Deng Xiaoping: China’s Paramount Leader
Deng Xiaoping was one of the most influential people in modern Chinese history. He led China into a new era of economic stability. He was a great leader. However, he will also be remembered as the man who ordered troops to clear Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Strengths:
According to (1991), Deng's strategy of regaining power was through a circuitous route: eschewing a frontal bid for power, he set out to use his supporters to whittle away the ideological foundation of the Hua regime and to create a political atmosphere that enhanced his own prestige (). While constantly criticizing the leaders who had risen to power during the Cultural Revolution, Deng did not press for their immediate removal. In return, he was able to add his own supporters to the Politburo and the Central Committee. Deng also pushed through changes that facilitated the expansion of his power base. From the very beginning of Deng's return to power in 1978, he realized that he had to have a corps of solid supporters to ensure the survival of the new regime first and then to mount a program of economic construction. However, the basis must be a unified party under a unified leadership. Initially, however, he probably thought that this unity could be achieved by two measures. One measure was to bar those with known deviant tendencies from entering into the leadership. While leaders who had previously made mistakes were allowed to repent and redeem themselves, certain types of people were disqualified to serve as leaders. They included party members who had engaged in destructive activities, had strong factional propensities, or had mistreated other comrades and betrayed the party's interest. A second measure was to ensure that the people to be incorporated into the leadership were politically reliable and ideologically correct. This need was met by the rehabilitation of old cadres. It did not take long, however, for Deng and his associates to realize that these measures were not enough.
Even though known deviants were blocked from entering the leadership, many more deviants had already occupied leadership positions on all levels. Unless they were removed, party unity would be an illusive goal. On the other hand, although the rehabilitated old cadres met the requirement of political reliability, their competence was highly doubtful. Eventually, the party concluded that the best way to ensure the continuity of their reform programs was to reconstitute thoroughly the leadership on all levels. Only when the party's organization was placed under the firm control of a new generation of revolutionary successors could its reform programs have a fair chance of success (Hsi-Sheng 1991, p.43). Deng Xiaoping insists that his reforms have achieved much more success, and therefore enjoy much more popular support, than did Mao's programs. These factors, he believes, greatly increase the prospects that the reforms will survive him. But Deng has not been content to leave matters to chance. Like Mao, he has also undertaken an active program of political and organizational restructuring designed to institutionalize the reforms he has sponsored. Deng has attempted to restaff and restructure the Chinese political system to maintain, perpetuate, and institutionalize the reforms. This aspect of Deng's broader reform program has had three principal components, each one designed to address one of the organizational problems just outlined. They include reforming the Party and state bureaucracies and the policymaking process to provide a solid base of political and technical support for Deng's reforms; redefining the roles and interrelationships of the Party, the army, and the government; and designing and implementing arrangements for the political succession to Deng Xiaoping ( 1987).
Under Deng’s Leadership, China’s relations with the West improved markedly. From the mid-1970s into the 1990s, Deng Xiaoping did more than any other PRC leader to promote relations between China and the rest of the world, particularly through the ‘open-door policy’. He visited the USA, Japan, France, East and South-east Asia, and demonstrated in a number of ways—cultural and personal, as well as political and economic—openness towards the world outside China. Particularly during the early 1980s, he made skilful use of the international media in furthering China’s ends. (Goodman 1994, p.121). Deng traveled abroad and had a series of amicable meetings with western leaders. He was the first Chinese leader to visit the United States in 1979 to meet with President Carter at the White House shortly after the US broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China and established them with PRC (People’s Republic of China). There were also significant improvements in Sino-Japanese relations under his leadership. Another achievement of Deng was the agreement signed by Britain and China on December 19, 1984 (Sino-British Joint Declaration) under which Hong Kong was to be handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
Weaknesses:
According to (1994), China's evolution in the Deng era shared some similarities with that of the Mao era. Just as Mao twice blocked democracy only to sink into despotism during the Korean War in 1950 and again in 1956 during the Hungarian affair, Deng halted the democratic progression embarked upon after the 1978 Third Plenum. In 1979, at the time of the Sino-Vietnamese War, and in 1980, at the time of the Polish crisis, Deng stopped the engine of progress toward democracy that he had thrown into gear. He thus set a course toward a new despotic empire. In the beginning, however, Deng had consolidated his power by relying on the forces of reform at the heart of the Party and on the democracy movement at the heart of Chinese society (). At one time, Deng Xiaoping captured the forces of reform in China and seemed ready to march forward. But he was a pragmatic politician without profound insight. He lacked a fixed target and too frequently altered his judgment and changed his decisions in reaction to the immediate situation, making one concession after another. He made the wrong decision with sudden changes in direction away from reform, and thus squandered the best opportunity for meaningful reform in China. Deng is a pragmatist at heart, and his views and concerns change in accord with immediate political needs. He was bombarded with criticisms both from Democracy Wall and from within the Party.
