China as by-word for the 21st Century: competitive partner or outright foe?
Omaha, Nebraska, USA - In that soon-to-be global village, thanks to the technological triumphs of our time, events unfold in a more sweeping but subtle rhythm that sometimes appears to be overtaking humanity’s grasp. On the eve of year 2000, some people thought we were not going to discuss anything positive when this century started out with the infamous Y2K scare. Now, that is history; and the greatest buzz is on China’s prospects for enjoying much of the forte of the century. Before we take a look at what China’s role portents for poor countries and throughout this century, I think the Chinese government deserves some millennial applause, first, for managing the most populated nation on the planet, with over 1.3 billion citizens—well over fifth of the world’s population, and second, for striving to relieve a good chunk of that population of poverty.
And needless to say, the subtext in China’s mightiest quest is bent on economic modernization, which is why it combs much of Africa and Latin America looking for minerals and oil. This summer, China is hosting the world’s most legendary Olympics Games---a golden yet controversial chance due to the kind of outrage the announcement engendered when global activists protested the idea of having China as the host of these 2008 games, given its ambivalence and inaction toward the genocide in Darfur, including failing to divest from oil investments in Sudan.
Although the Chinese Envoy to Sudan, in his recent comments to (Xinhua), said more humanitarian aid would come to Darfur, the gesture is compassionate but long overdue. Not far from Darfur, those same sentiments and frustrations were echoed recently when Okech Kendo, the Managing Editor of the East Standard, (www.eastandard.net), one of Kenya’s leading online newspapers, said in his February 21 article that “China has promised to continue with business as usual, building roads and toilets, when the lives of the users of such facilities are in danger.†Journalist Kendo’s comments were in response to the statement by the People’s Republic of China, amid Kenya’s two month-old crisis, that “Western democracy is unsuitable for Kenya.â€
In a similar context, Chinese ambassador to Kenya was quoted as saying “my country has a non-interference foreign policy, which means we do not interfere with foreign countries’ activities.†Repulsed by such diplomatic overtures, Mr. Kendo noted that “by taking such an unconscionable diplomatic position in the face of murders, displacement, vandalism of the economy, entrenchment of ethnic animosity and tribalisation of the political crisis, China has proved it is not a true friend of Kenya.†Before we look at China as purely black and white, my interest as student of the North East Asia may add to the analysis already underway about China’s amorphous global developmental approach either as one that is disarmingly competitive or one that you can hardly put premium on. Arguably, China’s image as seen through a decade-old excerpt from the Questia Online Magazine leaves no doubt about what Western realists have always felt about that country. From the time when (US) President Richard Nixon visited China to when it came under the limelight of condemnation for the Tiananmen Square student Massacre of 1989, the memories have at times been freshly mixed and ironical. Since then, Americans came to view China as partly a friend, and partly different. Fast forward to this century, things are a lot different. Although scholarly research has failed to paint an accurate picture of china’s power direction, there are ample factors and evidence showing how China is the key player in the post-millennium arena.
Discussions on China and in international politics have inspired the time-honored tradition of power transition theories. Cliché has it that empires come and go; that uneven distribution of power leads to wars. This results in rise or decline of nations. Power transition tells us how nations rise to power, the kind of resources they employ and whether hegemony is difficult to determine. And realists make sense of this change of power by studying the past, present and the future. Joseph S. Nye (co-author of 1977 book Power and Interdependence) compares power to weather. By his comparison Nye admits that “everyone talks about it [power], but few understand it.â€
China is without doubt the talking point of the century. But I think the buzz will be amorphous when it is superficially based on politics without weaving the indispensable elements of the Chinese culture. Stephen J. Yates of the Heritage Foundation rightly observed that “Chinese viewed their nation as the Middle Kingdom—meaning the center of civilization." This is true because China, like any other societies or civilizations, is rich in traditions. The Chinese have always regarded themselves as the benefactors of worldly civilization, often holding their leaders in high standards so as to surpass others.
