Read Kuhn to figure out the real China

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a western Sinologist with a difference. He is neither the stereotype that sees China as a ruthless authoritarian state ruled by a Communist party suppressing free speech and right of association. Nor is he the unabashed admirer of a China overtaking US in new technologies or being able to construct a railway station in just nine hours. The biggest challenge for the West or India in this century is to get a proper understanding of China, not only because it is a competitor , a challenger or a threat but also because it can be a potential partner to secure and stabilize a new world order. Without a proper understanding of China and its many shades, some surely contradictory, no country can handle it appropriately . That is exactly why one should read up and refer , whenever necessary, Kuhn latest book ' Xi Jinping's New-Era China : The Inside Story.' In fact, Kuhn is the right man to present the ' Inside Story'. He has stayed and worked in China , interacted with thousands of Chinese from leaders to commoners , visited more than 100 Chinese cities, and written nearly thirty books on the country's politics, society and economy. His China journey started in 1988, when he was invited by Dr Song Jian, Chairman of China's State Science and Technology Committee to ' advise the Chinese science and technology sector in its first fledgling efforts to the market economy.' Of his previous books , the most significant is his ' How China's Leaders Think' published in 2009. In 2018, Kuhn was awarded 'China Reform Friendship Medal' on the 40th anniversary of China's Opening Up. Kuhn ' Inside Story' of new-era China is a perfect balance between objectivity and context on the one hand and insider perspective on the other. This 364-page book, published in India by Pentagon Press , covers the extraordinary period of Xi Jinping's leadership from 2012 to now as the Chinese president emerged as the country's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. Kuhn does not treat Xi's ' National Rejuvenation' or the ' Chinese Dream' as mere political slogans but goes deep to explore the vision and the strategy and the context behind them. Kuhn is keen to prove the ' Inside Story' is no hagiography. In the chapter ' Personal Perspective', he lists 200 'accusations over 14 pages against China which he says ' cannot be igmored.' 'I will neither prosecute these charges nor conduct China's defence… my purpose is more limited, and I hope more helpful. I want to give feel and flavour of a complex, variegated China that is richer, more interesting and more challenging, and more relevant than what this collection of accusations might superficially suggest,' Kuhn succintly observes. ALSO READ: The reality of unemployment and government accountability That exactly seems to sum up the focus of the book and that precisely helps in understanding the China of today in the right perspective. ( Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC and Reuters correspondent and author of South Asian conflict. He was involved with the Kolkata-Kunming or K2K Forum, a track 2 diplomacy effort between India and China)