Chinese expansionism

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Evolution of Chinese territories in mainland China throughout Chinese history.

Chinese expansionism is an

Chinese history
.

While the dynasties of

Peoples Republic of China and its territorial policy,[1] particularly with the government of China raising irredentist claims about the territorial outline of its state beyond its established borders, producing a range of territorial disputes
.

Historic background

Qin and Han dynasties

Historically, China has been a major empire and was the center of East Asian geopolitical influence in ancient times.

first contacts with the ancient Yue tribes, and further extended its reach to the Korean Peninsula, as well as the Xiongnus.[12] The Qin dynasty laid the foundation for future territorial expansions by subsequent Chinese dynasties.

The Han dynasty marked the height of early Chinese expansionism. Under Emperor Wu of Han, the Han China became the regional center of geopolitical influence in East Asia, projecting much of its imperial power on its neighbors.[8][13] Han China hosted the largest unified population in East Asia, the most literate and urbanized as well as being the most economically developed, as well as the most technologically and culturally advanced civilization in the region at the time.[14][15] Han China managed to conquer northern Korea and northern Vietnam, annexing and incorporating several parts of these territories into its empire in the process.[16][17][18] The Han dynasty also managed to conquer various nomadic tribes as far north as what is now modern Mongolia and Siberia and gained control over western regions as far as modern Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia..[19]

Following the fall of the Han dynasty, the Korea peninsula gained political independence from The Central Plain dynasties, leaving only northern Vietnam remaining under Chinese control, and the Three Kingdoms era temporarily halted Chinese expansionism. Nonetheless, the Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu managed to extend its territorial gains in some parts under their territorial control.[20] Once the Three Kingdoms ended and establishment of the Jin dynasty, Chinese expansionism stopped becoming the main headline for four centuries, as China was in dire need to consolidate back its borderland following its significant population losses.

The Sui dynasty, which reunified China after another 350 years of divisions, attempted to embark back on expansionism, but four disastrous campaigns to Goguryeo put the dynasty to its end.[21]

Tang dynasty

The establishment of the

golden age for Chinese history.[22] Tang China managed to maintain its grip over northern Vietnam and Korea.[23]
The Tang empire also managed to extend its control over Xinjiang and Central Asia, reaching as far west as the Aral Sea, Caspian Sea and the Lake Baikal for several decades.[24][25][26] China also gained loyalty from the Turkic and Sogdian tribes at the northern and western borders.[27] The Tang managed to encroach into the Tibetan territory and occupy Lhasa, until they had to abandon such expansionist pursuits due to difficult climate.[28]

The Tang Chinese expansion was checked following the

An Lushan Rebellion which crippled the Tang.[30] The rebellion partly led to the collapse and implosion of the Tang into several warring states and kingdoms. After the Tang collapse, China would be divided into several smaller nations until the unification during the Yuan dynasty and Mongol empire.[28][31]

Fragmentation during Song, Jin, Liao dynasties

When the Tang dynasty collapsed, China entered the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. After this period, China remained fragmented and was divided into a number of smaller countries that emerged from the turmoil. These included the Song dynasty to the south and the Liao and Jin dynasties to the north. The Song, Liao, and Jin would continue to fight each other for centuries. As a result of perpetual instability, the Vietnamese eventually seceded from the union in the Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938, Song dynasty, unified much of China's south and launched an invasion of northern Vietnam in the process, but was repelled by Lê Hoàn.[citation needed] From then, the Song dynasty had struggled to reconsolidate back the borderland and inner territories, as well as repeated wars with Vietnam, the Liao dynasty, the Jin dynasty and the Western Xia.[32][33][34][35] This had prevented the Song dynasty from ever taking any serious military expeditions. These various kingdoms (Song, Liao, Jin, Xia) would fight each other until they were all conquered and unified by the Yuan dynasty in 1279.[citation needed]

Yuan dynasty

The

imperial Chinese dynasty, was founded by the Mongols in the traditional Chinese style in 1271.[36] The Mongol Empire was characterized by unprecedented territorial expansionism north and west, reaching as far as Eastern Europe and the Middle East, although the Yuan dynasty based in China was unable to exert actual power over the west khanates due to the disintegrated nature of the Mongol Empire. The Yuan dynasty in China undertook attempts to conquer other territories further east and south too. It launched two invasions of Burma, with the first invasion delivering a devastating blow to the Pagan Kingdom and effectively resulted in its collapse.[37] The Yuan dynasty also managed to conquer Korea and Tibet, thereby incorporating Tibet into Chinese territory for the first time in history.[38] However, the Yuan dynasty had been unsuccessful in its attempt to conquer Vietnam, with the Mongols being repelled by Trần Thái Tông. Furthermore, The Yuan's naval expeditions to invade Java and Japan yielded disastrous results, eventually leading to the end of Sino-Mongol expansionist desires.[37][39][40][41]

Decline during Ming dynasty

Following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty, the newly established

Imjin war
.

