In 1949, there was a civil war in China and the government (ROC) lost control which established the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since then, PRC is commonly known as China and the ROC as Taiwan. China has a mutual understanding with its neighbouring countries, they have good relations with the countries who recognise PRC as China. If a country is found to have ongoing relations with Taiwan, China refrains its relations with that particular country.
China’s borders have changed many times over the centuries and relations with neighbours is a complex narrative of the historical development of China. It was only in the nineteenth century that China’s borders were fixed and the concept of China as a nation-state was developed, previously the Chinese considered themselves rulers of ‘all under heaven’. 
China-North Korea:
China’s support for North Korea dates back to the Korean War (1950–1953). Since the war, China has lent political and economic backing to North Korea’s leaders.
After North Korea’s most recent nuclear test in September 2017, China called on North Korea “to stop taking wrong actions that exacerbate the situation. But Beijing continues to have significant economic ties with Pyongyang.
China provides North Korea with most of its food and energy supplies and accounts for more than 90 percent of North Korea’s total trade volume. China’s strategy to re-establish its hegemony over North Korea has two main components.
- The first component is reminding North Korean regime officials of their country’s dependency on China.
- Secondly, to raise the costs of aggression that undermines China’s strategic interests.
China – South Korea:
A democratic country has seen for its super fast growth in the Global economy. These are archrival to the Chinese, as China supported NK for a long time in the past.
Relations between the two countries hit a low in March after Seoul refused to halt the deployment of the anti-missile system, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), which Beijing deems a threat to its national security.
China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, and it used this economic clout to punish Korean businesses when the antimissile system was deployed. Trips by Chinese tour groups to South Korea were suspended, with the number of Chinese visitors dropping 60 percent.
China-Japan:
1931 when the Japanese invaded Manchuria and later in In 1937, Japan invaded the city of Mankind, killed and looted China. Plunder of this known as “Rape of Nanking”. This past act from Japan still effects their relation with China.
In 1937, Japan invaded the city of Mankind, killed and looted China. Plunder of this known as “Rape of Nanking”. This past act from Japan still effects their relation with China.
Yasukuni shrine in Japan is built in memory of soldiers.
China-Mongolia :
Second largest landlord country by area.
A predominantly Buddhist country, they invited ‘The Dalai Lama’ – the leader of People of Tiger. This angered the Chinese coz he doesn’t believe in unification of China.
China-Kazakhstan:
Uranium mining in Kazakhstan is of considerable importance to the national economy. Kazakhstan exports 40 percent of the world’s total raw uranium
Kazakhstan has enriched uranium with Russia and is now cooperating with China. Once the uranium factory is completed, the country will supply uranium to China’s five nuclear power plants.
India-China:
McMahon line which draws boundaries between China and India & Myanmar.
China accepts this boundary with Myanmar but not with India. because McMahon line, which was drawn in 1914 Simla convention because China believes that it
was not a party to Simla Convention so it is not bound to accept
the boundary demarcated by Simla convention.
Tawang in Andhra Pradesh, India: Chinese map show Arunachal Pradesh as its territory occupied by India. It claims 90,000 square kilometres of territory held by India in Arunachal Pradesh.China claims King of Tawang paid tribute to China as it’s a part of China.
India claims 43,180 squares Kilometers of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by China including 5180 square kilometres cede to China by Pakistan under a 1963 China-Pakistan boundary Agreement.
Shenyang in China: A Muslim province in China, where its citizens are deprived to follow Islamic rules. They aren’t allowed to fast, no Hijab. A citizen is deprived of the right to Education- if his name includes “Mohammed” ( Holy Prophet of Islam). East-Turkistan movement in Sheyong was observed where Muslims in Sheyong vis, Uighur demanded to move to the state of Turkistan
Political Ideology in China:
China follows Communism, where only single political party rules: One Party system.
The single party is the state and Government, it makes all political decisions.
