Book Review: Far East: The Frontiers of China
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Author | Purushottam Prabhakar |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200153 |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
144
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
What
the
author
does
not
attempt,
although
perhaps
it
should
have
been included
in
the
book,
is
an
examination
of
the
effect of
important
adininstrative
reforms
enacted
shortly
before
the
elections.
(1963
was
the
first
year
for
elections
to
the
new
dual
System
of
Soviets
after
the
1962
administrative
reorganization.)
It
is
also
unfortunate
that
the
"Quantitative
Data
on
the
1963
Elections"
provided
in
Appendix
E,
are
not
analyzed
in
the
text.
A
hope
may
be
expressed
that
other
scholars,
or
Mr.
Mote
himself,
will
produce
somewhat
more
analytical
studies
in
the
future.
McM•
ater
University
PETER
J.
POTICHNYJ
Far
East
THE
FRONTIERS
OF
CIINA. By
Francis
Watson.
1966.
(London:
Chatto
&
Windus.
Toronto:
Clarke,
Irwin.
224pp.
$6.50)
In
the
communist
"World-vieW'
the
traditional
national
boundaries
are
not
inviolable.
In
the
case
of
China,
a
parallel
"World-view"
supple-
ments
this
view.
It
is
a
legacy
of
her
past
tribute
system.
Chinese
civilization
extends
the
boundaries
of
the
Chinese
nation.
This provides
a
psychological
background
for
blending
the
two
"World-views"
in
China's
diplomacy. This
is
manifest
in
her
persistent
claim
of ideological
supremacy
transcending
national
distinctions.
By
providing these
wider
perspectives
for
his
study
of
China's
frontiers,
the author
has
made
a
useful
contribution
to the
studies
on
the
subject.
China
seeks
to
base
her
case
on
(i)
national
grievances
and
(ii)
the
ideological
goal
of
fighting
imperialism
and
colonialism.
It
suits
China
to
pursue
these mutually supplementary
aims
simultaneously,
and
to
strive
to
create
"protective
outercrusts"
out of
her
erstwhile
vassal
states.
"We
are
thus
confronted
with
the
persistence into
modem
times and under
a
Communist
system
of
government
of
an
archaic
theory
of
Vassalage.
(p.
27).
Analysis
by
the
author
of
the
role
of
border
disputes
in
Chinese
diplomacy
yields
some
interesting
results.
China
retains
to
herself
the
position
of
a prime
mover
of
events.
The
considerations
of
"When
the
time
s8
rspe"
loom
large
in
China's
approach towards
the
re-opening
of
old
treaties.
Accordingly
the
obtaining
relative
power-position
is
to
be
the
major
determining
factor.
The
author has
not
provided
proper
emphasis
upon
these
related
issues. He
has,
however,
analytically
cate-
gorized
China's different
diplomatic
postures
as
(i)
marking
time
as
to
the
liberation
of
colonies
under
Western rule;
(ii)
mounting
diplo-
matic,
ideological
and
military
pressures
on
the
Soviet
Union
and
India;
and
(iii)
conceding "concessions"
in
border
settlements
with other
countries in
return
for
expectations
of
"good
behaviour"
as
conducive
to
her
role
in
the
world.
These
trends
are
summed
up
in
Chapter
X.
There
are certain
observations
with
which
one
may
not
agree,
e.g.
the
reasons
for
repudiation
by
China
of
the
McMahon
line
(p.
20).
With
China possessing
short-range
rockets
with
nuclear
war-heads,
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