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IV
Chinas External Relations
and Global Governance
Introduction
LYE Liang Fook
After more than three decades of open door and reform policy, China has moved from being a
marginal player to becoming a key actor at the centre of the world stage. This outcome did not
come easy given the fact that other communist or socialist-oriented countries had earlier lost out
to more successful capitalistic-oriented countries at the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, China
had to fight off its pariah status that involved political isolation and economic sanctions imposed
by other countries following the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Today, China has virtually shaken
off the shackles of the past and is basking in the international limelight with its presence being felt
in various fields.
Most significantly, in the world economy, China has overtaken Japan to become the worlds
second largest economy by end-2010. Some observers have surmised that China will replace the
United States as the worlds largest economy by 2020. Already, China is among the top partners of
several countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Chinas economic interests are closely
intertwined with these countries as they not only import but also export their goods (including
natural resources and semi or finished products) to China. China relies a great deal on these
imported goods to sustain its own growth momentum. The trade and production networks that link
China with other countries have created a high level of interdependency. In addition, Chinese
investments in these countries have become an ever more important driver of employment and
growth, especially at a time when the economies in Europe and the United States are in difficulties.
At the financial level, more and more countries are using the Chinese renminbi as a currency for
cross-border transactions, as an alternative to the once dominant US dollar.
In global politics and diplomacy, China has developed bilateral and multilateral ties with many
countries and international organisations and whose presence and participation is much sought
after on various issues. At international and regional platforms, China ardently champions the
interests of developing countries, itself included. It is also a key player in G-20 which has replaced
the Western-dominated G-7 and G-8 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation
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394 China: Development and Governance
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since 2009. Furthermore, China has been called upon to do more on issues ranging from restoring
confidence to the world economy, helping to alleviate the eurozone debt crisis and maintaining a
stable and denuclearised Korean Peninsula, to fighting global warming and climate change.
In the social realm, more and more Chinese nationals are studying and working outside of
China. They provide an important source of talent and labour for their host countries. Many
Chinese tourists are also travelling overseas and they are known for their strong buying power.
This has helped to boost the sales of luxury brand items in the United States, Europe and Asia.
In addition, with Chinas enhanced economic clout, there has been a corresponding increase in
demands by other countries to learn the Chinese language. This is driven by the desire to better
grasp the opportunities China has to offer. In response, China has, since 2004, set up two key
types of institutions in foreign countries to promote the learning of Chinese language and culture.
By end-2010, there were reportedly 322 Confucius Institutes and 369 Confucius Classrooms
established in 96 countries.
The aforementioned brief overview, not meant to be exhaustive, is intended to provide a sense
of the wide-ranging impact that China has made on the rest of the world. In virtually every aspect,
a Chinese presence is evident in the way we work, live or play. Such a presence would have been
unimaginable more than two decades ago. Yet, this presence has resulted in a fresh set of challenges
for China. On the one hand, the rest of the world has benefited from the myriad opportunities
Chinas rise has offered. Many countries have adjusted their policies and strategies to ride on
Chinas growth.
On the other hand, there is a concern that Chinas growing presence will cause it to become
more assertive, or even aggressive, in the pursuit of its national interests. By extension, the
greater dependence on China by other countries increases the risks to these countries should
relations with China turn sour. Proponents of such a view have cited Chinas tough actions such
as when it forced Japan to back down over the Diaoyutai Islands dispute (in September 2010)
and its more recent stand-off with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal (in April 2012) in the
South China Sea as evidence of this more assertive streak. Yet others have cited Chinas spoiler
role, together with Russia, in successfully preventing tougher sanctions from being imposed
by the United Nations (UN) on Syria in light of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime
on civilians.
Key Themes in Chinas Foreign Policy
In an effort to counter negative views of its actions and intentions, China, on its part, has
consistently stated that it pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, sticks to the path of
peaceful development and the win-win strategy of opening up. In public statements or comments,
Chinese leaders and officials have stressed the key themes or ideas of promoting a harmonious
world, advocating a new thinking on security related issues, living up to its international
responsibility and promoting regional cooperation and good-neighbourly relations.