After Deng Xiaoping started experimenting the free market reform in the early 1980’s, China went on to launch a big bang reform every 4-5 years and each new opening – First to private farming, then to private businesses, then to foreign businesses set off a new spurt of growth. The resultant followed; FDI started, businesses were set and employment increased.
He started the 1 child policy in 1979, which was later abolished in 2015.
In 1978, he décollectivised the norm, stating the farmer could own part of the share of land. The production would go more to farmers and less to the states, thus production also increased during his period.
China’s rise as an export-manufacturing power has not slowed the long-term decline of global manufacturing; it has consumed more and more quickly into the share of steel, TVs, cars, and other goods manufactured in the West. China doesn’t hesitate to invest in construction. Today, it has 20,000km (12,500 miles) of high-speed rail lines, more than the rest of the world combined. It is planning to lay another 15,000km by 2025
South-to-North Water Diversion Project: in China is the largest of its kind ever undertaken. The project involves drawing water from southern rivers and supplying it to the dry north. Planned to completion in 2050.
in 1999-Atal Bihari Vajpayee proposed we should link our N-S rivers, the then cost was accounted to be around 5.65lakh crore.
West-East Gas Pipeline: Oil and gas pipelines are branching out, as more and more countries rely on imports for their energy supplies.
This Project was carried out in 3 stages, First in 2002. In October 2012 the third West-East pipeline, which will span more than 5,000 km starting from the northwestern border in Xinjiang to Fujian province in the southeast, will have a capacity to transport 30 billion cubic metres (ccm) per year. The pipeline will be supplied from Central Asia–China gas pipeline.
How Communism started in China?
In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist party was defeated by Mao Zedong of Communist Party. Losing this civil war, Chiang flew to Taiwan.
Mao Zedong was often called as Father of MOdern China(1949-1976)
He never took a path, some of his plans were:
- The Great leap forward: The economic vision Mao had focused on increasing agriculture & industrialization. Steel production was more than Britain. He forced people to produce steel, which saw a decline in agriculture and food production. IN 1958-1961, it was estimated that about 30 million people died due to starvation.
- Polit Bureau: Highest decision-making by Communist Party.
In 1966, Mao came up with Cultural Revolution, an attempt to root out elements seen as Anti-Communist.
China’s culture was built on ideas of Confucius- Jen is a sense of the dignity of human life–a feeling of humanity towards others and self-esteem for yourself.
- Concrete guide to human relationships and the general principle of social order or the general ordering of life.
- Mao was against this, He started The Cultural Revolution: Where he urged people to destroy the “four olds” – old ideas, old customs, old habits and old culture. Gangs of students and Red Guards attacked people wearing “bourgeois clothes” on the street, “imperialist” signs were torn down and intellectuals and party officials were murdered or driven to suicide
- The Cultural Revolution’s official handbook was the Little Red Book, a pocket-sized collection of quotations from Mao that offered a design for Red Guard life.
- “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win the victory!” read one famous counsel.During the 1960s, the Little Red Book is said to have been the most printed book on earth, with more than a billion copies printed.
Military:
Air-Force: The 398,000 strong People’s Liberation Army Air Force is organised into five Theater Command Air Forces (TCAF) and 24 air divisions. The largest operational units within the Aviation Corps is the air division, which has 2 to 3 aviation regiments, each with 20 to 36 aircraft
Navy: Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then it has undergone rapid modernisation. The 255,000 strong People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is organised into three major fleets.
The navy includes a 10,000 strong Marine Corps (organised into two brigades), a 26,000 strong Naval Air Force operating several hundred helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, plus a 25,000 strong Coastal Defense Force
Rocket- Force: The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force is the main strategic missile force of the PLA. It controls China’s nuclear and conventional strategic missiles. China’s total nuclear arsenal size is estimated to be between 100 and 400 nuclear weapons. The PLARF has approximately 100,000 personnel and six ballistic missile divisions (missile corps bases). The six divisions are independently deployed in different theatre commands and have a total of 15 to 20 missile brigades.
Stories by Nida 