How Christianity and Confucianism can explain US-China rivalry…
Peter T. C. Chang says China’s Confucian heritage means it can tolerate multiple belief systems ‘under heaven’, but the US’ insistence on liberal democracy has echoes of Christian exclusivism
The ongoing trade war is just one front of an expanding all-out US-China tussle for world dominance. And unlike earlier great-power rivalries, this has the trappings of a civilisational showdown, as the pre-eminent Christian West faces off against a resurgent Confucian East, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the existing global order. Anxieties abound over whether these two giants share enough core values to manage a peaceful balancing of power, and can avert the dreaded Thucydides Trap. These fears are not unfounded. While similar in some ways, Christianity and Confucianism are distinct traditions, with theological assumptions that, if unchallenged, could set the US and China on a collision course.
Christianity, like Judaism, believes in the existence of only one true God. But, unlike the latter, the former transcended Judaic ethnocentrism to embrace Christian universalism. The Abrahamic god in Christianity is no longer just for the Jews, but for all peoples. Still, Christianity remains monotheistic, exacting absolute allegiance to the one God. For Christians, to be saved one must embrace the biblical faith. Put differently, humanity’s fate lies with Christianity, the sole gateway to heaven. Imprints of these Christian motifs are unmistakable in Pax Americana. Stepping out of isolation, the US played a central role in stabilising the post-second-world-war order. Hailed as the American century, the 20th century has had its lows, surely. But it was also marked with historic accomplishments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one. This and other US-led initiatives set the framework of a new international order, whereupon people everywhere could aspire to a dignified existence free of tyranny. As US president John F. Kennedy eloquently acclaimed, “…not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace for our time but peace in all time”. And Americans embraced this mission as a “manifest destiny” to guide humankind like a “shining city upon a hill”. Reminiscent of Christian exclusivism, the Americans believed in a singular path to realising this free world: the liberal democratic process, exalted as the historic culmination of human political progress.
In Confucianism, the ancient Chinese sages also envisioned a “tianxia”, where all peoples could coexist harmoniously under heaven. But, unlike Christian monotheism, the Chinese are polytheistic, pledging allegiance to Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism all at once. These multiple allegiances underscore the Chinese pluralistic approach to achieving the Dao in this and the afterlife. Certainly, not every tradition is equal. Confucians do assert dominance. But there is no equivalent Christian doctrine of “God’s elect”. Moral pre-eminence is not predestined but merit-based. If proven worthy, anyone can take the lead under heaven. In the nascent Pax Sinica, one can discern the Confucian impressions. Following the epochal Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping, at the 13th National People’s Congress, introduced another grandiose vision: a “community of common destiny”. Emulating the Confucian “tianxia” concept, Xi vowed to “let the sunshine of a community with a shared future for humanity illuminate the world”. The aim is to herald a global “new era” of stability and prosperity.
