Harmonious World: It Seems It Was Only a Dream

Using a number of concepts from traditional Chinese philosophy, the newly emerging Chinese school of international relations has helped create the theoretical foundation for the dominant political idea of the Chinese state, which is the Chinese dream of a harmonious world. For more than a decade, China’s top political leaders have pushed the concept of a harmonious world as a guiding principle for international affairs. Chinese president Hu Jintao first outlined the idea of a “harmonious world” in 2005. In 2012, President Xi Jinping further developed this idea and launched the slogan “Chinese dream of a harmonious world.” These interlocking concepts—the harmonious world and the Chinese dream—have come to pervade Chinese society and are the dominant discourse in policy discussions, academic debates, and propaganda, as well as in arts and social media. Within this discourse, a harmonious world is presented as an alternative to the Western-constructed system. For those who hold the harmonious worldview, the Western system divided nations into developed states and developing states. Within this binary logic, nations are therefore categorized either as developed or as being on the path toward that goal. They are not considered different in their own right. This led to the creation of international bodies whose functions fit only those nations that do not differ from the archetype. Within the harmonious world concept, this binary logic has been used to legitimize not only the denial of other values and norms within international affairs but, in its most extreme form, colonialism. Harmony, which is based on the balance of different things, is the core principle of the harmonious world concept. Harmony allows for genuine differences to be taken into account. Harmony also requires universality because it cannot exist in the presence of disharmony. The creation of a harmonious world system would lead to a universal system that accepts the uniqueness of each nation, creating a balanced and peaceful system.