Keywords in China’s 2015 Diplomatic Policies
By staff reporter ZHANG HONG
THE keywords for China’s diplomacy in 2015 will be ‘one focus’ and ‘two main themes,’” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference focusing on Chinese diplomatic policies and external relations on March 8, 2015 in Beijing. He went on to affirm that the country will continue this year to forge ahead and expand all-round diplomacy by expanding its common interests with other countries while steadfastly safeguarding national interests.
The Belt and Road Initiatives – Not Another Marshall Plan
Wang explained that the “one focus” refers to all-out efforts towards progress in the Belt and Road Initiatives. China will enhance policy communications with other countries, expand convergences of shared interests, and explore all possible areas of win-win cooperation. Promoting infrastructural connectivity and building overland economic corridors and pillars of maritime cooperation will be priorities in this respect. The country is also keen to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and to accelerate FTA negotiations. Wang believes that the initiative will win still more support and deliver even more “early harvests,” so catalyzing the revitalization of the Eurasian continent as a whole.
Peace and development are the “two main themes.” Wang stated that China will join with the international community in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the world’s anti-fascist war, “To draw lessons from history, look to the future, and make China a strong force to safeguard peace.” Wang also observed that the 70th anniversary this year of the founding of the United Nations will be a good opportunity for China to take an active part in the UN’s development summit and in international cooperation on climate change. “We will play a constructive role in helping to secure a post-2015 development agenda and a new international regime for addressing climate change that are in the interests of developing countries,” Wang said.
The foreign minister refuted suggestions that the Belt and Road Initiatives are comparable to the Marshall Plan, since they are “both much older and much younger than the Marshall Plan.” The initiatives are older because they embody the spirit of the ancient Silk Roads, which have a history of more than 2,000 years. They are younger because they are born in the age of globalization. As a product of inclusive cooperation, rather than a geopolitical tool, the initiatives must not be viewed through the lens of the outdated Cold War mentality. “In advancing the initiatives,” Wang stressed, “China will act according to the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.” Equal-footed consultation will be carried out and the independent choices of other countries respected. China will be sensitive to the comfort level of other parties, ensure transparency and openness, align the initiatives with the development strategies of other parties, and create synergy with existing regional cooperation mechanisms. “The vision of the initiatives is common development, and the goal is win-win progress through cooperation.” Wang also used a musical metaphor to intimate that the initiatives are not China’s solo, but a symphony performed by all relevant countries.
Zhang Yunling, director of the International Studies Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), has described the “Belt and Road” Initiatives as “one nation’s proposal that benefits all.” He added, “It shows that China will break the traditional pattern where a major power inevitably seeks hegemony and expansion.”
During his visit to Mongolia in August 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed the country aboard China’s train of development. Xi made the same remarks when he met the Prime Minister of Tajikistan, adding that China welcomes more countries aboard this train in efforts to realize mutual benefit and win-win results.
“China’s sincerity will convince the surrounding countries that common prosperity is what the initiatives pursue,” research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of CASS Zhao Mei said.
Wu Enyuan, head of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, Central Asian Studies of CASS, remarked on the project’s prospects in Russia: “The ‘Belt and Road’ Initiatives will reshape and revive the Trans-Siberian Railway and generate more cooperation opportunities between China and Russia in the field of technologies.” Wu also emphasized that China should take on more responsibilities, since “the initiator is always expected to develop practical programs.”
A New Type of Relations with Surrounding Countries
When speaking of the importance of relations with surrounding countries, Zhang Yunling stated: “Building new-type relations with them is an opportunity for China to gain strength. Dealing with neighboring countries tests China’s patience, wisdom and capability.”
Developing good-neighborly and friendly relations with surrounding countries has been a consistent policy of the Chinese government. In 1954, China put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence aimed at developing friendly relations with peripheral countries. In 2007, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) underlined the equal significance of relations with big countries and with peripheral areas. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, held in 2012, China has vowed to build a community of shared destiny with surrounding countries. In his address to the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs in November 2014, President Xi raised, for the first time ever, the issue of surrounding countries ahead of that of relationships with other major countries. What’s more, the new generation of the central leadership of China attaches great importance to peripheral areas, and has undertaken high-level visits to all neighboring countries.
“China’s relations with the surrounding areas are an essential element of its development,” Fang Li, deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, said. In his opinion, resolving disagreements and contradictions through building economic links, so forming a common stake, will contribute to the common development of China and its peripheral areas.
“Relationships on the periphery have always reflected China’s self-development. A prosperous China often has a peaceful and stable peripheral environment, while a poor nation usually has unsatisfactory peripheral relationships,” Zhang Yunling remarked. “No single country is willing to confront China. Building a new community of shared destiny is not intended to restore the old order. It is rather to construct a new type of international relations.”
Wu Enyuan, on the other hand, believes that China should fulfill its responsibilities in the international community according to its abilities. “It is important to maintain good relations with surrounding countries and boost their development to realize win-win cooperation. But at the same time, we must follow the law of the market. China is still a developing country, and a large number of its residents live below the poverty line. Therefore, solving our own problems is the priority.”
