China's peripheral diplomacy carries a heavy weight

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 18, 2003

China's peripheral diplomacy carries a heavy weight

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"China is building up a brand-new reputation among its neighbors", this was the comment made in an article carried in the US Washington Post November 15. For a period of time, appraisals of China being a big country which is creating a new diplomatic image and undertaking regional responsibility have been lingering in people's ears.

An important article entitled "China's New Diplomacy", appeared in a new issue of US Diplomacy magazine, commented that in recent years, China's diplomacy, from the policy-making mechanism to the process of operation, has, without exception, been heading toward maturity, rationality and flexibility. The world seems to have suddenly discovered a "different China", but in the eyes of Chinese diplomatic personages, that is because some Westerners do not understand China.

As early as the 1950s, Premier Zhou Enlai stated the need to "stabilize neighbors on four sides", this principle has run through the course of New China's diplomacy. From 1989 when China first determined its diplomatic principle of "basing ourselves on Asia and the Pacific, and stabilizing our surrounding areas", to 2001 when the 16th CPC National Congress more clearly put forward the guideline of "being friendly with our neighbors and taking our neighbors as partners", China's policy of good neighborliness and friendship has been continuing on. Chinese and foreigners now have reached a consensus: China's current surrounding environment is historically the best, China's important position in regional affairs has gained increasing recognition.

China is changing, so is world view on China

A Bangkok-based investigation center recently conducted a survey about "who is the closest friend in the eyes of the Thai people?" The result shows that 76 percent Thais agreed that it is China, less than 8 percent chose Japan and only 9 percent chose the United States, the long-term military ally of Thailand.

In sharp contrast to this, in 1973 when the Chinese Table Tennis Delegation, as the first Chinese delegation visiting Thailand, arrived in Bangkok, the hotel cut off the telephone line of their rooms, this clearly shows their strict precaution and vigilance against the Chinese. Cheng Ruisheng, former Chinese ambassador to Myanmar and India, was then the diplomat with the delegation, he undertook the mission of opening up China's relations with the ASEAN countries. Now 30 years have passed, how good is the relationship between the two countries-even our embassy doesn't know how many delegations come to Thailand on visits and talks everyday," said Cheng Ruisheng.

China's geographical environment determines that China must put huge amounts of diplomatic resources into its neighboring relationships, China's rise can't be achieved as can the United States which develops and grows in strength quietly in a relatively isolated and tranquil environment. China has a dozen or so terrestrial neighbors, big and small, due to historical reasons, China had boundary questions with almost each of its neighboring countries; at the same time on the sea, there exist many disputes over islands and territorial waters. Territorial contradictions have long impeded improvements in China's relations with its neighbors, which even evolved into three armed conflicts between China and India, China and the Soviet Union and China and Vietnam respectively in 1962, 1969 and 1979.

Today, under the principle of "putting aside disputes", China has not only maintained good cooperative relations with neighboring countries, but also is advancing step by step the solutions of boundary issues. In 1999 China signed with Vietnam the "Terrestrial Boundary Treaty" and in the following year signed the agreement on continental shelf demarcation in the Beibu Gulf; section boundary between China and Russia was also determined in legal forms by reaching unanimity through consultations; in 2002 China and ASEAN countries together signed the "Action Declaration of Various Sides of the South China Sea" on Nansha Islands; this year, China has formally acceded to the "Southeast Asia Amity and Cooperation Treaty" pertinent to politics and security; boundary negotiation between China and India was also conducted at high specifications. According to Cheng Ruisheng, this demonstrates that China has gradually discarded the emotional policy-making method and its diplomacy has become increasingly pragmatic.

In the opinion of Qu Xing, vice-president of Foreign Affairs Institute, besides the geographical factor, the background of the Cold War era has for a long time restrained China's relations with its neighboring countries. "Due to the existence of the factor of the involvement of big countries, problems are prone to become intensified and difficult to handle," said Qu Xing, adding that "for instance, the Sino-Indian boundary conflict in 1962 was originally a pure territorial dispute, but due to US and Soviet considerations of the Sino-Indian boundary were mixed with many Cold War factors: Sino-Soviet relationship at that time was already delicate, the Soviet Union supported the Nehru administration's containment of China from the southern part, while the United States had all along imposed blockade on China, as a result, conflicts between China and India were no longer pure boundary disputes. Military conflicts with the Soviet Union and with Vietnam also had very strong Cold War backdrops." In the eyes of Qu Xing, improvement in the diplomatic environment not only means that China's foreign policy has undergone tremendous change, but also because the international environment has differed greatly from what it was before.

Therefore, the results achieved in diplomacy characterized by "putting aside disputes" are varied in different historical periods. Although China and India have so far been unable to completely solved the boundary issue, now both sides have come to realized that the aspect of contradiction should not be placed at the heart of bilateral relations and that economic and trade relations and personnel contact between the two countries should not be suspended simply because of the existence of disputes; both sides should further push improvement in relations between the two countries with utter sincerity. Trade between China and India this year is expected to exceed the historic figure of US$7 billion, the two big countries are now the commonly rising partners.

