TFIPOST हिन्दी
TFIPOST Global
Tfipost.com
Tfipost.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    India Carries Out Agni-5 Missile Test, Reaffirms Commitment to Maintaining Nuclear Deterrence

    India Carries Out Agni-5 Missile Test, Reaffirms Commitment to Maintaining Nuclear Deterrence

    Reflections on Prime Minister Modi’s Historic Independence Day Speech

    Reflections on Prime Minister Modi’s Historic Independence Day Speech

    BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Targets Congress Over Voter Fraud and Infiltrator Nexus

    BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Targets Congress Over Voter Fraud and Infiltrator Nexus

    ‘Should I Bring a Truckful of Papers to Parliament?’: Nehru’s Dismissive Stand on Indus Waters Treaty Sparks Political Heat

    ‘Should I Bring a Truckful of Papers to Parliament?’: Nehru’s Dismissive Stand on Indus Waters Treaty Sparks Political Heat

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    Why Every Modern Retail Shop Needs Reliable Billing Software Today

    Why Every Modern Retail Shop Needs Reliable Billing Software Today

    Swipe-Worthy Across Borders: Translating Ads That Actually Convert

    Swipe-Worthy Across Borders: Translating Ads That Actually Convert

    6 Communication Challenges Faced by Multilingual Teams

    6 Communication Challenges Faced by Multilingual Teams

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Bangladeshi Actress Caught with Fake Indian IDs in Kolkata

    Suspected Pakistani Spy Detained in Jaisalmer, Fourth Case This Month

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    Top Journalist Exposes Pakistani Military Weakness during Op Sindoor, says 'India hit parked aircraft, We Couldn't'

    Senior Journalist Exposes Pakistani Military Weakness during Op Sindoor, says ‘India hit parked aircraft, We Couldn’t’

    Pakistan’s Navy ran away and hid its ships in commercial docks and near Iran border during Op Sindoor

    Operation Sindoor: Pakistan Navy Forced Into Hiding Near Iran border as India’s Precision Strikes Rattled Islamabad

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    Congress MLA Arif Masood’s 20-Year College Fraud in Bhopal Exposed, HC Slams 'Political Patronage'

    Congress MLA Arif Masood’s 20-Year College Fraud in Bhopal Exposed, HC Slams ‘Political Patronage’

    Pak Minister Mohsin Naqvi Doubles Down On Asim Munir's "Crude Analogy"

    Pakistan Minister Mohsin Naqvi Echoes Asim Munir’s ‘Mercedes’ Remark, Reduces Nation to Cheap Jibes at India

    'India attacked Hidden US Nuclear Stockpile in Kirana Hills, Pakistan': Former Amb Deepak Vohra

    ‘India attacked Hidden US Nuclear Stockpile in Kirana Hills, Pakistan’: Former Amb Deepak Vohra

    U.S. President Donald Trump goes to shake hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska

    ‘No Deal Until a Deal’: Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Signals Tentative Progress but No Breakthrough

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • Education
    • History
    • Indology
    Uttarakhand Minority Educational Institutions Bill, 2025 introduced in Legislative Assembly

    Uttarakhand Minority Educational Institutions Bill, 2025 introduced in Legislative Assembly

    Ancient 3,000-Year-Old Hymn Uncovers Musical links from India to Mediterranean in Bronze Age

    Ancient 3,000-Year-Old Hymn Uncovers Musical links from India to Mediterranean in Bronze Age

    Indian Man Unfurls Tricolour in Antarctica on Independence Day

    Indian Man Unfurls Tricolour in Antarctica on Independence Day

    Hasrat Mohani- Advocate of Two Nation Theory, Rejected Pakistan, Stayed In India After Partition

    Maulana Hasrat Mohani- Advocate of Two Nation Theory, Rejected Pakistan, Stayed In India After Partition

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Games
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Zordo: Redefining India’s Presence in Web Design and Digital Marketing Services with Unmatched Excellence

    Zordo: Redefining India’s Presence in Web Design and Digital Marketing Services with Unmatched Excellence

    What is Cucumber & How BDD is Transforming Test Automation?

