Personal Ties and Factionalism in Peking

Michael Pillsbury

Expert InsightsPublished 1975

Comments on a Problems of Communism article by Michel Oksenburg and Steven Goldstein analyzing Chinese political struggles in terms only of issues, disregarding personalities and explicitly rejecting factionalism and group interests. If indeed all Chinese are as deceptive as the authors maintain, then how can publicly discussed issues be a reliable guide to anything? On the other hand, a factional politics approach, based on objective biographical facts and past conflict and cooperation, can be used (with caution) to forecast probable future behavior. Additionally, the authors' "Westernized Chinese" category would seem to be misleading in lumping together those who seek a Soviet-type China and those wishing to emulate the United States. Those would be two quite different Chinas. (Written as a letter to the editors; to appear in Problems of Communism.)

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Pillsbury, Michael, Personal Ties and Factionalism in Peking. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1975. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P5373.html.
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