[Nasional-e] China's new peace strategy

Sun Nov 17 23:24:02 2002

China's new peace strategy

By LING XING-GUANG
Special to The Japan Times

As expected, U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin
agreed at their Oct. 25 summit to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Cooperative relations between the two powers are becoming firmly
established, a far cry from early 2001 when Washington viewed Beijing as a
"strategic rival."

For the past year, China has been taking a highly flexible stance toward the
United States. It has remained basically neutral regarding Iraq, cooperated
with the U.S. regarding North Korea's nuclear-arms development and
restrained itself regarding U.S. weapons exports to Taiwan.

Beijing is adopting a realistic approach to promote friendship with the
U.S., the sole military superpower, and foster a peaceful international
environment that is indispensable for its economic expansion. This
development reflects a new security concept China has been pushing since
last spring.

The concept originated at a five-nation summit led by China and Russia and
also attended by the leaders of the Central Asian nations of Kazakstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The "Shanghai Five," inaugurated in April 1994,
has promoted confidence building in border areas, antiterror activities and
economic cooperation. The organization was upgraded to the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization ("Shanghai Six") in June 2001 when it was joined by
Uzbekistan. Jiang, in a speech at the inaugural meeting of the organization,
used the phrase "new security concept" for the first time. He said the group
was a new model of regional cooperation based on "a new security concept" of
mutual trust, disarmament, cooperation and security.

The Bush administration, begun in 2001, defined China as a "strategic
rival," after the Clinton administration had called for a "constructive and
strategic partnership" with China. When the Shanghai Six was established,
U.S.-China relations were strained over a collision between a U.S.
reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter over China's Hainan Island.
Jiang's proposal for the new security concept was probably intended as
constructive criticism of U.S. policy. The concept represented consensus
among China, Russia and the four Central Asian nations.

At about the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited China
to signal an improvement in U.S.-China relations. After the 9/11 attacks,
U.S-China relations improved at an accelerated pace, and China promoted its
new security concept. Last February, Bush visited China and agreed with
Jiang to promote constructive and cooperative relations between their
countries. Since last spring, the new security concept has become the
cornerstone of Chinese diplomacy.

In a speech last April 10 to the German Association on Diplomatic Policy,
Jiang called for the establishment of a new security concept based on
"mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation." On April 24,
Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao used the same words in a speech while
visiting Malaysia. These statements were clearly intended as a campaign for
the concept aimed at the international community, including Western
industrial nations.

At the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia on
June 4 in Almaty, Kazakstan, and at the second summit of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization on June 7 in St. Petersburg, Jiang expounded on the
security concept. A summit declaration said the international community
needed to establish a new security concept based on "mutual trust, mutual
benefit, equality and cooperation."

On July 31, at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei, China
published papers on the concept. On Oct. 27, at the summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Mexico, Jiang mentioned the
concept in his speech.

The concept is based on these ideas:

* Cold War-era views should be abandoned.

* Confidence building is the foundation of security.

* Economic and trade cooperation should enhance security and vice versa.

* A regional collective security system should be established to fight
international terrorism and crimes.

* A fair and reasonable international order should be established.

The concept reflects criticism of U.S. unilateralism. China is aware that to
prompt a change in U.S. policy it must take the initiative in implementing
the concept and influence U.S. public opinion. Since early this year, China
has stressed the importance of harmonious relations and taken a neutral
stance regarding North Korea, Iraq and Palestine. Mao Zedong stressed
philosophies of struggle, based on class struggle; now China is shifting to
philosophies of peace, based on the new security concept.

U.S. military strategy calls for establishing a U.S.-led global security
system on the basis of regional security systems built on bilateral military
alliances with its allies. China had been wary of this strategy, fearing it
could lead to a U.S. monopoly of power. However, it has changed its stance
and chosen not to confront or challenge the U.S. as long as the latter does
not intervene in its domestic issues, such as the Taiwan problem. It
tolerates U.S. leadership in the world.

Furthermore, China stresses the importance of cooperation between China, the
top developing country, and the U.S., the most advanced country, in the
stability and development of the world. China appears ready to replace Japan
as a bridge between the industrial and developing worlds.

There is no guarantee, however, that the Chinese-proposed concept will
become the foundation of international diplomacy. Some Chinese officials
fear that the U.S. siege of the world will intensify. Three different
scenarios are now conceivable:

* The new security concept will spread internationally.

* The concept will clash with the U.S. scheme to dominate the world.

* The concept will be abandoned as "unrealistic" for the world today.

The second scenario is most likely. However, in the long term, it is likely
to be followed by the first scenario. Depending on international
developments, the third scenario cannot be ruled out.

The concept is likely to be accepted internationally when U.S. hawks stop
worshipping power. Power politics led by a superpower must be replaced by
moral politics led by new global organizations, but it will be a
time-consuming process.

The present world is plagued by serious problems such as the widening gap
between the North and South, a worsening environment, international
terrorism and international drug trafficking. A shift from power politics to
moral politics should be expedited. It is hoped that the new concept will be
accepted as an interim philosophy in the process. Toward that end, world
leaders should coordinate to restrain nationalistic instincts in their
countries. U.S., Japanese and Chinese leaders have a grave responsibility in
this endeavor in Asia.

Ling Xing-Guang is a professor at Fukui Prefectural University.