    What is Cucumber & How BDD is Transforming Test Automation?

    Optimal Bet Size in Slots, Live Dealer Games, and Sic Bo Strategies & Proven Tips

    Optimal Bet Size in Slots, Live Dealer Games, and Sic Bo Strategies & Proven Tips

    Top tips for new users: how to effectively use 1xBet apk from day one and without errors

    Top tips for new users: how to effectively use 1xBet apk from day one and without errors

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
Tfipost.com
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    India Carries Out Agni-5 Missile Test, Reaffirms Commitment to Maintaining Nuclear Deterrence

    India Carries Out Agni-5 Missile Test, Reaffirms Commitment to Maintaining Nuclear Deterrence

    Reflections on Prime Minister Modi’s Historic Independence Day Speech

    Reflections on Prime Minister Modi’s Historic Independence Day Speech

    BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Targets Congress Over Voter Fraud and Infiltrator Nexus

    BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Targets Congress Over Voter Fraud and Infiltrator Nexus

    ‘Should I Bring a Truckful of Papers to Parliament?’: Nehru’s Dismissive Stand on Indus Waters Treaty Sparks Political Heat

    ‘Should I Bring a Truckful of Papers to Parliament?’: Nehru’s Dismissive Stand on Indus Waters Treaty Sparks Political Heat

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    Why Every Modern Retail Shop Needs Reliable Billing Software Today

    Why Every Modern Retail Shop Needs Reliable Billing Software Today

    Swipe-Worthy Across Borders: Translating Ads That Actually Convert

    Swipe-Worthy Across Borders: Translating Ads That Actually Convert

    6 Communication Challenges Faced by Multilingual Teams

    6 Communication Challenges Faced by Multilingual Teams

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Bangladeshi Actress Caught with Fake Indian IDs in Kolkata

    Suspected Pakistani Spy Detained in Jaisalmer, Fourth Case This Month

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    “Peter Navarro’s Anti-India Remarks Baseless, Hypocritical” Former Foreign Secy Kanwal Sibal

    Top Journalist Exposes Pakistani Military Weakness during Op Sindoor, says 'India hit parked aircraft, We Couldn't'

    Senior Journalist Exposes Pakistani Military Weakness during Op Sindoor, says ‘India hit parked aircraft, We Couldn’t’

    Pakistan’s Navy ran away and hid its ships in commercial docks and near Iran border during Op Sindoor

    Operation Sindoor: Pakistan Navy Forced Into Hiding Near Iran border as India’s Precision Strikes Rattled Islamabad

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    Congress MLA Arif Masood’s 20-Year College Fraud in Bhopal Exposed, HC Slams 'Political Patronage'

    Congress MLA Arif Masood’s 20-Year College Fraud in Bhopal Exposed, HC Slams ‘Political Patronage’

    Pak Minister Mohsin Naqvi Doubles Down On Asim Munir's "Crude Analogy"

    Pakistan Minister Mohsin Naqvi Echoes Asim Munir’s ‘Mercedes’ Remark, Reduces Nation to Cheap Jibes at India

    'India attacked Hidden US Nuclear Stockpile in Kirana Hills, Pakistan': Former Amb Deepak Vohra

    ‘India attacked Hidden US Nuclear Stockpile in Kirana Hills, Pakistan’: Former Amb Deepak Vohra

    U.S. President Donald Trump goes to shake hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska

    ‘No Deal Until a Deal’: Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Signals Tentative Progress but No Breakthrough

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • Education
    • History
    • Indology
    Uttarakhand Minority Educational Institutions Bill, 2025 introduced in Legislative Assembly

    Uttarakhand Minority Educational Institutions Bill, 2025 introduced in Legislative Assembly

    Ancient 3,000-Year-Old Hymn Uncovers Musical links from India to Mediterranean in Bronze Age

