Sun Tzu Prize for world peace

Citation

Foo, C.-T. (2011), "Sun Tzu Prize for world peace", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms.2011.32305aaa.002

Sun Tzu Prize for world peace

Article Type: Editorial From: Chinese Management Studies, Volume 5, Issue 1

At the time of writing this editorial, the Northeast corner of the world (from Singapore) is far more at risk of a war breaking out than anywhere else. Yes, wars to be waged with bombs not just in currency. I certainly hope a satisfactory solution can be reached to resolve the north-south differences on the Korean peninsula. Already a possible model exists: east (formerly) and West Germany. The Germans have shown a peaceful reintegration is indeed possible. Now, Germany is the powerhouse that drives European economics. Given Korea as a potential flashpoint, it is worrisome for a sharp furore to erupt between China and the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. A series of questions may be posed on the issue:

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  Do the members of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee know enough about the Chinese people?

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  Do any one of the Committee members read and speak the Chinese language?

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  If not, maybe it is even presumptuous to make such an award?

China is no ordinary nation. She is a civilization with an immense population and a continuous history of 5,000 years. My deeper concerns:

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  Can an award that goes against the opinions of the multitude remain highly regarded?

Do not be surprised if the ordinary Chinese people begin to ridicule the Nobel Prize and to quote: “[…] Liu winning the Nobel Peace Prize will serve as after-dinner jokes for some Chinese[…]”[1].

And additionally:

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  Why hark back to an ugly chapter in China’s recent history? (to be discussed later).

In an editorial, this year (Foo, 2010), I had suggested for China in the near future to launch the Chinese “Noble Prizes”. And this is exactly what the Chinese did: a strategic, counter-move, the Confucius Peace Prize was revived[2]. Perhaps, it should be renamed as the Sun Tzu (Sun-Zi) Peace Prize for world peace.

For Sun Tzu is remembered today precisely because in his Art of War, he urged rulers to prevail by peaceful means, i.e. without resorting to wars. Then there are many enlightened prescriptions: for example, treat your prisoners humanely. Incidentally, the Nobel Peace Prize was created by Alfred Nobel, an inventor of mass killers such as the dynamites and ballistics.

According to the Chairman of the Confucius Peace Prize Committee, the rationale of the award is interestingly, to “[…] promote world peace from an Eastern perspective[…]” (Italics added[2]). In other words, even in promoting peace, there is the cultural perspective too. The Chinese are beginning to realize that there are shortcomings to the Western system, even in the process of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize.

For the true Chinese mind, the community is above the individual. This is not just a communist ideology. Thousands of years of farming culture resulting in closely knit communities have ingrained in the Chinese such a value system. Tiananmen Square incident (1988) is unfortunate but has the committee consider the much broader implications?

According to Deng Xiao Ping[3], if the protests had gone out of hand, China may be thrown into turmoil of a civil war. What should intrigue the committee is in the post-Tiananmen sharp-bend (Figure 1) and the continuous upward climb in economics performance. With stability, China’s economy had outperformed beyond all expectations.

Figure 1 China’s nominal gross domestic product

On hearing the news, I was totally taken aback by the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee. Recent awardees had been American Presidents: Barack Obama, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. Surely, if the current Korean crisis is peacefully resolved, by the same criteria, the Chinese President Hu Jintao ought too to be awarded?

I had known the Scandinavians through my role as a Visiting Professor of International Business Management at UMEA University in Sweden[4]. So it was more puzzling how the award could be made to a Chinese professor who citing in Hong Kong, had asserted: “China needs to be colonized for 300 years”.

No Chinese who remains truly a Chinese whether in China or outside the mainland will find this acceptable. Like other people in the world, the Chinese take pride in their own culture, language and of being independent. Many Chinese find such remarks outright revolting.

Perhaps this event may trigger the Chinese leadership into the realization that they too have a new global role: to develop the franchise of recognizing human achievements. If you look at the listing of Nobel Prize winners by countries, China and India have just too few. Who is truly deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize? Mahatma Gandhi.

Separately in the Journal of Risk Finance (Foo, 2011), I remarked on the continuing stream of American Nobel Laureates in economics within this decade, 20 to be precise (from 2000 to 2010). Yet this is the exactly the same period of the sharpest rise in the US Federal Government Public Debt, line (2), (Figure 2) (public debt=gross debt less what the US Government owes itself).

Yet despite the last 30 years of unsurpassable economic growth that benefits roughly 20 percent of humanity, not a single Chinese economist is named a recipient! Surely Zhu Rongji should qualify. Clearly, the current Swedish Nobel Laureate Award process has to be far less Euro-US centric. Better still, China perhaps working together with India (representing 40 percent of world’s population) may begin a system of Noble Prizes to recognize truly remarkable achievements.

Figure 2 US public debt

Hopefully, some day in the near future, this may be realized:

[…] Chinese (and Indian) “Noble Prizes” […] to eventually be replacing […] Swedish Nobel prizes in prestige […] (words in italics are added by the author).

Certainly, there should be Noble Prizes for advancements in management. This is one area neglected by the Nobel Prize system. Yet good management has a direct impact on the general welfare of workers. Good management is required especially in a world turning more and not less conflict prone.

With China becoming innovative, even more conflicts will arise through competition for markets. Indeed, I realized this when facilitating an Asian Productivity Organization study meeting on strategy. Reflecting on discussion, I an emerging paradigm for businesses facing a rising, innovative China. Also, I suggested avenues for future research. And in a timely manner, Choy Kim Weng Willam and Zhang Yen Ming remind us of the past 30 years of economic partnerships between ASEAN and China. John R. Darling and Victor L. Heller provide us with a key for resolving conflict with Rong Du, Shizhong Ai and Cathal M. Brugha elaborating on trust in conflict. Song Hua, Samir Ranjan Chatterjee and Chen Jingliang unveil how Chinese realize competitive advantage and Tao Zeng and Lin Horn-Chern investigate ownership structure and R&D spending. Equally interesting, Andrew Man Joe Ma and Bramwell Osula on Taoism and complexity science and Joseph Tomkiewicz, Robert Frankel, Mariusz Sagan and Chunfang Wang study into gender and job expectations.

I earnestly hope 2011 to be a peaceful one despite so that scholars may continue with their contributions to Chinese management studies (CMS). Globally too, scholars are beginning to see Chinese management emerging as a discipline. I hope to meet scholars who are keen to contribute to CMS (for example, Regional Editors, Editorial Board and perhaps even chapters) at the 1st Global Chinese Management Studies Conference (www.suntzuartofwar.org). It will be held in the global city of Singapore, August 10 and 11 with a symposium (for CEOs, executives). The conference is the first of its kind in the world (maximum, 60 participants) and is jointly organized by Sun Tzu Art of War Institute and Emerald Publishers.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-10/23/content_11449653.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Peace_Prize

www.fek.umu.se/news/news_eng.php?ID=00000000721

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping#cite_note-miles-32

Check-Teck FooEditor-in-Chief