Qing dynasty

Further information: Ten Great Campaigns

The

Jurchens which founded the Jin dynasty
earlier. The dynasty embraced Chinese expansionism. By the late 19th century, in response to competition with other states, the Qing government of China attempted to exert direct control of its frontier areas by conquest or, if already under military control, conversion into provinces.

The ability of Qing China to project power into Central Asia came about because of two changes, one social and one technological. The social change was that under the Qing dynasty, from 1642, the Chinese military forces were organized around cavalry which was more suited for power projection than prior Chinese infantry. The technological change was advances in artillery which negated the military advantage that the people of the steppe had with their cavalry. The

Aisin Gioro
was supportive of Tibetan Buddhism and many in the ruling class adopted the religion.

The Qing dynasty was seen to be the return of Chinese expansionist policies. Under the Qing rule, China expanded beyond the

Kashmir where it fought a bitter war against the Sikhs.[57]

Ming loyalists led by

French invasion
attempt.

After the British expedition to Tibet in the waning days of the Qing dynasty, the Qing responded by sending Zhao Erfeng to further integrate Tibet into China. He succeeded in abolishing the powers of the Tibetan local leaders in Kham and appointing Chinese magistrates in their places by 1909–10. Qing forces were also sent to Ü-Tsang in 1910 to establish a direct control over Tibet proper, though a province was never established in this area.

The Qing campaign against Burma (Myanmar) (1765–1769) was its most disastrous and costly frontier war. It ended in a military defeat but the Qing rulers could not accept Burma as an equal, and when diplomatic relations were resumed in 1790, the Qing court considered it a restoration of Chinese suzerainty.[60]

The Qing dynasty established a

Joseon dynasty Korea following the Qing invasion of Joseon in 1636. In 1882, China and Korea signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882 stipulating that Korea was a dependency of China and granted Chinese merchants the right to conduct overland and maritime business freely within Korean borders as well as the Chinese unilateral extraterritoriality privileges in civil and criminal cases.[61] China also obtained concessions in Korea, notably the Chinese concession of Incheon.[62][63] However, Qing China lost its influence over Korea following the First Sino-Japanese War
in 1895.

Republic of China

When the Qing collapsed in 1912, the newly established Republic of China claimed inheritance of all territories held by the Qing dynasty. When both Tibet and Outer Mongolia declared their independence, they were not recognized by the Republic of China.[64] Most of the area comprising the present-day Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) became a de facto independent polity[65][66] except for border areas such as Amdo and Eastern Kham.[67]

The Republic of China focused its efforts on consolidating their control over Chinese territories and refused to embrace expansionist policy. The Republic of China, however, faced numerous pressure from the expansionist

Japanese invasion in northeast China at 1931.[70][71] On the same time, the Chinese Civil War also prevented any attempts of a possible Chinese expansion.[72]

When

retreat to Taiwan
where it continues to rule today.

People's Republic of China

Following the de facto end of the Chinese Civil War, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China, and, at the first stage, styled his rule after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. China temporarily abandoned the irredentist idea to focus on internationalism promoted by the communist world.[76][77] However it would soon reconquer Xinjiang, absorbing the then-Second East Turkestan Republic with help from Stalin.[78][79][80] China regained control of Tibet through a series of events that involved negotiations with the Government of Tibet, a military conflict in the Chamdo area of western Kham in October 1950, and the Seventeen Point Agreement, which was ratified by the 14th Dalai Lama in October 1951[81] but later repudiated.[82][83][84]

The Five Fingers of Tibet was a territorial claim attributed to Mao Zedong that considers Tibet to be China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery: Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and North-East Frontier Agency (now known as Arunachal Pradesh) that are considered China's responsibility to "liberate".[85][86][87] The policy has never been discussed in official Chinese public statements and is now dormant, but concerns have often been raised over its possible continued existence or revival.[88]

Following Dalai Lama's escape to India, China and India fought a border war in 1962, where China gained Aksai Chin and stampeded into Arunachal Pradesh (called South Tibet in China), before retreating from the latter over increasing turmoil.[89] Before that, China also sought to take over Taiwan, then under the authority of the rival Republic of China, causing the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, but was unsuccessful due to American threats in response.[90] China also sought to take over Sikkim in 1967, but it was unsuccessful.[91] A Chinese map published in 1961 showed China claiming territories in Bhutan, Nepal and the Kingdom of Sikkim.[92] Incursions by Chinese soldiers and Tibetan herdsmen allying with the Chinese government also provoked tensions in Bhutan.[92][93]

In 1974, China launched its first naval expedition to reclaim the

skirmish in the South China Sea in 1988, resulting in China's consolidation of some disputed islands.[96]

In the opening speech at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan, stating that "We have sufficient abilities to thwart any form of Taiwan independence attempts."[97]

See also

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Further reading

Library resources about
Chinese expansionism
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