    Ancient 3,000-Year-Old Hymn Uncovers Musical links from India to Mediterranean in Bronze Age

    Indian Man Unfurls Tricolour in Antarctica on Independence Day

    Indian Man Unfurls Tricolour in Antarctica on Independence Day

    Hasrat Mohani- Advocate of Two Nation Theory, Rejected Pakistan, Stayed In India After Partition

    Maulana Hasrat Mohani- Advocate of Two Nation Theory, Rejected Pakistan, Stayed In India After Partition

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Games
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Zordo: Redefining India’s Presence in Web Design and Digital Marketing Services with Unmatched Excellence

    Zordo: Redefining India’s Presence in Web Design and Digital Marketing Services with Unmatched Excellence

    What is Cucumber & How BDD is Transforming Test Automation?

    What is Cucumber & How BDD is Transforming Test Automation?

    Optimal Bet Size in Slots, Live Dealer Games, and Sic Bo Strategies & Proven Tips

    Optimal Bet Size in Slots, Live Dealer Games, and Sic Bo Strategies & Proven Tips

    Top tips for new users: how to effectively use 1xBet apk from day one and without errors

    Top tips for new users: how to effectively use 1xBet apk from day one and without errors

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
Tfipost.com
Tfipost.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Defense
  • Geopolitics
  • Knowledge
  • Law
  • Lounge

How one misunderstanding back in 1972 led to the myth of Chinese foresight and excellent planning skills

It all started with a mistranslation

Akshay Narang by Akshay Narang
8 October 2020
in Opinions
chinese planning

(Source: Library of Congress / The Penguin Press)

Share on FacebookShare on X

China terrorises its neighbours and has enemies everywhere from the Himalayas to the Western Pacific. It treats its so-called allies with sheer disdain and the paper dragon’s usury is also becoming known to its BRI partners. China often becomes the prime target of its adversaries and as such Beijing’s foreign policy looks like one big catastrophe. But for the past several decades, strategists across the free world have underlined the need to engage China on key issues.

An obsession of not annoying China on contentious matters is dictated by a poorly perceived myth of Chinese foresight and excellent planning skills. That China doesn’t have astute diplomatic understanding becomes clear from its mindless aggression in the Himalayas and the Pacific. 

RelatedPosts

Relief for Troops: Jawans to Get New-Gen Border Posts for Sub-Zero Conditions Along India-China LAC

China Expert Urges India to Reconsider its Strategic Distance From China, Warns of America’s containment playbook

SCO Summit: PM Modi’s First China Visit Since 2020 Galwan Standoff

Load More

However, Western planners still think that Beijing plans in terms of several decades or even centuries. This myth has got nurtured over a sheer misunderstanding between Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai way back in 1972.

The 1970s was the time when then US President Richard Nixon had started befriending China in order to capitalise upon the Sino-Soviet split and gain an upper hand over the erstwhile USSR. In this context, the then US National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger had met Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier under Mao Zedong in 1972. Due to the changing geopolitical circumstances, Kissinger was bound to think unduly high of China.

In this meeting, Enlai was asked, “What was the impact of the French Revolution?” Enlai’s answer was no better than that of a clueless Chinese diplomat. He said, “Too early to say.” Kissinger overestimated Chinese foreign policy planning and thought Enlai was speaking of the 1789 French Revolution. He was impressed at the thought of Chinese strategic circles thinking in terms of centuries.

But it is the mindless, self-obsessed Middle Kingdom that we are talking about. Enlai actually had no clue of the 1789 French Revolution, rather he was speaking about the much more recent student uprising in Paris in 1968. Enlai wasn’t thinking in terms of centuries.

Several years later, the translator of that conversation also made it clear that the then Chinese Premier was speaking about the 1968 “French Revolution”. But by that time the Western world became too obsessed with the idea of China that plans in decades and centuries. Today, a major chunk of the free world likes to believe that it cannot beat China in terms of diplomacy and foreign policy.