1
These themes or ideas were elaborated in a white paper on Chinas Peaceful Development
issued by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) in September 2011. They were also
included in the first version of a white paper titled Chinas Peaceful Development Road also
published by the SCIO in December 2005. These two white papers on Chinas external relations
issued so far by the SCIO indicate the importance China attaches to how it is being perceived by
other countries. More specifically, they are intended to assuage the concerns of other countries of
Chinas intentions.
To be sure, the concept of a harmonious world was officially put forth by President Hu Jintao
when he addressed the 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in September
1
Chinas Peaceful Development, White Paper by Chinas State Council Information Office, September 2011,
pp. 1924.
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Chinas External Relations and Global Governance 395
b1462 China: Development and Governance 8 October 2012 1:44 PM
2005.
2
In this address which was titled Build Towards a Harmonious World of Lasting Peace and
Common Prosperity, Hu outlined four elements of a harmonious world that included (i) upholding
multilateralism (as opposed to unilateralism or a bipolar world) to realise common security; (ii)
upholding mutually beneficial cooperation to achieve common prosperity; (iii) upholding the spirit
of inclusiveness including recognising every countrys right to independently choose its
development path; and, (iv) promoting UN reform actively and prudently.
3
These four elements
were subsequently incorporated into Chinas peaceful development white papers of 2005 and 2011.
Another key theme that has been consistently stressed by Chinese leaders and officials is to
promote a new thinking on security that is based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality
and coordination. Here, China regards security as broadly encompassing both traditional as well
as non-traditional security matters such as terrorism, financial crises and natural disasters. In
Chinas view, the approach to promote this new thinking is to pursue multilateral cooperation that
involves coordinating or cooperation among relevant stakeholders regardless of their size or
influence (that ties in with the ideas of equality and coordination mentioned earlier).
Closely related to the term of mutual trust is the call by Chinese leaders and officials for other
countries to respect its own interests and concerns. While China has stated that it is prepared to
respect other countries interests, it also expects other countries to reciprocate this respect. Chinas
call for mutual respect can be attributed to its growing interests as a result of its ever broadening
and deepening ties with the rest of the world. In Beijings eyes, this call for mutual respect is a
normal outcome for a country on the rise and does not equate to greater aggression on Chinas part.
More often than not, Chinas call is largely directed at the United States whom Beijing considers
to have consistently ignored Chinas growing interests. For instance, in Chinas eyes, the United
States has ignored its umpteen requests to wind down or cease arm sales to Taiwan in line with the
three ChinaUS joint communiqus.
On meeting its international responsibility, China has sought to indicate through its actions
that it is generally prepared to play a role to address issues of common concern to the international
community. This is commonly known as global governance that involves a coordinated response
by countries and/or organisations to tackle cross-border issues. Such issues would include the
health of the world economy, terrorism, transnational crime, cybercrime, nuclear proliferation,
maritime piracy and, global warming and climate change. While playing a role in these areas,
however, China has simultaneously sought to temper expectations that it can or ought to do more
on these fronts. The constant refrain from China is that it is still a developing country with many
pressing domestic challenges. Hence, it is not surprising that China has asserted that getting its own
house in order is the most important fulfilment of its international responsibility. Nevertheless,
as a responsible member of the international community, China has shown that it is ready to play
a role at a pace that it is comfortable with and one that is in line with its capabilities.
While promoting the building of a harmonious world, Chinese leaders and officials have also
not neglected their own backyard by stressing the importance of promoting regional cooperation
and good-neighbourly relations. In this regard, it has called on countries in the region to
increase trade and other mutually beneficial cooperation. China has further reiterated that its
prosperity, development and long-term stability provide an opportunity rather than a threat to its
neighbours. Furthermore, in light of the disputed territorial claims and maritime rights in the
region, China has exhorted countries in the region to settle these disputes through dialogue and
friendly negotiation.
Chinese leaders and officials have further stated that China is committed to the strategy of
peaceful development for the long term. In December 2011, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in
2
This concept is an extension of the peaceful rise concept that was propounded by then Vice President of Central Party
School Zheng Bijian at the Boao Forum in November 2003.
