Invited to the UN General Assembly in New York, Myanmar's President
Thein Sien will leave for the US on Sept 23.
Myanmar opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, is already paying a visit to the US, her first in two decades.
Some Western media have used the two visits to say that, "an old friend of
China is falling into the arms of the United States".
What these Western media do not
say is that the Myanmar government and the opposition both have repeatedly
emphasized the importance of maintaining friendly relations with China. It
seems the Western media are trying to sow the seeds of discord between China
and its friendly countries.
The 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers'
Meeting in Phnom Penh in July failed to issue a joint communiqu because certain
ASEAN member states including the Philippines, claiming sovereignty over some
islands and their adjoining waters in the South China Sea, tried to impose
their viewpoints on ASEAN. But the move was opposed by Cambodia and other
countries. Even in the future, the attempt of the Philippines and other
countries to kidnap the ASEAN agenda with the South China Sea issue is bound to
fail.
But China does need to consider
how to best use its foreign policy to maintain friendly and cooperative
relations with countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia and to make more friends
and expand its support base on some key issues.
In the early 1950s, the Cold War
made China stand with the East Bloc led by the erstwhile Soviet Union. From the
late 1950s to the late 1960s, China's foreign policy could be summarized as
"fighting with two fists", that is, opposing the Soviet Union and the
United States both. During the 1970s, China's foreign policy changed in some
aspects, and Beijing and Washington reopened their doors to each other. As an
emerging country today, China has to strive to survive in a harsh international
environment.
China began following an
independent and peaceful foreign policy in the early 1980s, whose core was
non-alliance. The non-alliance policy played a positive role in making China's
diplomacy more flexible, independent and initiative in nature. The policy
created a relatively peaceful and stable regional and international environment
for China's economic development, improved its status on the global stage and
won it more friends.
Maintaining a low profile in
diplomacy indeed saved a lot of time and effort for China to achieve what today
is considered an economic miracle.
But the change in China's
diplomacy in the 1980s was not a negation of the previous foreign policy, for
the alliance policy of the Mao Zedong era and the non-alliance policy of the
Deng Xiaoping era both are based on national interests. China changed its
foreign policy tactics to safeguard its national interests in changing domestic
and global situations.
China, however, needs to make
more friends that will support it in the international arena. A state can
enhance its power, better deal with outside threats and maintain and expand
common interests if it establishes friendly and cooperative relations with
like-minded countries. Building such a relationship with one country doesn't
mean going into confrontation with another.
In today's world, non-traditional
security threats are the biggest problem for many countries. That's why China
is busy trying to find the best way to deal with the complex and volatile
security situation, and has no time to think about challenging the existing
hegemonic power.
History tells us that even during
the era of Sino-Soviet alliance, China had adhered to an independent foreign
policy, that is, it followed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in
letter and spirit and never compromised its principles.
Since the mid-1990s, China has
followed a strategy of establishing partnerships with major powers, which is
clearly non-aligned and non-confrontational, and not directed against a third
country. Such different levels of partnerships create convenient conditions for
China to continue its cooperation with different countries in an all-round way.
These partnerships, however, are
based mainly on common economic interests, and, hence, cooperation in politics
and security lags far behind economic and trade cooperation. As partnerships
between countries don't have any substantial binding force in political and
security fields, increased bilateral dialogues are difficult to develop into
corresponding political trust. So apart from such partnerships, China also
needs higher-level friends to cooperate in the political and security fields,
which can prevent crises and help control if one breaks out.
The United States has long been
trying to weave a net around China. It has made serious efforts to intervene in
China's disputes with neighboring countries and thus hindered Beijing's efforts
to resolve them bilaterally. China is facing an unfavorable
one-against-too-many situation in the balance of power and is, therefore,
forced to establish special relationships with some countries. Without special
friends, after all, a country will find it difficult to make a difference with
its diplomacy.
China has repeatedly stressed
that satisfactory performance on the domestic front would be its largest
contribution to the world. With China's integration into the international
community deepening, it cannot pay attention to its home affairs without
thinking of global and regional matters. China is obliged to raise a banner
different from Western hegemony and unite some countries so they can strive to
get their legitimate rights and interests.
China is not targeting the West
by trying to make higher-level friends which would cooperate with it on
political and security needs. It is doing so to ensure that it, along with its
friends, can enjoy their legitimate rights and interests and fulfill their
security needs.
Zhang Tengjun
The author is a researcher in international relations at the School of
International Studies, Renmin University of China.
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