Review: China: Opposition and Dissent in Contemporary China

DOI10.1177/002070207903400414
Date01 December 1979
Published date01 December 1979
Subject MatterReview
REVIEWS
727
Writing
in
the fall
of
1976
Hinton
correctly
forecasts
how
the
Chinese
leadership
crisis
would
unfold
in
the
year
1977.
His
judgments
on
both
Chinese
internal
and
external
policy
matters
appear
to
be
gen-
erally
sound.
I
am
persuaded
that
his
views
on the
Sino-Soviet conflict
are
similarly
plausible, though
only
history
will
show
if
his
projections
of
future
developments
are
equally
correct.
As
to
what the
United
States
can
do
to
advance
the
outcomes
it
pre-
fers,
Hinton
opts
for
a
continuation
of
the
current
policy
of
not
directly
interfering
in
Sino-Soviet
affairs,
while
promoting
United
States
inter-
ests
as
it
sees
them
by
such
actions
as
keeping
Taiwan
out
of
Beijing's
hands.
Hinton
also
believes
that
the
United
States
should warn
the
Soviet
Union
that
an
attack
on
China
would
lead
to
a
basic
reappraisal
of
current
Soviet-American
d~tente.
A
reaffirmation
of
the
American
commitment
to
defend
Japan,
South
Korea,
the
Philippines,
and
island
bases
in
the
Pacific
is
also
thought
desirable.
Hinton
faults
the
United
States
for recently
projecting
an
image of
being
less
than
totally
com-
mitted
to
protecting
its
own
interests
and
those of
its allies
in
East
Asia.
While
the
winds
of
the
Cold
War
seem
to
whistle
through
the
pages
of
this
policy
study,
I
believe
its
assessments
to
be
largely
sound,
even
if
the
policies
it
advocates are
likely
to
find
more
favour
with
Ronald
Reagan
than
with
Jimmy
Carter.
Klaus
H.
Pringsheim'/McMaster University
OPPOSITION
AND
DISSENT IN
CONTEMPORARY
CHINA
Peter
R.
Moody
Stanford: Hoover
Institution
Press,
1977,
xiv,
342pp,
$14.95
China
scholars are
becoming
increasingly
aware
of
political
dissidence
in
the
People's
Republic.
The
phenomenon
is
somewhat
different
from
Soviet
or
East
European
dissent
in
that
Chinese
wall
posters
-
those
at-
tacking
certain individuals
in
the
party,
for
example
-
are
often
insti-
gated
by
a
person
or
group
in
power.
That
is,
political
opposition
is
frequently the
result
of
orchestrated
attacks
of
one
faction
against
an-
other,
as
the
events
of
the
Cultural
Revolution
demonstrated.
Professor Moody
of
Notre
Dame
University
has
written
a
fine
study

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