Deng was also notorious for his implementation of force and violence to solve internal issues. Whenever China was confronted with difficulties that could not be solved solely by administrative means, Mao Zedong relied on mass campaigns. Deng, however, always turned to military solutions and violence. This taste for patriarchal autocracy and military violence was Deng Xiaoping's Achilles' heel. Eventually it betrayed his rational deliberations. It caused his conflict with Hu Yaobang, for Hu Yaobang recognized that problems of public order and social problems were normal phenomena that should not raise any concern in a big country and that a method of comprehensive treatment should be adopted along with solving problems through normal legal procedures. Deng Xiaoping, however, advocated all kinds of extreme notions, such as "everyone that comes should be seized; counterattack should be heavy, severe, and rapid; kill a few and seize a few; send them to the remote regions of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and revoke their residence permits in Beijing.
Mistakes
Deng Xiaoping pushed reform for nearly two decades, exposing an entire generation to the sweet taste of economic betterment. One of Deng’s mistakes is the lack of toleration for criticism of the government, as illustrated by the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Many of Deng’s critics believed that it was Deng who issued the order for the People’s Liberation Army troops to open fire on the democracy protesters in Tiannmen Square. Soldiers and tanks from the 27th and 28th Armies of the People’s Liberation army were sent to take control of the city. These forces were confronted by Chinese students in the streets of Beijing and the ensuing violence resulted in both civilian and army deaths. The government refused to acknowledge that any deaths had occurred because of the violence. The violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest caused widespread international condemnation of the People’s Republic of China. Deng was accused of suppressing any signs of political freedom that would undermine the direction of his economic reforms. The political ambiguity of Deng's personality has proven to be an insoluble contradiction between his rational deliberative style and his passion for violent military action and for patriarchal dictatorship, a passion deeply anchored within himself that he cannot get rid of. His taste for patriarchy, tied to his "patron of the steelworks" complex, as Mao put it, have led him to act in ways contrary to his rational deliberations. He did not want the highest leadership position, but he would not allow anyone else to assume the role of patriarch into which he fitted so well.
Deng has also left a China with a high economic growth rate but with underlying economic problems, widespread unemployment and little change in China’s tradition of authoritarian government.
Lessons from Abraham Lincoln:
1. Consistency
2. Leadership of firmness and moral rigidity
3. Passion for peace and forgiveness
4. Flexibility and generosity
Abraham Lincoln is considered as one of the greatest leaders of all time. He led his country at the time of its greatest crises. It was a true leadership of firmness and moral rigidity, balanced by a passion for peace and forgiveness. In his planning for peace, the president was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. Lincoln’s achievements include saving the Union, unifying the United States and freeing the slaves. Lincoln’s leadership qualities were evident in his close supervision of the victorious war effort. He brilliantly handled the factions of the Republican party by bringing the leaders into his cabinet and forcing them to cooperate. He took a moderate view of reconstruction, seeking to speedily re-unite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. His assassination made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity. Lincoln is noted for his lasting influence on US politics. He sought to redefine republican values. He also promoted nationalism and enlarge the powers of the federal government.
Leadership Theories:
Deng Xiaoping’s Theory emphasized economic construction and stability. He was able to led China to a phenomenal economic growth. Four principles compose Deng’s ledearship theory. These principles are Marxism and Leninism, Party Loyalty, Subjection to leadership and Thoughts of Mao Zedong. Deng Xiaoping Theory has been regarded as continuity and new stage and new outlook of Marxist philosophy in contemporary China. It is the guiding ideology in building Socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng Xiaoping’s Theory contributed in the liberation of the spirit in contemporary China. The core principle of the Theory are “emancipating the mind” and seeking truth from facts”. Seeking truth from facts is the quintessence of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought.
Marxism-Leninism
There were elements in Marxism-Leninism that appealed to Chinese leaders. The Marxist idea of alienation had relevance for social conditions in China. Alienation, in the Marxist sense, describes the fragmentation of man's work in the industrial process, his loss of identification with its products, and his resultant inability to realize his full human potential. Marxism-Leninism promised unique solutions to a number of economic and social problems. If other revolutionary programs sought to oust the existing government, the Chinese Communists also wanted to overthrow the social class (the traditional elite) that dominated society.
Mao Zedong Thought
Mao Zedong Thought is the ideology of class struggle. Mao Zedong
Thought is the pinnacle of Marxism-Leninism in the present era. It is
the ultimate and most living Marxism-Leninism, the compass guiding
the Chinese people's revolution and socialist construction, a powerful
ideological weapon in opposing imperialism and modern revisionism,
and a powerful ideological weapon in the revolutionary struggle of all the people of the world ( 1996).
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