China's diplomacy becomes increasingly pragmatic

While reviewing the diplomatic practice since the founding of New China, a high-ranking official with the Foreign Ministry once said that in the 1950s China "leaned to the one side" of the Soviet Union, in the 60s China fought against "imperialists, revisionists and reactionaries" together, and in the 70s it united with the United States in opposition to the Soviet Union��. These might be the necessary choice at that time, in fact, it was not the best choice. Only after we gradually pursued an independent foreign policy in the 80s that China's diplomacy has been heading toward maturity.

Calmness and rationality are indicative of the maturation of China's policies. In the past special domestic and international environments, China's diplomacy was prone to experiencing ups and downs, which Qu Xing dubbed "vicious interaction": Due to pressure put by external big countries on China, our country was forced to make strong rebound, leading domestic emotions to the extreme, and such diplomatic posture made it easier to cause doubts in neighboring countries. During the Cold War period, there existed struggles between the two camps in Southeast Asia: The United States supported pro-American regimes, China, in order to reduce surrounding pressure, naturally also supported some anti-US forces, this also caused the governments of some countries to regard China as a threat. At present, the vicious interaction has turned into virtuous interaction. First of all, the regional tense situation has gotten relaxed, other big countries have changed from previous direct military involvement into more inclination to cooperation and consultation; at the same time, with the enhancement of China's strength and the expansion of its influence, domestic ideology is developing healthily along with the opening-up efforts, people become more self-confident, thus cultivating a kind of gentle and credible image. China adopts a realistic attitude on questions that may generate conflicts. For instance, in 2002 China signed with ASEAN countries the "Action Declaration of Various Sides of the Nanhai Sea", which provides a mechanistic guarantee for peace and stability in the region. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, China kept the RMB from devaluation at the cost of its own interests and provided a considerable amount of aid to countries impacted during the financial crisis, this made the surrounding countries and regions feel the key role China has played in the regional stability and development. More and more countries have come to realize that China is a not a menace to security, nor a competitor in economy, with its actual deeds China has promoted stability in the region, and China's economic development is becoming a boost to the prosperity of the entire region.

Sitting at the back of East Asia, China has undoubtedly increased its weight in the game played by big countries

Talking about changes in China's diplomacy, there are several different understandings: One kind is that at the end of the 1970s, China established the strategy which takes economic construction as the central task and makes diplomacy serve economic construction, the color of China's diplomatic ideology is gradually fading away, while peace and cooperation become the leading factors; the second kind is that after the Cold War, China has thrown away the old way of thinking, has actively sought to participate in international mechanisms and join international organizations, diplomatic work has become more calm and pragmatic; the third kind is that the starting-point of the current new situation is fixed in 1999 at the end of last century, thinking that after suffering certain setbacks in big power diplomacy, China has come to realize more clearly that the East Asian region is the rising strategic focus, thereby giving an all-round impetus to the establishment of different forms of partnerships with neighboring countries, the 16th CPC National Congress more explicitly designated the guideline of "being friendly with neighbors and taking neighbors as partners" as the strategic focus.

Prof. Niu Jun with the School of International Relations under Peking University holds that after the Cold War, the core issue concerning China's diplomacy has always been a matter concerning relationship with the United States. China has clearly realized only in recent years that to maintain good ties with Washington, China needs such a supporting point as East Asia. Practice has proved that East Asian countries side China on many issues. Sitting at the back of East Asia, China has doubtlessly increased its weight in the game played by big countries.

"In East Asia, what China needs is cooperation among big countries, not confrontation," said Qu Xing. In his opinion, this depends mainly on whether the United States can give up its Cold War mentality. Realists invariably put undue faith in strength, thinking that a nation, once got developed, will surely constitute a threat. "That's why the United States invariably stops others from developing and, instead, allow them to be ordered about, so as to guarantee its own superiority, but this is hard to achieve, if it does not change its mindset, then, what the United States wants to confront will not be only a China."

Amid the praises of "China's rise" and "China creates new image", we invariable hear an expression of anxiety, particularly worries coming from the United States, holding that due to US increasingly serious unilateralist tendency after the "September 11" attack in 2001, China has acted more and more to replace the United States in the Asian region and become the leader enjoying popular support and will eventually squeeze America out of the Asia-Pacific region. Qu Xing said, "That is a senseless idea. First, China does not have this strength and influence, now various countries have the capability to independently decide their own policies, China never has the intention to lead other countries; second, China does not plan to elbow America out of the Asia-Pacific region. China is happy to see that the United States plays a constructive and active role in Asia and the Pacific.

The above article on Page 7 of the Global Times, December 12 was written by the newspaper's correspondent Song Nianshen and translated by a PD Online staff member

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