Absolved by the Telos of History: A Hermeneutic Approach to China’s Revolutionary (Non-)Interventionism

Abstract

This article confronts a puzzle regarding the People’s Republic of China’s foreign policy: during the Mao era, China adamantly upheld the principle of non-intervention/non-interference (buganshe), while at the same time actively engaged in national liberation movements in the Third World. Rather than treating it as a case of political hypocrisy, this article shows that the apparent inconsistency between China’s rhetoric and behaviour can be resolved with a post-structuralist perspective. Its analysis of Chinese official, dominant
discourses reveals that a moral-historical teleology is at play within the texts, which absolves China of moral responsibilities and presents its worldwide involvement as a legitimate exception. Furthermore, by presenting Chinese discourses on (non-)intervention as a potent instrument of resistance, this article seeks to decentre and remedy the Eurocentrism in the International Relations scholarship.