Justice and the Rise of China: A Philosophical Approach

Abstract

The rise of China as an economic superpower has in recent years aroused concerns from Western countries. This research addresses two issues that pertain to China's potential rise. Firstly, if China is to become a global superpower, what normative principles should be adopted by her in interacting with other countries in the world? Secondly, are the socio-political processes underlying Chinas growth consistent with those normative principles? We argue that answers to these questions require the building up of a model of global justice by which to understand and evaluate Chinas peculiar economic development. In the first part of this study, we consider a few models of global justice (namely, Rawlsianism, cosmopolitanism, utilitarianism, and communitarianism) and judge that they fail to provide criteria by which to evaluate Chinas economic expansion around the world. We then propose a Human Nature Theories model by which to derive reasonable expectations of China from other countries perspectives. In the second part, we quote some empirical evidences which indicate that China so far has not met these expectations, mainly because of the problem of anti-political machine in the governance of its megacities. We conclude by saying that Chinas rise as a superpower requires the endorsement of a moral orientation other than the liberal-utilitarian one which it currently takes.



Author Information
Ching-Wa Wong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Paper Information
Conference: ACERP2017
Stream: Ethics - Ethics and Globalization

This paper is part of the ACERP2017 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon