China seen reasserting its Third World leader role<\/p>\n
Benjamin Kang Lim, Reuters\/Beijing<\/p>\n
Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the 50th anniversary
\ncommemorations of the Asia-Africa Conference in Indonesia,
\nreasserting China's credentials as a leader of the Third World,
\ndiplomatic sources and analysts said.<\/p>\n
Following the 1949 Communist takeover, China emerged from its
\ndiplomatic isolation in 1955 at the Asia-Africa Conference in
\nIndonesia's West Java town of Bandung that marked a move by the
\nThird World to assert itself.<\/p>\n
Hu will attend the April 21-24 Asian-African Summit and the
\ngolden jubilee of the Bandung conference en route to the
\nPhilippines for an April 26-28 state visit, said two Asian
\ndiplomatic sources.<\/p>\n
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has yet to announce Hu's trip,
\nwhich is also expected to take him to the tiny oil-rich sultanate
\nof Brunei.<\/p>\n
China has played down its role as the vanguard of the Third
\nWorld, but analysts said Hu's presence would cement such a
\nposition for the world's most populous nation and an emerging
\neconomic power that has been careful in recent decades to be seen
\nto be diplomatically neutral.<\/p>\n
\"The growth of its domestic economy and increased integration
\nwith the world will compel China to exert itself and take a
\nlarger role in regional security and economic issues,\" Drew
\nThompson, a China watcher at the Washington-based Center for
\nStrategic and International Studies, wrote.<\/p>\n
The 1955 Bandung conference's main principles of peaceful co-
\nexistence that have long been trumpeted by China's communist
\nrulers as the foundation of their foreign policy.<\/p>\n
The principles are: mutual respect for sovereignty and
\nterritorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in
\neach other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and
\npeaceful co-existence.<\/p>\n
\"It reflects China's desire to be the carrier of the spirit of
\nBandung that focuses on decolonization in all aspects especially
\nnow in economic, technology and culture,\" said Hong Kong-based
\ncommentator Josef Purnama Widyatmadja.<\/p>\n
China has long been sensitive about its defeats and various
\ninvasions at the hands of foreign powers during the 19th century.<\/p>\n
The 1955 Bandung meeting was the first world summit that
\ngathered former colonized Asian and African nations without
\ninterference from any Western force, the late American author
\nRobert Wright wrote in \"The Colour of Curtain\" published in 1956.<\/p>\n
It was against alignment with either the United States or the
\nSoviet Union.<\/p>\n
China has come a long way since Bandung 50 years ago, joining
\nthe United Nations in 1971 after then Premier Zhou Enlai won the
\nbacking of the Third World with three visits to Asian and African
\ncountries between 1956 and 1964.<\/p>\n
More recently, China has emerged into a fledgling economic
\npowerhouse from a centrally planned backwater.<\/p>\n
When scouring the globe for a steady supply of energy and raw
\nmaterials, China should be encouraged to promote transparency,
\ngood governance and responsible behavior with its partner
\nnations, Thompson wrote for the Washington-based Jamestown
\nFoundation.<\/p>\n
But China's rise has alarmed the United States.<\/p>\n
\"The United States ... (is) becoming concerned that Chinese
\ndiplomatic advances, particularly in Asia and the Americas, could
\nmarginalize the U.S. presence in these regions where it has
\ntraditionally taken the lead,\" Thompson wrote.<\/p>\n
China's presence in the United States' backyard, Latin
\nAmerica, is growing as it emerges as a voracious buyer of
\nagricultural and mining products from the region, and a big
\ninvestor in various countries there.<\/p>",
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