Introduction
In the contemporary world, China is considered as a country with a brilliant future. The reason is that the country has dealt with the issue of poverty and repression and is taking a premier place in the category of the most economically developed nations. According to the data provided in the book by Chai, May-Lee, and Chai W. (23), the Chinese economy has provided employment opportunities to numerous people from all over the world. This success is associated with the Chinese policy of ‘one country nation, two systems’ that was adopted in the 1980s under the rule of Deng Xiaoping in an attempt to unify the country. However, the policy has failed in addressing the issue of peaceful unity among the Chinese regions. Due to this inefficiency, the policy leaves many specialists wondering whether the country is a Communist or a Capitalist state. Nevertheless, its creation of large-scale employment to the Chinese citizens cannot be ignored.
What Does It Mean?
The ‘one country nation, two systems’ is a constitutional concept that was formulated by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s in an attempt to develop a peaceful solution to the question of China’s reunification. The policy suggested that there would remain one nation but with different distinct Chinese regions. That, therefore, meant that Chinese regions such as Macau and Hong Kong would retain their political systems as well as their capitalist economy while the rest of the nation would employ the socialist system (Poon 45). The policy was embraced and implemented by the Communist Party of China and Taiwan since it was viewed as a non-interruptive method of uniting China. That is because all the regions had freedom to continue with their political, legal, financial, and economic affairs such as the external relations with the foreign countries.
According to Chiew (89), the policy was formed after numerous discussions with the Chinese leaders as well as careful considerations of the things that would make the nation a success. The idea about the policy was introduced in December 1978 where Deng Xiaoping proposed the creation of a third round of Kuomintang aimed at bringing peaceful reunification of the country. Though he pointed out that each region such as Taiwan would retain its social-economic system and the army, most people objected the proposal arguing that he was trying to bring the United States influence to the nation. Therefore, they argued that it was time for everyone to embrace their motherland and work towards her sustainable development. However, Xiaoping kept on insisting and even developed the slogan ‘All patriots belong to one big family’ to convince the people to embrace the policy (Suzanne 14). This, therefore, led to the passing of the ‘one country two systems’ policy on December 19 1984 when it was first written into an international accord to be signed by the various leaders of the different Chinese regions.
In the recent years, the formula of ‘one country two systems’ has attracted international attention due to the fact that it has been established according to the China’s realities. The policy has helped in solving both the Hong Kong and the Taiwan problem peacefully. The reason is that the two Chinese regions have the same goal of the reunification of the motherland. It is apparent that the objective can only be achieved through maintaining peace in all the regions of the country. Besides, as argued by Xiaoping, a peaceful country is always successful thus if the Chinese people want to deal with the high poverty rate they must not only acknowledge the policy but also practice it.
Has It Failed or Succeeded in Achieving Its Objective?
Despite it helping solve the economic problems, the policy appears to be unsuccessful in achieving its main objective of unifying the nation. It is evident that the Chinese regions continue to be divided more than even the way they were before the implementation of the policy. However, the reasons for its failures are quite mixed up. The Beijing government has had several opportunities to learn the weaknesses of the policy. For instance, after the demonstrations that were led by the Hong Kong leaders and citizens, the Beijing government would have realized that the policy was lacking. That is because instead of uniting the people of China, it was creating deeper gorges that divided the people. Instead, the Beijing tried to get hard on Hong Kong where it viewed her as a spoiled and naughty child that does not listen to her parents (Seymour, Jamesand Anderson 19). This, therefore, changed the Chinese opinion about Hong Kong and viewed her as a region that only concentrates on achieving floods of pregnant women rather than concentrating on the urgent social issues. That made the Hong Kong society to grow divided on issues regarding mainland relations. The same scenario is depicted in Taiwan region where the society continues to be more divided from the mainland and only concentrates on her economy and the citizens.
What I Think about the Existence of the Policy
In my view, the policy would not have been implemented since it is not achieving its main goal of unifying China. For instance, in Hong Kong, the system was put into use through the Basic Law of Hong Kong that is considered as the mini-constitution of the region. Before it was implemented, the policy was viewed as a Beijing political experiment landmark aimed at ensuring that the regions does not pull out of the big nation; China. Ever since, the government of China has had ample time to try to make the program work. Unfortunately, the ‘one country two systems’ policy has greatly failed since what is happening in Hong Kong today portrays a great division. The region is much more divided than in its early nineties or even during its colonial times. That, therefore, shows that the program has failed and instead of bringing unity it has brought division among the people and the Chinese regions. Its failures are evident where for the first time in history, Hong Kong led a massive demonstration against the Chinese Article 23, and this made the Chinese government lose the face of the region (Kwong, Kinand Yew 54). I believe that the money used to implement the policy can be used to develop the economy of the citizens and just let people make their decisions about the country unification.
Conclusion
Works Cited
Chai, May-Lee, and Winberg Chai.China A to Z: Everything You Need to Know to Understand Chinese Customs and Culture. New York: Plume, 2007. Print.
Kwong, Kin M, and Chiew P. Yew.Declining Confidence in "one Country, Two Systems" in Hong Kong, 2013. Print.
Ogden, Suzanne. China. Dubuque, IA: McGraw Hill Contemporary Learning Series, 2008. Print.
Seymour, James D, and Richard Anderson.New Ghosts, Old Ghosts: Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 1998.
Shee, Poon K. Cross-strait Impasse: One Country Two Systems or One Country Three Systems?Singapore: East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, 1999. Print.
Yew, Chiew P. China's White Paper on "one Country, Two Systems": Changing Hong Kong-Beijing Relations., 2014. Print.
