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Dong Lei
Opinion
Dong Lei

How to manage China’s rise as a civilisational power

The world must deal with China by recognising its civilisational rhythm. China, in turn, must avoid the mistakes of arrogance

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron and their wives visit the Unesco-listed site of the Dujiangyan irrigation system in Dujiangyan, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province on December 5, 2025. Photo: AFP
Dong Lei
Dong Lei is an independent observer of Chinese politics and history, with a particular interest in China’s evolving role in global affairs.
The world has yet to truly understand how to deal with a rapidly rising China. Even within China, some of the most learned minds are surprised at how quickly the country has taken the global lead in new economic areas, such as electric vehicles. Global warming is no longer abstract; ask around in Europe this summer and people will tell you it has been unbearably hot. Electric vehicles have a future, if they are not the future.

Prudent Chinese literati do not lightly discuss how China should act in public. Weightier reflections are reserved for private circumstances, where the tone can be measured and the words chosen with care. Foreigners, if they wish to deal with China, might consider this. The world’s approach to China, in its variety of gestures, also sets the stage for how China may shape its outward posture.

China ought to act responsibly towards smaller nations. And it often does. When Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visited Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping again spoke of a shared future and prosperity. To discerning ears, these words carry the rhythm of older civilisations. Societies rise and fall on how the strong treat the weak, and how the large accommodate the small. The words are not a boring party slogan. They are really a reminder that beyond rhetoric, certain conditions endure. People need dignity. Nations need space to grow. Power must be tempered by care.

Zichan, the statesman of Zheng in ancient China and my favourite go-to expert, believed that small states must behave with caution towards great powers, and that great powers should show care for small states. His counsel was not abstract philosophy but practical advice, meant to prevent ruin. He argued that if small states acted rashly, they would invite destruction, and if great powers acted arrogantly, they would sow resentment and instability.

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