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Article: The end of communism in Asia: what next?
- Article from:
- Current
- Article date:
- September 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Communism's time in Asia has come and is going, but its final stages are more protracted and more complex than has been the case in the West. Several factors account for the differences. First, Asian communism emerged as one expression of revolt against Western and Japanese imperialism. Thus, from this beginning, it was deeply intertwined with nationalism, or in a simpler form, anti-foreignism. The commitment of "proletarian internationalism" was always lightly held, except by a few idealistic intellectuals. To be sure, in the case of China, the internationalist-ethnocentric mix represented a continuation of the contrasting forces of Confucian universalism and Sino-centrism ...