In 1938, Tsiang advocated for centralized authority which should override popular will when necessary. He argued that China had to modernize quickly given the multiple threats it faced. To Tsiang, the "iron rule of modern history" was that countries which used modernization to preserve national territory survived, while countries that did not were exterminated. In his view, natural science and mechanized agriculture were the essential elements of modernization. He wrote that such a focus for modernization was supported by the "left-wing, right-wing, imperialist, anti-imperialist, man, woman, white, yellow, old, young."
