of Australia, Japan, and India against Beijing\u2019s imperial overreach.<\/a> Even the democratic Sri Lanka<\/a> has raised the question of China\u2019s intentions as if the Lotus Tower were a new form of Trojan Horse.<\/p>\n

Yet China moves ahead with its BRI plan as the Colombo Lotus Tower was originally designed to signify the symbol of Buddhist peace. Thus, Beijing needs to promote its \u201csoul power\u201d deep-rooted in Chinese Buddhism and culture where the notion of their Buddhist \u201cpure land\u201d is a sacred nation of religiosity with a blend of Confucian and Daoist origins. Such an integrated narrative that equates the government with Chinese national heritage would serve Beijing better and in more sustainable ways to transform the BRI and the worldview that goes with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, President Xi described the island\u2014the Buddhist \u201cKingdom of the Lion\u201d as the visiting Chinese scholar-monk Faxian<\/a> (337-422) called Sri Lanka\u2014as a \u201csplendid pearl<\/a>\u201d during his historic visit to Sri Lanka in 2014. While signing over 20 cooperative agreements, the two countries further recognized the importance of significant Buddhist affinity over the two millennia. The Lotus Tower, which invokes the \u201cuniversal virtues\u201d of harmony, may revive the coveted noble concepts of equality and freedom inherent in the sutras of China\u2019s Mahayana Buddhism if Beijing truly wants to pursuit a new model of peaceful identity for a pacific new world order.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*Professor Patrick Mendis<\/a>, a Harvard Kennedy School\u2019s former Rajawali Senior Fellow, is an Associate-in-Research of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University and a Commissioner to the United States National Commission for UNESCO at the State Department. Professor Mendis is the author of, Peaceful War: How the Chinese Dream and American Destiny Create a Pacific New World Order<\/a>. A former American diplomat and a military professor in the Indo-Pacific Command, he is a Senior Fellow of the Pangoal Institution in Beijing and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Asian-Pacific Affairs at Shandong University in Jinan, China. The views are those of the author and do not represent the institutions he has affiliated with in the past or present.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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