In the Western world, it is becoming well-known that China is a belligerent bully, yet several political leaders and outfits like the German Chancellor Angela Merkel or the Democrats in the United States continue to push for giving China a higher place in the existing world order. There is a continuous propaganda regarding the need to engage China for the sake of global stability.

At other times, there is simply a fear of annoying China in Western strategists. This fear is again rooted in the misconception that Chinese leaders are planning way ahead of their contemporary governments.

The same misunderstanding rooted in the 1972 Kissinger-Enlai conversation has got passed to other democracies of the world outside the West. Successive Indian governments, for example, refrained from constructing robust border infrastructure, countering China’s aggressive border moves or forming an anti-China alliance, due to the fixation surrounding the myth of long-term Chinese planning.

However, now the myth of centennial Chinese planning is coming out in the open. To start with, China has no soft power to boast about. Its foreign policy actions are often self-harming such as the diplomatic stand-off with Canada over Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou or the illegal detention of a Chinese-origin Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai that has ruined China-Sweden relationship.

Similarly, Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative has done more harm than good as the world has realised Beijing’s ill-will behind its “debt trap” strategy. Even the Chinese human rights violations campaign in Tibet and Xinjiang, or the interference in Hong Kong’s internal system has put China at risk of severe economic sanctions. However, China has unwittingly continued with such suicidal steps.

Within its neighbourhood, China’s attempted salami-slicing tactics in the Himalayas have invited India’s wrath. The Indian security forces keep giving the Chinese People’s Liberation Army one setback after the other and the incumbent Modi government has launched a relentless assault on the Chinese economy. Meanwhile, China’s centennial foreign policy planners seem clueless.

The myth of China’s foreign policy prowess and foresight was rooted in an awkward misunderstanding capable of becoming a source of derision. But the world must shed this myth now. The paper dragon is no visionary and its provocative actions are more often short-term blunders and not long-term policies.

Tags: China
Share53TweetSend
Previous Post

China wants Indian media to stick to the One China Policy on Taiwan Day, Taiwan says ‘Get Lost’

Next Post

Could Lalu’s medical records be made public? Why is he staying in a luxurious bungalow in RIMS since Aug 2020

Related Posts

Poverty in the United States and Its Economic Fragility
Opinions

Poverty in the United States and Its Economic Fragility

16 August 2025

Behind America’s image as the world’s richest nation lies a stark reality—(conservative estimates) over 37.9 million people (11.5% of...

The Horrors of Partition and Some Unresolved Questions
Opinions

The Horrors of Partition and Some Unresolved Questions That Still Bleeds

14 August 2025

Much has been written, read, heard, and seen about the horrors of the India–Pakistan Partition. Most people are familiar...

The 'Just' Rule of British?
Opinions

The ‘Just’ Rule of British? Those Living With A Slave Mentality Should Now Remove The Colonial Blindfold From Their Own eyes

14 August 2025

In known history, among those who came to India as invaders, the Shakas, Huns, Kushans, Muslims, Dutch, Portuguese, French,...

Load More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Currently Playing

Reason Behind Congress and Sanjay Kumar Silently Deleting Their Fake Voter Data Tweets

Reason Behind Congress and Sanjay Kumar Silently Deleting Their Fake Voter Data Tweets

00:05:56

After 35 Years : Kashmiri Pandits Finally Getting Justice

00:05:59

Hidden Heroes of India’s Freedom: How Temples Silently Fought for Independence

00:06:30

Why do Journalists like Ravish kumar Keep Speaking Pakistan’s Script all the time | Op Sindoor

00:05:55

why are Punjabi pop icons yo yo honey Singh, karan aujla abusing indian culture?

00:04:17
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
tfipostTfipost.com
Right Wing | News Analysis | Indian Opinion
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

©2025 TFI Media Private Limited

No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
TFIPOST हिन्दी
TFIPOST Global

©2025 TFI Media Private Limited