中国战略文化与“镜子”思维

Chinese Strategic Culture and Mirror Thinking

长期以来,对于中国战略文化的研究普遍被战争偏好与和平偏好的二元对立思维所限制。如何超越"战""和"偏好,诠释更为准确的中国战略文化?这是文章要回答的核心问题。战略文化是特定社会背景下,战略主体在战略流程中长期稳定存在的思维模式。先秦诸子学说的群体对立性说明在中国文化身份形成之初,便同时出现了"战"与"和"两种系统性和重要性相当的战略思维。但是,这两种思维都未能在理论上系统而全面地压制对方,或在历史中持续而稳定地支配中国大战略。因此,它们只能被归为战略选项而非战略文化。通过抽象中国"战""和"思维的共同特征,文章认为,中国战略文化是一种由"兼顾实力和道德的战略资源积累","被动反应式的战略资源使用",以及"同质、适度的反应原则"构成的,呈现出"镜子"特征的思维模式。中国历史上与这一思维相符的大战略会因得到国内民众支持而最大限度地实现国家安全和经济发展;而偏离这一思维方式的大战略,则会受到不同程度国内失序的惩罚。对西汉和北宋的历史观察进一步验证了"(中国)大战略与‘镜子’思维的相符程度"和"国内发展有序性和可持续性程度"之间的因果联系,并详细说明了"镜子"思维在历史中的操作细节。文章还对当代中国坚持"镜子"思维的必然性与必要性进行了分析。

Research on China’s strategic culture has long been limited by two polarities:war preference and peace preference.How can we transcend beyond the limitations imposed by thinking rooted in modalities of“war”and“peace”,and develop a more accurate understanding of Chinese strategic culture?This is the central question that this article seeks to answer.Strategic culture refers to an actor’s modality of strategic thinking that remains stable over the medium to long term under a specific social context.The contending theories of Pre-Qin philosophers illustrated how early on in the development of Chinese cultural identity,two critical systems of strategic thinking emerged,one link to war,and one to peace.Neither of these two theories were able to systematically refute the other,and both accompanied China’s strategy throughout her history.As such,they might be considered more of strategic options,rather than as elements of a strategic culture.By abstracting the shared characteristics of the two schools of Chinese thought,this article identifies that the Chinese strategic culture consists of the following elements:“the accumulation of strategic resources prioritizing both power and ethics”,“the reactionary use of strategic resources”and“the principle of homogenous and moderate response”.Taken together,these elements point to a tendency towards mirror image thinking in Chinese strategic culture.Throughout Chinese history,grand strategy consistent with this modality of thinking has been afforded support of the Chinese public,and has enabled China to maximize her national interests and economic development.Grand strategy which deviates from this modality of thinking on the other hand,will result in different degrees of domestic costs.Through consideration of the Western Han and Northern Song dynasties,the article further illustrates the degree of symmetry between mirror imagine thinking and Chinese grand strategy,as well as a causal relationship between this mode of grand strategy and stable domestic development,while also highlighting the detailed ways in which mirror imagine thinking manifests itself through history.The article further analyzes the relevance and necessity of mirror imagine thinking for contemporary China.