just and amicable feelings

Stephen Walt has Washington’s farewell address up for the July 4th weekend.  Excerpt:

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. 

 What this reminds me of more than anything else are the eight principles of Chinese foreign policy, in turn based on Deng’s six observations: 

 ---Observe world events with a calm mind 

 ---Stand firmly 

 ---Confront difficulties with confidence 

 ---Keep a low profile 

 ---Never assume a leadership role 

 ---Take action 

I think maybe that the government in Delhi might dispute some of this – “South Tibet” indeed – and the keep a low profile but has gone into abeyance recently but, by and large that’s how the PRC has conducted itself abroad over the past thirty years. The heirs of Washington: who’d have thought it.

Comments

[Splintered Sunrise]

Arunachal, indeed. You should do something on Nagaland - if you don't, I might be tempted.

[chris y]

Washington was of course something of an expert on what made people in some degree slaves; he'd paid good money for some.

[Fellow Traveller]

No wonder you can't trust the American government.