Nationally, China remains ferociously committed to the classical definition of sovereignty despite the fact that parts of it are being eroded by global communications, transportation, and commerce. Stephen Yates notes that “China seems to view the current permissive environment towards international interventions—from human rights criticism to trade sanctions to military invasion—as part of a Western plot to impose on the rest of the world its system of political values, designed to undermine, if not topple, unsympathetic governments. China sees respect for classical sovereignty as crucial to self-preservation and blocking of international support for Taiwan, and finds common cause with Russia and other states that fear becoming victims of U.S. interventions.†The Chinese government regards the case of Taiwan as important to its sovereignty and the preservation of that nationalism. That is why it has been reacting to the much -talked about assumptions of balancing in the region. Without surprise, scholars and novice analysts in the world expect countries neighboring China to bandwagon against China. The examples often quoted as exerting potential pressure on China are the Koreas, Japan, and Indonesia.
But historically, China has always maintained a hierarchy, during bad times and when things are normal. The neighboring countries have no problem with China as the military and economic arm of the region as long as it respects sovereignty and the cultural exchanges that exist. Now more than ever, China seems to honor that privilege.
And because of that recognition as the regional arm, it is believed to become the gravitational center of East Asia. "China is showing shrewd leadership through examples. It is confronting issues especially the resolution of “territorial disputes with Afghanistan, Burma, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Russia and recently with Cambodia.â€
This allows for unfettered regional developments. Speaking of development, years ago, people barely talked of telecommunications desire in China, but now the talk proves otherwise. Of its 1.3 billion people, China now has over 300 million cellular users. This is in addition to the 100 million people who have access to Internet service.
China is demonstrably pursuing its economic agenda beginning with the Binhai New Area experiment. Liu Mingkang of the China Banking Regulatory Commission talked of the Binhai as the “Pudong of North China, meant to focus on financial reform and innovations in the fields of organization, products, and markets .The area is poised to work with foreign banks in collaborating banking policy. Financial authorities are upbeat about the new undertaking, saying the Binhai is tantamount to creating opportunities for merger and acquisition, especially in high-tech enterprises. Revenue wise, the area is said to stand at 160 billion Yuan of Gross Domestic Product in 2005, which is promising given its being the first track of bottom line. China’s ambition has been tenacious. It started in late 70s and the economy is said to account for four percent of world economy, making it the third largest after U.S and Japan .Still, its eye is on science, especially the space exploration. Few years ago, the Chinese Space Agency recently released an official plan for developing deep space exploration over the next five years. The research central pillars would be lunar and mars exploration. The announcement came in July of 2006 when top official of the China National Space Administration, Sun Laiyan, shared how their utilization of lunar resources and terrestrial planetary science would lead to “mankind’s sustainable survival on Earthâ€.
As an emerging market economy, China is doing exceedingly well. It has learnt from past economic failures such as the Asian currency crises and from its own domestic downturns such as that painful inflation. China has approached its economic growth with financial reforms centering around financial services, enterprise, and markets and to open those markets to the outside world. That way the hiccups and shocks that disappoint prosperity are kept at bay. It is proceeding gradually given that it is transitioning from an economy that was planned to one that is market-driven.
But in as much as China clings to the mantra of ‘non-interference in the internal affairs of various nations while courting its developmental agenda, there will always be foreign policy trade-offs between providing basic infrastructure to African countries and not sounding alarm on political leaders when tensions flare up in those countries because events seem to dictate that when things turn soar and ugly, all stand to lose in one way or another. I think it would be in China’s best interest and that of the century if it were to marshal both the relevant hard and the soft elements of its power instead of solely blaming [shortcomings of] western democracy in those African countries [it makes business with]. Mr. Okech Kendo from Kenya accurately concluded that “there is nothing Western or Eastern about democracy. It is the best of the worst forms of government. All democracy takes is leadership with integrity to accept the will of the majority, and majority to accommodate the minority. It is about tolerance and accommodation.â€
The moral lesson: As we marvel at the masterful strides and the role China is playing for the 21 century, including disappointing some along that path toward our global village, I hope my analysis of the North East Asia may have added to the discussion already underway about China’s amorphous global developmental approach either as one that is disarmingly competitive or one that you can hardly put premium on.
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Joseph Deng Garang is The New Sudan Vision VP for Administration and its columnist. He holds a bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in International Studies and Political Science, with specializations in International Management, Business, and Global Strategic Studies.