3
Written Speech by H.E. Hu Jintao, president of the Peoples Republic of China at the High-Level Plenary Meeting of
the United Nations 60th Session, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website, 16 September 2005 at <http://www.mfa.
gov.cn/eng/wjdt/zyjh/t213091.htm> (accessed 1 June 2012).
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396 China: Development and Governance
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his annual New Years address titled Promoting the Well Being of the Worlds People Together
that peace, development and cooperation are the calls of the time and serve the common interests
of all countries.
4
Separately, Chinas State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who oversees Chinas foreign
policy, has stated that Chinas commitment to peaceful development will not change for 100 years
or 1,000 years.
5
Peaceful Development: An Ongoing Task
Chinas ardent efforts, in terms of both its statements and actions, to affirm its commitment to the
strategy of peaceful development have met with rather mixed results. Indeed, many countries
continue to pursue ever deepening and broadening cooperation with China. At the same time, a
number of these countries appear to have doubts about Chinas intentions or are wary of being too
dependent on China.
On its part, China would require patience, resolve, diplomatic finesse and skill, and maybe
even a strong sense of magnanimity in pressing on with its peaceful development strategy. This
would not be easy given its several urgent domestic challenges and the strong sense of national
pride among its citizens who would not take lightly to perceived slights or unfair treatment of
China. Ideally, over time, through its actions rather than words, China may be able to convince
some of its detractors of its commitment to this strategy as well as to even have them subscribe
to this strategy.
Whether China can persist with this peaceful development strategy would also depend on the
actions of other countries. The conduct of foreign relations among countries is still very much
based on narrow national interests and the traditional balance of power where countries much
smaller than China would instinctively want to engage other major powers to balance Chinas heft.
Even the other major powers are also wary of China. While Chinas emphasis on mutual trust,
mutual respect, mutual benefit and equality may sound good to work towards, the harsh
reality is one where the interests of countries do not necessarily lend themselves to readily identify
and even subscribe to these nice sounding terms.
All the chapters in this section will highlight Chinas enhanced presence on the world stage.
More importantly, these papers reflect both the opportunities as well as challenges that China has
to grapple with as a result of its present international stature. At one level, Chinas relations with
other major powers such as the United States, the EU, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa) and Japan will be looked at. To a large extent, how the shape of the world order will
evolve will depend on Chinas relations with these countries.
At another level, Chinas ties with the smaller countries comprising the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a grouping in general and Singapore in particular will be examined. In
many ways, the best demonstration of Chinas peaceful development will be how China conducts
its relations with countries that are much smaller in size as compared to it. If China can develop
ties with these countries based on equality, mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual benefit, this
will lend substance to its peaceful intentions.
Going beyond Chinas bilateral or regional ties, other chapters will analyse issues that have an
impact on Chinas peaceful development strategy such as its stance on global governance, its
efforts to enhance its energy security and its relatively nascent initiatives at projecting its soft
power. Closer to home, China will likely pay close attention to managing two potential regional
flashpoints. One is the prospects for stability on the Korean Peninsula with a young leader at the
helm in North Korea. The other is the disputed claims in the South China Sea that involve not only
China, Taiwan and the ASEAN claimant states but also third parties such as the United States and
4
President Hu Jintao Delivers New Year Speech, China Daily, 31 December 2011.
5
We Must Stick to the Path of Peaceful Development, Speech by Dai Bingguo, 13 December 2010 at <http://www.
fmprc.gov.cn/eng/topics/cpop/t777704.htm> (accessed 1 June 2012).
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India. On Taiwan, the ever strengthening cross-strait exchanges especially economic linkages and
what this means for Taiwan itself and for future of US-China relations will be further examined.
Many of the chapters underscore the dynamic and complex external environment that Chinese
leaders and officials have to navigate and yet at the same time persist on the path of peaceful
development. They do not necessarily provide solutions for China in the future and in any case this
topic is beyond the scope of these chapters. What they do show, in an unambiguous manner, is that
Chinas strategy of peaceful development is still very much a work in progress.
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